MMORPGs (Massively multiplayer online role-playing games) are typically thought of as games that are for adults. For example, I play one called World of Warcraft. However, there are definitely adult themes there that I wouldn't want a child exposed to. Aside from violence, there are plenty of people in the public chat channels that say inappropriate things.
However, a friend of mine pointed out one that is geared towards children. This is a MMORPG created by Disney, and it is called Toontown. Like most MMORPGs, this does include a monthly fee...but it's interesting to see Disney targeting a younger audience with this.
http://play.toontown.com/about.php
Showing posts with label Gaming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gaming. Show all posts
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Video Games and the Scientific Method
I think sometimes students wonder why they have to take science courses as part of any major. Part of the reason is to teach the scientific method. No matter whether you are taking biology, chemistry, physics, or some of the other sciences, you should be learning to form hypotheses and conduct experiments to see your ideas hold true ("the scientific method").
What amazes me is that this skill doesn't seem to stick. Politicians and other people toss out ideas that just don't hold up when investigated. For example, video games are for kids (wrong: statistics show that the average age of gamers is 35). Another example, video gamers are men (true, but not as extreme as portrayed: 40% of gamers are women). If you go with the false belief that teenage boys are the only people playing video games, you can draw many poor conclusions. For example, IF most people playing video games were male teenagers, you can draw conclusions about the content that should be available on these systems.
I ran across the article linked below and it just made me think how sometimes it's easier to go with anecdotal knowledge rather than do any research. For example "every time I go in to Game Stop, it's filled with teenagers". Well, this may be true, but this is not the only place that people buy video games. Evidence can be disputed with research. Research may indicate that adults buy their video games online rather than in stores like Game Stop, for the convenience or price or whatever. However, you could draw an incorrect conclusion just by walking in to a few stores and making a generalization.
Anyway, this article is a little bit biased for gamers, but an interesting read nonetheless.
Link to article
What amazes me is that this skill doesn't seem to stick. Politicians and other people toss out ideas that just don't hold up when investigated. For example, video games are for kids (wrong: statistics show that the average age of gamers is 35). Another example, video gamers are men (true, but not as extreme as portrayed: 40% of gamers are women). If you go with the false belief that teenage boys are the only people playing video games, you can draw many poor conclusions. For example, IF most people playing video games were male teenagers, you can draw conclusions about the content that should be available on these systems.
I ran across the article linked below and it just made me think how sometimes it's easier to go with anecdotal knowledge rather than do any research. For example "every time I go in to Game Stop, it's filled with teenagers". Well, this may be true, but this is not the only place that people buy video games. Evidence can be disputed with research. Research may indicate that adults buy their video games online rather than in stores like Game Stop, for the convenience or price or whatever. However, you could draw an incorrect conclusion just by walking in to a few stores and making a generalization.
Anyway, this article is a little bit biased for gamers, but an interesting read nonetheless.
Link to article
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Brain Controlled Gaming Headset
When I was a graduate student at Montclair State, one of my professors brought in a former student who was working on a headset that would be controlled by brainwaves. The application that he had in mind was for users with physical disabilities who could not control a pointing device such as a mouse.
This was the sort of thing that I immediately thought would work great with gaming too, because as a child I dealt with a little pain in my thumbs after playing Nintendo for a while (we called it "Nintendo thumb").
Well, apparently some of the hardware developers had the same idea, as the world's first brain controlled gaming headset is available! Very cool stuff, with a price around $300.
Link to article (with pictures!)
This was the sort of thing that I immediately thought would work great with gaming too, because as a child I dealt with a little pain in my thumbs after playing Nintendo for a while (we called it "Nintendo thumb").
Well, apparently some of the hardware developers had the same idea, as the world's first brain controlled gaming headset is available! Very cool stuff, with a price around $300.
Link to article (with pictures!)
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