What is Gaming?

There are 1.23 billion people worldwide who spend an hour a day, on average, playing video games.

Gaming is the act of playing games, as in:

Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as “gaming”
Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles
Playing a tabletop game, any game played on a flat surface
Playing a video game, an electronic game with a video interface

The History of Gaming

The history of video games goes as far back as the early 1950’s, when academic computer scientists began designing simple games and simulations as part of their research. Video gaming did not reach mainstream popularity until the 1970’s and 1980’s, when video arcade games and gaming consoles using joysticks, buttons, and other controllers, along with graphics on computer screens and home computer games were introduced to the general public. Since the 1980’s, video gaming has become a popular form of entertainment and a part of modern popular culture in most parts of the world. One of the early games was Spacewar!, which was developed by computer scientists. Early arcade video games developed from 1972 to 1978. During the 1970’s, the first generation of home consoles emerged, including the popular game Pong and various “clones”.

A video about the history of gaming

Fortnite

Fortnite is a co-op sandbox survival video game developed by Epic Games and People Can Fly, the former also publishing the game. The game was released as a paid early access title for Microsoft Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4and Xbox One on July 25, 2017, with a full free-to-play release expected in 2018. It features cross-progression between the PlayStation 4 and PC versions.

Fortnite is set in contemporary Earth, where the sudden appearance of a worldwide storm causes 98% of the world’s population to disappear, and zombie-like creatures rising to attack the remainder. Considered by Epic as a cross between Minecraft and Left 4 Dead, Fortnite has up to four players cooperating on various missions on randomly-generated maps to collect resources, build fortifications around defensive objectives that are meant to help fight the storm and protect survivors, and construct weapons and traps to engage in combat with waves of these creatures that attempt to destroy the objectives. Players gain rewards through these missions to improve their hero characters, support teams, and arsenal of weapon and trap schematics to be able to take on more difficult missions. The game is supported through microtransactions to purchase in-game currency that can be used towards these upgrades.

A standalone mode, Fortnite Battle Royale, based on the battle royale genre, was released for Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in September 2017.

Do Violent Video games really make children more aggressive?

A few days ago, a review of 300 studies on violent video games and children’s behavior was released by the  APA Task Force on Violent Media. The report concludes that violent video games present a “risk factor” for heightened aggression in children and call for a revamping of the video game rating system that took more notice of violence and for games to be more appropriate to the players’ age and psychological development.However, despite claiming the review “demonstrates” a link between playing violent video games and aggression, the authors acknowledged that some studies were inconsistent and that present research is insufficient to establish whether this can lead to criminal violence or delinquency.

“The research demonstrates a consistent relation between violent video game use and increases in aggressive behaviour, aggressive cognitions and aggressive affect, and decreases in pro-social behaviour, empathy and sensitivity to aggression.”

The report notes that “no single risk factor consistently leads a person to act aggressively or violently. Rather, it is the accumulation of risk factors that tends to lead to aggressive or violent behavior.” Playing violent video games is one such risk factor, the report says.