Digital Gaming and the Media Playground

            Mass media has changed the world over time through a process known as globalization. A major subdivision of mass media is digital gaming. In the late 1800's, digital gaming evolved from the rise of amusement parks as a way to make it a more game-based environment. Believe it or not, most if not all people in the US have played at least some type of digital game in their life. Many people would believe playing games is a way of defining humanity. Digital gaming around the world has not only made an outstanding impact on the minds of humans, the economy, and even mass media, but it raises questions about the role in our democratic society. Even with such a question, I believe gaming will become even more coveted in everyday life as time progresses.

            Digital gaming was an indirect result of the Industrial Revolution. The earliest form was the penny arcades of the late 1800's, which are more commonly known as the pinball machines. The most basic form of digital gaming was the tennis-like game of Pong. The designer, Atari designed the game using 2-D graphics. This eventually became the most successful game for the home market in the 20^th century. These later evolved from the basic forms into more controversial forms, which in some cases included violence. Later on, The Nintendo Entertainment System was released, introducing the popular game, Super Mario Bros. This best seller is still sold all over the world today. Mario and Luigi, the main characters in this game, not only changed digital gaming, but they laid the foundation for future games.

            The first video games were described as CRT. Although this isn’t exactly, well known, the CRT provided images for TV and early computers. From home television games, arcades began to take the spotlight. They attracted many to compete against each other side by side rather than at home. A prime example of this would be the games Space Invaders or PacMan. Numerous arcades still have these games up and running simply because people can compete against each other one on one. Later, Consoles and Advancing graphics began to take over. These consoles eventually collaborated with the Internet and allowed gamers to play online.

            The Internet transformed gaming by allowing people to interactively connect with each other. This gave digital gaming the upper hand. Unfortunately, gaming has strongly influenced the social life of humans. Coming from personal experience, my middle school years consisted mainly of Halo, the famous MMORPG, Runescape, Football and Basketball. Anything other than that was irrelevant to me. Consoles were then converged to mobile gaming--apps. When people are not playing on consoles or the computer, they would easily turn to their phones or iPads for entertainment.

As far as the media playground, video games are classified into different genres ranging from action, to stimulation games. The two communities of play are both in and out of the game. The inside communities are PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. For instance, the term “Noob” refers to beginners. To avoid "noobs," gamers make clans to team up against these "noobs” On the other hand, the outside community refers to collective intelligence, game sites, and conventions. With gaming being such a high demand, it is very easy to recruit new players to buy these consoles, or memberships.

            Although gaming is a successful phenomenon, many opposed it. These issue raise concern about addiction, violence, and misogyny. A 2011 case study in Singapore, argued that one out of every ten children are pathological gamers. As far as violence and misogyny the games series Grand Theft Auto reveals male characters picking up prostitutes for sex, drug deals, and killing people. This led to the regulation of games. Entertainment Software Rating Board now rate games to prevent underage issues.

           The future of gaming really consists of competition in the business world, more than anything. According to the structure of digital game publishing, the publisher only receives a 1.5% profit, which is shocking to many, because games are sold around the world, creating a market for them. With technology evolving every day, digital gaming will always be successful in the economy.