Video Games: A Changing Perspective that Once a Scapegoat, Now Something Even Parents love!
“Video Games are a new trend among the younger generation.” - Ahmet Demirok, 2019
This true, especially when Mathieu Comandon said that his mother plays Minecraft at times.
Throughout the years, video games were always the go-to scapegoat of people who were uninitiated
and of the media. However by time, thanks to mobile games and eSports, the image of video games
have been changed from negative to positive. Many industry experts believe that it will improve by
time and is already starting to change positively. Furthermore, the news sites often show news
within the gaming industry, especially with eSports games. Along with that, although many people
do not really care about video games in general, there are statistics that shows differing opinions
based on gender and race.
The Positive Change in Perspective, according to the Experienced Developers and Media
In the past, the media covered gaming in a negative image, due to the violence caused by the
gamers and the people seemed to have a negative opinion on games, such as how Philip Rebohle
(26, DXVK Developer) mentioned that how politicians in Germany blame games for the at the antisemitic attack in Halle and everything that is wrong within the society. However, as the time passes,
this approach has been changed, as the news sites, such as The Guardian now covers gaming,
especially eSports in a more positive way. In one article of the website, The Guardian explained
how a young fortnite player became a millionaire after winning a competition.
“Video Games are no longer within the niche and is a source for many movies and shows.” -
Mathieu Comandon (aka. “Strider”/“Strycore”), 41 – Lutris Developer:
Along with that, industry experts, such as Mathieu Comandon (also known under the names Strider
and strycore over the internet), a developer known for developing Lutris, a tool to simplify the
installation and running of Windows games on Linux and improve the gameplay quality over Linux
systems, who started playing games since he was around 11 years old (starting with the infamous
NES, which is an acronym for Nintendo Entertainment System, then moving on to Amiga 500),
mentions that although games haven't progressed a lot since the last decade, the games have started
to get out of their niche, especially when the tropes of video games are used in movies or TV
Shows, such as The Mandalorian (mentioned by strycore), as it takes a lot of cues and inspirations
from video games.
“He also believes that gaming has integrated into our culture and entertainment that it will stay here
in some form, meaning that he believes in a future where gaming is a more integrated part of our
lives.” - Opinion of Comandon from the interview
However, video games industry is still in its infancy, as it experiments with different concepts and
has been evolved over time and some having the sole aim of maximizing the profits, rather than
being player-friendly, while on the other hand, there is a tremendous amount of independent
developers now, releasing very high-quality works and polished titles. This gives a huge selection
of options for gaming to gamers and will cause a wider adoption in the future.
Liam Middlebrook (aka. “loothelion”), 24 – a DXVK contributor who works for a big
technology corporation
The DXVK contributor Liam “loothelion” Middlebrook (who also works for a technology industry
giant) also believes in a positive future for gaming. For the uninitiated, DXVK is a tool for Linux
that increases performance on Windows games when they’re run on a compatibility layer called
Wine (which is also available on macOS), by translating the graphics libraries of Microsoft’s
DirectX to the open source Vulkan, in which both are used for 3D rendering of the games.
Middlebrook mentions that eSports has turned gaming from a leisure activity to a more competitive
activity, in which Comandon mentions that there’s an eSports arena that hosts many gaming-related
events.
“Guys are more welcoming towards video games than girls do, due to exposure since
childhood.” - Alperen Erkek (aka. “alpino”), 24 - A Twitch streamer who streams CounterStrike: Global Offensive and Call of Duty and the former Bilkent eSports Society chairman
The streamer and the former Bilkent eSports Society chairman Alperen “alpino” Erkek mentions
how people have changed their perspectives on gaming more from the Turkish point of view, as he
mentions that people nowadays started to see how competitive gaming could be and how it could
lead one to earn money while gaming. He also mentions that this is more common and popular
outside of Turkey, but this popular trend has also been effective within the Turkish society, as there
were 3-4 big tournaments last year and he sees that more and more young people are into gaming on
a professional level as they aim to become professional players. Therefore, he believes that the
stance towards video games will be changed in a positive manner, at least the past shows and
confirms it that way.
Media and Celebrities
In terms of media, the stance has also started to shift to a more positive spectrum as the news has
started to show more positive aspects of the gaming industry. This is backed further with articles
from eSports Insider and The Guardian. In terms of eSports Insider, an article mentions how
Andbox, a group that owns New York Excelsior and New York Subliners, has received investment
from an infamous basketball player no other than Michael Jordan. Jordan has claimed that Andbox
cares about the culture of New York and he also mentioned that he does not invest in order to put
his name, but invests as he is passionate about it, in which he loves Call of Duty and everyone who
knows Jordan knows that he loves CoD. Along with that, The Guardian has an article about a 15
year old British Fortnite player named Jaden “Wolfiez” Ashman has earned $2.25m after winning a
tournament (Fortnite World Cup) with his Dutch friend and teammate Dave “Dojo” John in the
Duos event. Along with that, Ashman had issues with his mom about gaming, as she couldn’t accept
her son being a professional eSports player that easily and once thrown out his Xbox in the past.
This type of news proves that both eSports and regular news outlets are starting to take a positive
stance against gaming, in which this has been taken to a point where they describe infamous
tournaments such as what Fortnite World Cup is as a separate article, as it is done by The Guardian,
in which they mention that the $30m worth of eSports Tournaments such as Fortnite World Cup the
future is positive for the eSports tournaments.
Parents, Relatives and Video Games
Contrary to popular opinion, most parents do not care about their kids playing video games, nor do
they are against such an activity. Such an example is Ahmet Demirok, who is tending to be my
father, is saying that although he prefers that his kids would rather read a book, he is not against
gaming at all, besides the violence some games offer, such as Counter-Strike. He also believes that
gaming is the thing of the younger generation. Other than my dad, Lutris developer Comandon has
mentioned that his mother plays Minecraft once in a while, meaning that his parents like gaming.
Similar situation on his brother, as he played Japanese Roleplaying Games (jRPGs) in the past,
while his grandparents had no opinion on video games. Erkek says that his parents were positive
about gaming in general, as they were seeing it as a hobby and knew it was important for his
childhood.
“His grandparents, on the other hand, thought it was a waste of time, while not acknowledging the
competitive side of video games.” - Alpino’s Opinion from the interview
DXVK Developer Philip Rebohle mentioned that while his parents are okay with gaming, they are
against violent games.
While younger audience, such as Aslı Nur Demirok, my younger sister, believes that video games
are a form of art and believes that younger generations think more positively about it more than the
older generations.
Changing Opinion of the Society!
The society’s opinion regarding video games is usually neutral to positive, with data from the
interviewees from Germany (YoRHa-2B), USA (Strider/Strycore) and Turkey (alpino) and online
sources. Nearly all of them believe that the society has an inclination to accept video games more in
a positive manner. YoRHa-2B says that games are more accepted due to the increasing popularity of
mobile games, meanwhile Strider/Strycore (a French who is currently living in the US) says that in
LA, the video games industry is pretty pig, especially since it is the home of the infamous E3
(Electronic Entertainment Expo), an expo that is known for upcoming video games, consoles and
other gaming related things. Along with that, he says that there is an eSports arena next to Riot
Headquarters (Riot is known for League of Legends series), where they host events, in which this
shows how video games have become a part of the culture, despite an existent stigma that is still
attached, but it is slowly fading away.
Alpino, meanwhile, says that games are seen by the Turkish society as a relaxing and a childish
activity and that there is a negative opinion is one spends too much time gaming. In addition to that,
Erkek says that since guys are more likely to play games in their childhood, guys are more likely to
welcome, compared to girls.
Lastly, Liam Middlebrook says that since he is grown up in an environment where gaming is the
norm, the only opposition he got is the mistake of thinking that not liking FPS is not liking gaming
in general.
Pew Research Data – Different ethnicities have different opinions
According to the global research center Pew Research, the opinion on video games differs based on
racial background. According to a survey in the US conducted between June and July of 2015, it has
been concluded that Blacks/African Americans are more likely to think of the positive attributes
towards gaming and less likely to see it as a waste of time. In further details, the chart and survey
produced by Pew Research has three categories; Promote Teamwork and Communication, Promote
Problem Solving & Strategic Thinking and Waste of Time. In the first category, the Black
population was the top racial group with 19% of the people who believed that games promote
teamwork and communication, followed by Hispanics, who were 10%, with the last being Whites,
in which only 8% believed such an opinion. In terms of problem solving and strategic thinking,
Blacks were still the top ethnic group, as 22% of the Black population believed such an opinion,
followed by Hispanics (18%) and lastly by Whites (15%). In the last category (Waste of Time),
However, White population was the top ethnic group, with 28% of the White population were in the
notion of gaming is a waste of time, while Hispanics were still in the second place (21%), while the
lowest was the Black population, with only 15% of the population believed that gaming is a waste
of time.
Source: Pew Research
(pewresearch.com)
Negative Opinions
Other than the graph mentioned above, there is still a negative stigma towards games but not always
in an opinion regarding violence or waste of time. This is backed by Rebohle, as things like cloud
gaming platforms such as Google Stadia will be bad for people who like to modify their games.
Along with that, just like above, he mentioned that politicians are blaming video games for the AntiSemitic attack in Halle.
Overall
The stance towards video games are changing, despite the fact that there is a stigma that remains in
place. The media is more positive towards such an action compared to the past. The news now
cover positive aspects of gaming such as eSports as well as celebrities like Michael Jordan backing
eSports teams and organizations financially.
“Video games are going to be integrated into our culture in the future and the media are already
using video games as themes and my mom plays Minecraft.” - Comandon, 2019
(pewresearch.com)
Negative Opinions
Other than the graph mentioned above, there is still a negative stigma towards games but not always
in an opinion regarding violence or waste of time. This is backed by Rebohle, as things like cloud
gaming platforms such as Google Stadia will be bad for people who like to modify their games.
Along with that, just like above, he mentioned that politicians are blaming video games for the AntiSemitic attack in Halle.
Overall
The stance towards video games are changing, despite the fact that there is a stigma that remains in
place. The media is more positive towards such an action compared to the past. The news now
cover positive aspects of gaming such as eSports as well as celebrities like Michael Jordan backing
eSports teams and organizations financially.
“Video games are going to be integrated into our culture in the future and the media are already
using video games as themes and my mom plays Minecraft.” - Comandon, 2019
Works Cited
“JRPG.” Wiktionary, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/JRPG.
Green, G. & Kaufman, J. C. (2015). Video Games and Creativity. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Andrejkovics, Z. & Tischler, M. (2018). A newborn business, eSports: answering 56 real-life
questions in eSports: discovering the eSports business. Slovenia.
Snickars, P. & Volderau, P. (2019). The Youtube Reader. Stockholm: National Library of Sweden.
The Latest Esports Industry News. Retrieved from https://esportsinsider.com/
Anderson, M. (2015, December 17). Views on gaming differ by race, ethnicity. Retrieved from
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/12/17/views-on-gaming-differ-by-race-ethnicity/.
Comandon, M. (n.d.). About Lutris. Retrieved from https://lutris.net/about/.
Demirok, H. A. (n.d.). Video Games: a New Era in Sports! Retrieved from
https://comd331.weebly.com/hadnewsportsesports.html#.
Doitsujin. (2019, December 28). doitsujin/dxvk. Retrieved from https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk.
Draper, K. (2019, August 5). Video Games Aren't Why Shootings Happen. Politicians Still Blame
Them. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/sports/trump-violent-video-gamesstudies.html.
Duggan, M. (2019, December 31). Public Debates about Video Games: Women Players and Violent
Behavior. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/12/15/public-debatesabout-gaming-and-gamers.
Duggan, M. (2019, December 31). Americans' thoughts about video games. Retrieved from https://
www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/12/15/attitudes-about-video-games/.
Durkin, E. (2018, August 28). Madden NFL 19 tournaments cancelled as shooting suspect's history
emerges. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/aug/28/madden-nfl-19-
tournaments-florida-shooting.
Fitch, A. (2018, June 29). AirAsia becomes official airline partner of WESG Asean. Retrieved from
https://esportsinsider.com/2018/06/airasia-wesg-asean-partnership/.
Fitch, A. (2019, December 22). Germany introduces dedicated visa for esports. Retrieved from
https://esportsinsider.com/2019/12/germany-esports-visa/.
Fitch, A. (2019, December 22). Andbox receives investment from Michael B. Jordan. Retrieved from https://esportsinsider.com/2019/12/andbox-michael-b-jordan/.
Graham, B. A. (2019, July 30). Fortnite World Cup: the $30m tournament shows esports' future is already here. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jul/30/fortnite-world-cupesports.
Halliday, J., & Noor, P. (2019, July 28). British boy becomes Fortnite millionaire in World Cup tournament. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/games/2019/jul/28/british-boy-jadenashman-wolfiez-becomes-fortnite-millionaire-in-world-cup-tournament.
Lenhart, A. (2019, December 31). Video Games, Teen Boys and Building Social Skills and Friendships. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/08/06/chapter-3-videogames-are-key-elements-in-friendships-for-many-boys/.
Macgill, A. (2019, December 31). Is video gaming becoming the next family bonding activity? Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2007/11/19/is-video-gaming-becomingthe-next-family-bonding-activity/.
McKinnon, A. (2018, May 7). Extreme eSports: the very male, billion-dollar gaming industry at a stadium near you. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/may/08/extremeesports-the-very-male-billion-dollar-gaming-industry-at-a-stadium-near-you.
Penttila, N. (2019, October 30). Do Violent Video Games Lead to Violence? Retrieved from https:// dana.org/article/do-violent-video-games-lead-to-violence/.
Savino, B. (2016, April 8). The Rise of Gaming on YouTube. Retrieved from https://emorywheel.com/the-rise-of-gaming-on-youtube/.
Stuart, K. (2019, August 7). Video games do not cause violence – but makers do need to think about it. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/games/2019/aug/07/video-games-do-not-causeviolence-but-makers-do-need-to-think-about-it.
Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered Questions. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/anderson.
Warnick, A. (2019, October 1). Video games and health: Sorting science from popular beliefs - Many believe games cause gun violence. Retrieved from http://thenationshealth.aphapublications.org/content/49/8/1.2.
What is Wine? (n.d.). Retrieved December 31, 2019, from https://www.winehq.org/. Why YouTube Gaming Channels Are
Growing. Fast. (2019, July 26). Retrieved from https://mediakix.com/blog/youtube-gaming-channels-unprecedented-growth/.
Interviews with Strycore, loothelion, the Demiroks, alpino and YoRHa-2B Köstem, B. (2019). Molnar, O. (2019).
Interviews (all Cited)
1- YoRHa-2B
1. Philip Rebohle
2. technically as a little kid when I got a used Game Boy, but more seriously since around 2011.
3. They aren't exactly fans of the violent ones, but don't really care either way. They do not play any
video games themselves.
4. No idea.
5. Many (CS) students at my university are gamers, irrespective of gender. Some politicians in my
country still blame video games for everything that's wrong in the world, most recently for the
antisemitic attack in Halle.
6. Yes, especially with mobile games becoming more and more popular, video games have become
both more widespread and more socially accepted.
7. Probably negatively. With both mobile games and AAA console/PC games featuring more and
more exploitative monetization, and with trends like Cloud Gaming (like Google Stadia) being
proclaimed as "the future of gaming", I don't think there is a bright future ahead for players like me
who prefer off-line single-player experiences, or for the modding community on PC, just to name a
few examples.
2- Strycore
Note: The deadline for the first draft of the article is 31st of December 2019. In terms of details, the
more, the merrier.
1- What’s your full name and where are you from? (Forms could be: Name “nickname” Last
Name, just nickname or First Name Last Name, or however you feel like it)
My name is Mathieu Comandon, I grew up in different regions of France but I now live in Los
Angeles.
2- When did you first started to play video games?
One of the first experiences I had with video games were with arcade machines. Then I got to
try some NES games around the age of 11 which made me want to get into that more. My first
machine was an Amiga 500 that came a year later.
3- What does your parents think about video games?
My mom plays Minecraft once in a while!
4- What does your relatives (especially grandparents) think about video games?
I don’t think my grandparents had any opinion on video games. My brother used to play a lot
of jRPGs on Playstation but doesn’t really play now.
5- What does the society (including country, town, media and your workplace, if applicable)
around you think about video games? You can spread out the data by adding data with
details like difference of opinions between races and ethnicities, gender, etc. within your
society.
The video game industry is pretty big here in Los Angeles. This is where the annual E3 video
game expo takes place as well as many other events. This is also the city where a lot of studios
reside. There is even an eSport arena next to the Riot Games HQ where they host events. This
shows that video games have really become a big part of the culture and is now a really huge
industry. There is still some stigma attached to video games in the US society but that’s
becoming less common and is slowly fading away.
6- Has the stance towards video games changed within the last few years both globally and
locally?
While it seems that video games haven’t progressed a lot less technically in the past decade
than they have during the previous decades, there has been a lot of changes in how video
games have entered the mainstream culture. Video games are now spreading outside of their
own niche, especially in the film industry where gaming tropes are used for movies or TV
shows. A show like The Mandalorian, for example, takes a lot of its inspiration from video
games.
7- Do you think the stance will change positively or negatively in the future?
Gaming has established a strong presence in our culture and entertainment and it’s safe to say
that it’s here to stay in one form or another. Like all things digital, video games are very
young and the industry is still experimenting and evolving over time. Not all evolutions
offered by the industry are desirable for the gaming culture as a whole. The big publishers
tend to push features that are not consumer friendly, with an aim for maximizing profits at
the expense of the games themselves. On the other hand, there has never been such a high
amount of independent developers, some releasing very high quality works. This offers a wide
array of options to all types of players and will result over time in an even wider adoption.
3- loothelion
1. Liam Middlebrook (Loothelion)
2. I started playing video games around age 3-4, the first game I vividly
remember playing is Tonka Construction for PC.
3. My father doesn't have much of an opinion on video games. My mother enjoys
playing video games, mostly ones made by PopCap Entertainment.
4. My grandparents don't have an opinion on video games, back about 10 or so
years ago they had asked if I thought it was a "fad" that would come and go.
5. Generally I think the society around me feels either neutrally or positively
towards video games. I think generally up until 10-13 age level video games
didn't have gender association with them, then from 10-13 the majority of games
I saw guys playing were first-person or third-person shooters (not to conclude
that others didn't play, just that from my personal experience less were
interested in jumping to shooter genre). Those who didn't
care for the shooters still played games, but from perception were drowned-out
by the overwhelming excitement of those playing shooter games. At the 18+ age
level I've noticed that balance for gender in games restore, I think that's in
part due to the amount of time others and myself in this age-group have to play
games. When the environment for playing games shifted from playing Call of Duty
in the family basement to having friends over for dinner/drinks and putting up a couch-cooperative
or couch-competitive game the amount of investment needed to enjoy the game
decreased. I find that for shooters there's a large skill-gap which makes them
less desirable for casual play settings, as opposed to a game where the
mechanics foster a smaller skill-gap, expanding the range of enjoyable play.
My perspective for this may be skewed since I think I've grown myself into an
extremely pro-games environment; I majored in Game Design and Development at the
Rochester Institute of Technology. I think the largest opposition I see in my
weekly life towards games is when friends mistake not liking shooter games, for
not liking games in general.
6. I think the biggest change in stance towards games in the past few years has
been due to the rise of popularity of e-sports. Not only are games being seen as
a leisure activity, but also now as a competitive sport.
7. I think the stance has had positive trend and will continue to do so.
4- alpino
Note: The deadline for the first draft of the article is 31st of December 2019. In terms of details, the more,
the merrier.
1. What’s your full name and where are you from? (Forms could be: Name “nickname” Last Name, just
nickname or First Name Last Name, or however you feel like it)
Alperen “alpino” Erkek
Ankara
2. When did you first started to play video games?
I was around 9. It was Mario
3. What does your parents think about video games?
When I was playing video games actively, They were seeing it as a hobby and acknowledge its
importance to me in my life. Only time they had negative thoughts was for a certain time, I was
getting frustrated and therefore becoming angry a lot. Other than that, they trusted me to keep the
balance between video games and education, social life etc.
4. What does your relatives (especially grandparents) think about video games?
They’re seeing it as more classic way. Something more useless and waste of time. Although I’m
pretty sure they dont know competitive side of video games i.e esports
5. What does the society (including country, town, media and your workplace, if applicable) around
you think about video games? You can spread out the data by adding data with details like
difference of opinions between races and ethnicities, gender, etc. within your society.
Mostly they see it as something to relax and childish. There’s a negative opinion about it if one
spends too much time on it. Additionally, males are more welcoming compare to females. I believe
this is related to childhood since almost every male person played a video game in their childhood.
6. Has the stance towards video games changed within the last few years both globally and locally?
Indeed, nowadays people are started to see its competitive side and realise that people can actually
earn money thought it. This trend is more popular outside of Turkey but it still affects Turkey as
well. There has been 3-4 big tournaments organised in Turkey last year. And personally I started to
see more young people wants to professional esport player.
7- Do you think the stance will change positively or negatively in the future?
I think it will change in a positive way. At Least the past confirms it that way.
“JRPG.” Wiktionary, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/JRPG.
Green, G. & Kaufman, J. C. (2015). Video Games and Creativity. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Andrejkovics, Z. & Tischler, M. (2018). A newborn business, eSports: answering 56 real-life
questions in eSports: discovering the eSports business. Slovenia.
Snickars, P. & Volderau, P. (2019). The Youtube Reader. Stockholm: National Library of Sweden.
The Latest Esports Industry News. Retrieved from https://esportsinsider.com/
Anderson, M. (2015, December 17). Views on gaming differ by race, ethnicity. Retrieved from
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/12/17/views-on-gaming-differ-by-race-ethnicity/.
Comandon, M. (n.d.). About Lutris. Retrieved from https://lutris.net/about/.
Demirok, H. A. (n.d.). Video Games: a New Era in Sports! Retrieved from
https://comd331.weebly.com/hadnewsportsesports.html#.
Doitsujin. (2019, December 28). doitsujin/dxvk. Retrieved from https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk.
Draper, K. (2019, August 5). Video Games Aren't Why Shootings Happen. Politicians Still Blame
Them. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/05/sports/trump-violent-video-gamesstudies.html.
Duggan, M. (2019, December 31). Public Debates about Video Games: Women Players and Violent
Behavior. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/12/15/public-debatesabout-gaming-and-gamers.
Duggan, M. (2019, December 31). Americans' thoughts about video games. Retrieved from https://
www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/12/15/attitudes-about-video-games/.
Durkin, E. (2018, August 28). Madden NFL 19 tournaments cancelled as shooting suspect's history
emerges. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/aug/28/madden-nfl-19-
tournaments-florida-shooting.
Fitch, A. (2018, June 29). AirAsia becomes official airline partner of WESG Asean. Retrieved from
https://esportsinsider.com/2018/06/airasia-wesg-asean-partnership/.
Fitch, A. (2019, December 22). Germany introduces dedicated visa for esports. Retrieved from
https://esportsinsider.com/2019/12/germany-esports-visa/.
Fitch, A. (2019, December 22). Andbox receives investment from Michael B. Jordan. Retrieved from https://esportsinsider.com/2019/12/andbox-michael-b-jordan/.
Graham, B. A. (2019, July 30). Fortnite World Cup: the $30m tournament shows esports' future is already here. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/jul/30/fortnite-world-cupesports.
Halliday, J., & Noor, P. (2019, July 28). British boy becomes Fortnite millionaire in World Cup tournament. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/games/2019/jul/28/british-boy-jadenashman-wolfiez-becomes-fortnite-millionaire-in-world-cup-tournament.
Lenhart, A. (2019, December 31). Video Games, Teen Boys and Building Social Skills and Friendships. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/08/06/chapter-3-videogames-are-key-elements-in-friendships-for-many-boys/.
Macgill, A. (2019, December 31). Is video gaming becoming the next family bonding activity? Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2007/11/19/is-video-gaming-becomingthe-next-family-bonding-activity/.
McKinnon, A. (2018, May 7). Extreme eSports: the very male, billion-dollar gaming industry at a stadium near you. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/may/08/extremeesports-the-very-male-billion-dollar-gaming-industry-at-a-stadium-near-you.
Penttila, N. (2019, October 30). Do Violent Video Games Lead to Violence? Retrieved from https:// dana.org/article/do-violent-video-games-lead-to-violence/.
Savino, B. (2016, April 8). The Rise of Gaming on YouTube. Retrieved from https://emorywheel.com/the-rise-of-gaming-on-youtube/.
Stuart, K. (2019, August 7). Video games do not cause violence – but makers do need to think about it. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/games/2019/aug/07/video-games-do-not-causeviolence-but-makers-do-need-to-think-about-it.
Violent Video Games: Myths, Facts, and Unanswered Questions. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/anderson.
Warnick, A. (2019, October 1). Video games and health: Sorting science from popular beliefs - Many believe games cause gun violence. Retrieved from http://thenationshealth.aphapublications.org/content/49/8/1.2.
What is Wine? (n.d.). Retrieved December 31, 2019, from https://www.winehq.org/. Why YouTube Gaming Channels Are
Growing. Fast. (2019, July 26). Retrieved from https://mediakix.com/blog/youtube-gaming-channels-unprecedented-growth/.
Interviews with Strycore, loothelion, the Demiroks, alpino and YoRHa-2B Köstem, B. (2019). Molnar, O. (2019).
Interviews (all Cited)
1- YoRHa-2B
1. Philip Rebohle
2. technically as a little kid when I got a used Game Boy, but more seriously since around 2011.
3. They aren't exactly fans of the violent ones, but don't really care either way. They do not play any
video games themselves.
4. No idea.
5. Many (CS) students at my university are gamers, irrespective of gender. Some politicians in my
country still blame video games for everything that's wrong in the world, most recently for the
antisemitic attack in Halle.
6. Yes, especially with mobile games becoming more and more popular, video games have become
both more widespread and more socially accepted.
7. Probably negatively. With both mobile games and AAA console/PC games featuring more and
more exploitative monetization, and with trends like Cloud Gaming (like Google Stadia) being
proclaimed as "the future of gaming", I don't think there is a bright future ahead for players like me
who prefer off-line single-player experiences, or for the modding community on PC, just to name a
few examples.
2- Strycore
Note: The deadline for the first draft of the article is 31st of December 2019. In terms of details, the
more, the merrier.
1- What’s your full name and where are you from? (Forms could be: Name “nickname” Last
Name, just nickname or First Name Last Name, or however you feel like it)
My name is Mathieu Comandon, I grew up in different regions of France but I now live in Los
Angeles.
2- When did you first started to play video games?
One of the first experiences I had with video games were with arcade machines. Then I got to
try some NES games around the age of 11 which made me want to get into that more. My first
machine was an Amiga 500 that came a year later.
3- What does your parents think about video games?
My mom plays Minecraft once in a while!
4- What does your relatives (especially grandparents) think about video games?
I don’t think my grandparents had any opinion on video games. My brother used to play a lot
of jRPGs on Playstation but doesn’t really play now.
5- What does the society (including country, town, media and your workplace, if applicable)
around you think about video games? You can spread out the data by adding data with
details like difference of opinions between races and ethnicities, gender, etc. within your
society.
The video game industry is pretty big here in Los Angeles. This is where the annual E3 video
game expo takes place as well as many other events. This is also the city where a lot of studios
reside. There is even an eSport arena next to the Riot Games HQ where they host events. This
shows that video games have really become a big part of the culture and is now a really huge
industry. There is still some stigma attached to video games in the US society but that’s
becoming less common and is slowly fading away.
6- Has the stance towards video games changed within the last few years both globally and
locally?
While it seems that video games haven’t progressed a lot less technically in the past decade
than they have during the previous decades, there has been a lot of changes in how video
games have entered the mainstream culture. Video games are now spreading outside of their
own niche, especially in the film industry where gaming tropes are used for movies or TV
shows. A show like The Mandalorian, for example, takes a lot of its inspiration from video
games.
7- Do you think the stance will change positively or negatively in the future?
Gaming has established a strong presence in our culture and entertainment and it’s safe to say
that it’s here to stay in one form or another. Like all things digital, video games are very
young and the industry is still experimenting and evolving over time. Not all evolutions
offered by the industry are desirable for the gaming culture as a whole. The big publishers
tend to push features that are not consumer friendly, with an aim for maximizing profits at
the expense of the games themselves. On the other hand, there has never been such a high
amount of independent developers, some releasing very high quality works. This offers a wide
array of options to all types of players and will result over time in an even wider adoption.
3- loothelion
1. Liam Middlebrook (Loothelion)
2. I started playing video games around age 3-4, the first game I vividly
remember playing is Tonka Construction for PC.
3. My father doesn't have much of an opinion on video games. My mother enjoys
playing video games, mostly ones made by PopCap Entertainment.
4. My grandparents don't have an opinion on video games, back about 10 or so
years ago they had asked if I thought it was a "fad" that would come and go.
5. Generally I think the society around me feels either neutrally or positively
towards video games. I think generally up until 10-13 age level video games
didn't have gender association with them, then from 10-13 the majority of games
I saw guys playing were first-person or third-person shooters (not to conclude
that others didn't play, just that from my personal experience less were
interested in jumping to shooter genre). Those who didn't
care for the shooters still played games, but from perception were drowned-out
by the overwhelming excitement of those playing shooter games. At the 18+ age
level I've noticed that balance for gender in games restore, I think that's in
part due to the amount of time others and myself in this age-group have to play
games. When the environment for playing games shifted from playing Call of Duty
in the family basement to having friends over for dinner/drinks and putting up a couch-cooperative
or couch-competitive game the amount of investment needed to enjoy the game
decreased. I find that for shooters there's a large skill-gap which makes them
less desirable for casual play settings, as opposed to a game where the
mechanics foster a smaller skill-gap, expanding the range of enjoyable play.
My perspective for this may be skewed since I think I've grown myself into an
extremely pro-games environment; I majored in Game Design and Development at the
Rochester Institute of Technology. I think the largest opposition I see in my
weekly life towards games is when friends mistake not liking shooter games, for
not liking games in general.
6. I think the biggest change in stance towards games in the past few years has
been due to the rise of popularity of e-sports. Not only are games being seen as
a leisure activity, but also now as a competitive sport.
7. I think the stance has had positive trend and will continue to do so.
4- alpino
Note: The deadline for the first draft of the article is 31st of December 2019. In terms of details, the more,
the merrier.
1. What’s your full name and where are you from? (Forms could be: Name “nickname” Last Name, just
nickname or First Name Last Name, or however you feel like it)
Alperen “alpino” Erkek
Ankara
2. When did you first started to play video games?
I was around 9. It was Mario
3. What does your parents think about video games?
When I was playing video games actively, They were seeing it as a hobby and acknowledge its
importance to me in my life. Only time they had negative thoughts was for a certain time, I was
getting frustrated and therefore becoming angry a lot. Other than that, they trusted me to keep the
balance between video games and education, social life etc.
4. What does your relatives (especially grandparents) think about video games?
They’re seeing it as more classic way. Something more useless and waste of time. Although I’m
pretty sure they dont know competitive side of video games i.e esports
5. What does the society (including country, town, media and your workplace, if applicable) around
you think about video games? You can spread out the data by adding data with details like
difference of opinions between races and ethnicities, gender, etc. within your society.
Mostly they see it as something to relax and childish. There’s a negative opinion about it if one
spends too much time on it. Additionally, males are more welcoming compare to females. I believe
this is related to childhood since almost every male person played a video game in their childhood.
6. Has the stance towards video games changed within the last few years both globally and locally?
Indeed, nowadays people are started to see its competitive side and realise that people can actually
earn money thought it. This trend is more popular outside of Turkey but it still affects Turkey as
well. There has been 3-4 big tournaments organised in Turkey last year. And personally I started to
see more young people wants to professional esport player.
7- Do you think the stance will change positively or negatively in the future?
I think it will change in a positive way. At Least the past confirms it that way.
