Over
the course of mankind, story has constantly been evolving and so too has story-telling.
Stories used to be passed orally, then through books and other written pieces, to
the radio, to movies and now we see a whole new form of story... video games!
You’re
probably thinking that video games impede our story-telling mind not stimulate
it but I believe that it does just the opposite. Video games are actually expanding
our story-telling minds allowing us to learn, imagine, and experience new
stories. The best part about these stories is that they are interactive. Video games
actually enable you to have input into your own story! They aren’t like books
where you are reading somebody else’s tale, you are creating your own story! I
know that you are thinking that a lot of video games have set stories that you
must follow but that isn’t necessarily true. For example, in The Sims or in Minecraft there is no set campaign or story mode you have to follow.
In both of these video games you are able to create your own story within the
virtual world. You can roam and create your own life in the video game realm. Having
the ability to create your own story within these games isn’t blocking our
imagination and story-telling minds but in fact adding to it. It allows us to
experience scenarios that we would never be able to experience or be ready for in
the real world which will help you in the future. In addition to allowing us to
create our own stories they also offer cultural/life lessons as well. In most
games, they reward skill, courage, and honor. Eventually these traits are ingrained
in our brains and causes us to show these traits in real life. Also, video
games helps you learn strategy and planning as a result of the many ways you
can accomplish or overcome the obstacles in the game.
Some
people argue that sitting in front of the TV screen all day sucks the
imagination from your head, but actually these games are offering more stories
and are in fact helping our imagination. Studies have actually shown that kids
who play video games are more creative than kids who don’t. The study of 491 12-year-olds was conducted
by lead researcher Linda Jackson, a professor of psychology at Michigan State
University, as part of the Children and Technology Project. The study showed
that the more kids played video games, the more creative they were in tasks
like writing stories and drawing
pictures, as gauged by the figural version of the Torrance Test of Creativity. The
test uses picture exercises to measure mental characteristics like originality,
elaboration, and emotional expressiveness. The study shows that contrary to
popular belief, video games stimulate our story craving minds and offer a new
form of story that we can interact with. Video games prove that story is
constantly evolving and adapting itself to find new ways to be experienced and
spread. Who knows how story will evolve next?
This was a very interesting blog post! I remember reading about the stimulation of video games in The Storytelling Animal and it really captured my attention. I am usually against video games ,especially, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty and other violent games but after seeing this article my perspective has changed. If Video games allows the mind to think better and create better stories, then this phenomenon shall continue! The world needs story telling , to function regularly therefore,it will be intrigiung to see how imaginitive our brains can become from the contiuous advancement of the virtual world!
ReplyDeleteFirst off, commas. Second, video games are so addicting because we can explore worlds and stories that we can never experience in real life. It acts as an escape to the crappy world that we live in. And with modern games that allow us to connect to the entire world, we can communicate and share our story experiences with people globally. And lastly, commas.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. This is a powerful post in that you cite research that corresponds with your ideas (a good habit for online writing is to embed links to source material).
ReplyDeleteYou might remember that in "The Storytelling Animal," Jonathan Gattscahll identifies video games as the next frontier for stories. Check out Steven Johnson, author of "Everything Bad is Good For You." You can read his stuff or watch online interviews with him on this subject.