Literature Review

For many years, the videogame industry has been a target of both parents and critics alike due to the violent content of some of these games. Many arguments suggest that people who play violent videogames become aggressive as a result of obsessively playing a particular game.

A strong supporter of this view is disbarred attorney Jack Thompson, an anti-videogame activist, who believes that game series such as, most notably, Grand Theft Auto are “murder simulators” that “train (the players) to kill” (Bradley, 2005).

Anderson and Dill (2000) undertook two studies, with results showing that the playing of violent videogames showed a clear relationship to aggressive behaviour and delinquency, with the relationship being stronger for men, and individuals who are characteristically aggressive.

On the other hand, Prensky (2002) argues that videogames are a valuable learning tool, perhaps even the most powerful learning mechanism ever known. He believes that a great deal of useful learning goes on, despite or in addition to the game’s content, something that he feels is largely ignored by critics.

Ferguson (2009) of Texas A&M International University found “no significant relationship” between a school shooting and violent videogames. It was found through further research that youth violence is related to depression caused by delinquent parents. By contrast, exposure to violence in videogames and on television had little or nothing to do with youth violence.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

• Good computing skills - very beneficial for the course I'm doing.
  
• I feel that I am a good learner, as for most things I am being taught, I can adapt fairly quickly and easily. For 3D Modelling, I managed to teach myself how to model and animate a very simple but effective character, complete with different facial expressions.
  

Weaknesses

• Difficulties with communication skills - since I suffer from Asperger Syndrome, I am generally very quiet by nature, so I find myself unable to speak up when needed.
• Presentation skills need improving. I have a tendency to stutter and react nervously under pressure when giving a presentation, or in other, similar situations.
  

Opportunities

• Since the pathway I'm following seems to be a mixture of most of the computing/media modules at the Univeristy, I'll (hopefully) be earning an all-around good degree that can provide me with many future opportunities.
• Because I'm doing things a bit differently to other students, I'll eventually leave University with both an HND and a BSc degree.
  

Threats

• After leaving University, I'll have a debt of over £12,000 to pay back to the Student Loans Company, however this (supposedly) doesn't have to be paid back until I'm earning at least £15,000 a year.
• There's also the possibility of me failing to earn my BSc degree. However, I will still have my HND degree.
  

Week 3 - VARK Questionnaire

This week, we undertook the Week 2 activities which were originally scheduled for last week.

We were handed out version 3 of the VARK Questionnaire, as a way of identifying our most preferable learning styles (VARK stands for Visual, Aural, Read/Write and Kinesthetic, which are of course the four main learning types). We basically had to answer each question, selecting whatever answers applied to us: we could circle more than one, or leave the question altogether.

My score, according to this questionnaire, was:

V = 5
A = 3
R = 11
K = 6

So according to these results, I have a strong preference for Reading and/or Writing over the other learning styles. In my opinion, the results don't completely reflect my way of learning, although as far as Aural learning goes, I'd say that it's pretty much correct: because I suffer from Asperger Syndrome, one of my weaknesses is that I can very easily misinterpret or forget spoken instructions, such as directions, and would much prefer written instructions or a map/diagram, so that I can go ahead and find the place myself.

The biggest problem with this version is that, for some questions, there were only three instead of four answers, which leaves only a total of 12 answers for each type of learning out of the 13 questions asked.

I decided to try the questionnaire again on the VARK website, where they currently have Version 7 which has 16 questions instead of 13, and no three-answer questions.

After answering the questions - some of which I noticed were the same as before while others were new - my results this time were as follows:

V = 8
A = 5
R = 11
K = 12

This time, the results show that I have a Mutimodal learning preference, with my main learning styles being Kinesthetic and Read/Write. I like learning by seeing things as well, however I do not always like hearing instructions, since as I mentioned before, I can very easily misinterpret or forget was has been said to me.

Week 2 - Library

For this week, instead of having the "How you Learn" lecture, we did the Week 4 "Using the Library" activities.

First of all, we had to go the the library in order to find sources for an upcoming 2000 word Academic Paper, which can be based on any of the following subjects:

1. Mobile Phones and their effect on society
2. Videogames and Violence
3. The effect of CGI on the film and animation industry

Videogaming is a favourite hobby of mine (but since coming back to University, it's probably best that I don't spend as much time gaming so as not to distract me from my work), and I feel that I know the industry well enough to be able to write an academic paper based on it.

Rather than relying on the Internet for information (as that would take away the very point of this week's activities), I looked to see what the library had to offer. Using the University's Digital Library, I searched for anything that contained the keywords "Videogames" and "Violence", and found and borrowed a book called Joystick Nation by J.C. Werz: this book has a whole chapter that discusses violence in videogames, and although the book was published back in 1997, much of this information is still relevant today.

Just as I can't simply rely on the Internet, I cannot rely on just this one book as a source, so I will look to see what else there is in the near future.

And after spending a good amount of time in the library looking for this book, we had a lecture on how to use the Digital Library. I am already in my third year at University, so most of this lecture was on things that I already knew.