tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/multiplayer-gaming-19412/articlesMultiplayer gaming – The Conversation2022-11-10T02:06:54Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1931102022-11-10T02:06:54Z2022-11-10T02:06:54ZExtremists use video games to recruit vulnerable youth. Here’s what parents and gamers need to know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494561/original/file-20221110-22-gdzirx.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C25%2C1917%2C1051&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Clinton Crumpler/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Reports of far-right extremists trying to recruit young people through video games have raised concerns for parents, guardians and youth alike. </p>
<p>In October, a statement from Australian Federal Police <a href="https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/extremist-recruitment-reaching-young-australian-gamers">said officers had</a> seen evidence of extremist groups trying to recruit young people through online games. In one instance, a teen had shared a video game recreation of the 2019 Christchurch attack.</p>
<p>Another recent example came from online gaming platform Roblox, in which some users had set up recreations of the <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=TAWEB_WRE170_a&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theaustralian.com.au%2Fnation%2Fplayers-posing-as-nazis-discovered-in-popular-childrens-video-game%2Fnews-story%2F16ae0c4f0002d0eabff2dd6b96b7c2d1&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&v21=dynamic-high-control-score&V21spcbehaviour=append">Nazi Third Reich</a>.</p>
<p>Extremist groups, including jihadists and neo-Nazis, have a history of using video games to spread messages of hate. And while this doesn’t mean all gamers will be exposed, or radicalised if they are, it’s still a concern for security agencies the world over. Parents, guardians and gamers should be aware of the risks.</p>
<h2>Is far-right extremism in gaming a problem?</h2>
<p>Violent video games are sometimes blamed for acts of <a href="https://dana.org/article/do-violent-video-games-lead-to-violence/">terrorist violence</a>, especially when perpetrators are identified as gamers. However, although some studies have found violent games can cause players to become <a href="https://www.psypost.org/2022/01/people-who-frequently-play-call-of-duty-show-neural-desensitization-to-painful-images-according-to-study-62264">desensitised to violent images</a>, decades of research have not shown a link between violent games and violent behaviour <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/violent-video-games-and-young-people.">in real life</a>.</p>
<p>That said, far-right extremists have long used games and gaming platforms to try to spread hateful ideologies. </p>
<p>There are many different beliefs that might fall under the label “far right”, but generally these ideologies are united in being anti-democratic, racist and against multiculturalism and equality. </p>
<p>Since as early as 2002, American neo-Nazi organisations have been creating and selling their own “<a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2002/games-extremists-play">white power” games</a>, and modifying existing popular games to suit their agenda. Extremists will also <a href="https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/networks/radicalisation-awareness-network-ran/publications/extremists-use-gaming-adjacent-platforms-insights-regarding-primary-and-secondary-prevention_en">try to recruit</a> through in-game chat functions and gaming-adjacent platforms (such as where games are streamed).</p>
<p>In 2002, American neo-Nazi leader <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjPwuDl_437AhUR93MBHWptCi0QFnoECAoQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.supremecourt.gov%2Fopinions%2FURLs_Cited%2FOT2010%2F08-1448%2F08-1448-14.PDF&usg=AOvVaw33SGbmp1Z4D7Mdmt5SV10V">Matt Hale said</a>, in regards to recruiting people to his white supremacist “church”:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If we can influence video games and entertainment, it will make people understand we are their friends and neighbours.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In 2018, violent <a href="https://www.nationalsecurity.gov.au/what-australia-is-doing-subsite/Pages/National-Socialist-Order.aspx">terrorist group</a> Atomwaffen Division (also called the National Socialist Order) was <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/zmwg38/atomwaffen-division-steam-youtube">found posting freely</a> on the gaming platform Steam, before eventually being banned. A year later in 2019, the US Anti-Defamation League <a href="https://www.adl.org/steamextremism">raised the alarm</a> about extremist content still spreading on Steam. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494563/original/file-20221110-19-2uqmf2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A screenstill of a Call of Duty scoreboard after a match." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494563/original/file-20221110-19-2uqmf2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/494563/original/file-20221110-19-2uqmf2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494563/original/file-20221110-19-2uqmf2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494563/original/file-20221110-19-2uqmf2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494563/original/file-20221110-19-2uqmf2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494563/original/file-20221110-19-2uqmf2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/494563/original/file-20221110-19-2uqmf2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many gaming franchises, including the Call of Duty franchise, have online modes that let players connect and chat with others from all over the world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bfsminid/2774567451/">Sam Delon/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<h2>The tactics far-right extremists use to recruit</h2>
<p>Former white supremacist Christian Picciolini <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/8umemf/i_am_christian_picciolini_a_former_white/">has explained on Reddit</a> how far-right extremist recruiters target “marginalised youth” using popular games such as Fortnite, Minecraft and Call of Duty. </p>
<p>They “drop benign hints and then ramp up” when players are “hooked” on their message, Picciolini said. Of his own experience of being recruited, he said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They appealed to my desperate need for identity, community and purpose. I was bullied and they provided safety. I was lonely and they provided family. That’s how they draw people in, with a sense of belonging and ‘humanitarianism’.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Far-right extremists will often interpret games to suit their own positions. For instance, they’ll point to the inherent superiority of a fantasy game species, such as elves, to draw false and racist parallels with reality.</p>
<p>They’ll also use gaming to find and build connections with others who share their views. By playing together they can reinforce each other’s beliefs, bond over “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-15/alt-right-groups-video-games-radicalising-young-men-extremism/101212494">dark humour</a>” and use the game to act out violent fantasies. </p>
<p>And while moderating sites to remove extremist content is important, it’s complex to do in democracies for a range of <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=OadeEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=moderation+extremism+limits+digital&ots=Ea5c1nRy_E&sig=ohQyttckPLdM2Drw8_A91PIKp9M&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=moderation%20extremism%20limits%20digital&f=false">technical, legal and ethical reasons</a>. Moderation should not be relied on as the only method for addressing far-right extremism online. </p>
<p>Extremists can also find ways to avoid moderation, such as by using coded language. For instance, <a href="https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/1488">88 and 1488</a> are both associated with neo-Nazism – but most people wouldn’t know it.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/can-gaming-addiction-lead-to-depression-or-aggression-in-young-people-heres-what-the-evidence-says-168847">Can gaming 'addiction' lead to depression or aggression in young people? Here’s what the evidence says</a>
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<h2>What can we do about it?</h2>
<p>As counter-terrorism expert Greg Barton recently <a href="https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/stark-warning-for-parents-from-afp-after-online-childrens-games-are-linked-to-terrorist-groups-c-8567631">told Channel 7</a>, far-right extremists aim to prey on young, vulnerable young people as part of a potential radicalisation process:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s the sort of predatory behaviour where they’re trying to win their confidence that’s the concern. The video, the games, that’s just the bait to get them hooked.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As you’d expect, extremists use plenty of other hooks too. These include gyms and <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/mark-joined-a-mens-fitness-club-now-its-become-an-armed-neo-nazi-cell/30p74jicx">fitness groups</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/oct/17/eva-wiseman-conspirituality-the-dark-side-of-wellness-how-it-all-got-so-toxic">wellness culture</a> and even <a href="https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/pages/page/factbook-far-right-extremism-december-2019_en">animal rights and environmentalism</a>. So recruitment via games is part of a wider problem. </p>
<p>Parents, guardians and young gamers can take protective steps – the first of which is to understand that extremist ideologies online can have an impact in the real world. It’s also important to remember video games themselves are not a cause of extremism, and both security services and parents should avoid <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjPxJjN4Y77AhUf83MBHfykCZIQFnoECBYQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fec.europa.eu%2Fhome-affairs%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fwhat-we-do%2Fnetworks%2Fradicalisation_awareness_network%2Fabout-ran%2Fran-c-and-n%2Fdocs%2Fran_cn_conclusion_paper_videogames_15-17092020_en.pdf&usg=AOvVaw1WOhmWKi-9-AnInWe0xjVT">thinking as such</a>. </p>
<p>Further, not all young people who come into contact with extremist material or far-right extremists online will become radicalised. In fact, some people <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0886260517747599">become more prosocial</a> when they encounter extremist propaganda. In other words, they think less aggressively and more empathetically towards others.</p>
<p>Millions of people play video games, but only a tiny proportion are radicalised towards violent ideologies or acts. </p>
<p>The best thing parents and community can do is be aware of the risks and be involved in the lives and interests of young people – especially when navigating the online world. This isn’t always easy, but the Australian eSafety Commissioner <a href="https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/issues-and-advice/parental-controls">has some tips</a> on how to do this. </p>
<p>The US-based Western States Centre, which works against bigotry, also has a <a href="https://www.westernstatescenter.org/caregivers">toolkit for parents and caregivers</a> on engaging with extremism and conspiracy theories. According to one of the authors, former educator and diversity consultant Christine Saxman, debating young people will likely not work:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>You want to be on that critical thinking journey with them, not fighting them.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Australian Federal Police also <a href="https://www.afp.gov.au/news-media/media-releases/extremist-recruitment-reaching-young-australian-gamers">details warning signs</a> that might indicate someone is being drawn into far-right extremist beliefs. These include becoming distant from friends and family, and using violent, angry or abusive language (especially towards minority groups or public figures). </p>
<p>For more information you can visit the Australian government’s <a href="https://www.livingsafetogether.gov.au/seek-help-and-report">Living Safe Together</a> website. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-bans-video-games-for-things-youd-see-in-movies-but-gamers-can-access-them-anyway-122183">Australia bans video games for things you'd see in movies. But gamers can access them anyway</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193110/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Young does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For decades extremist groups – especially the far right – have used gaming and game-adjacent platforms to try to radicalise gamers.Helen Young, Lecturer, School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1358092020-04-13T19:57:52Z2020-04-13T19:57:52ZGaming fosters social connection at a time of physical distance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325984/original/file-20200407-36391-1vq6esv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C4%2C2983%2C1993&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/qOG2wULJ9V0">Priyam Raj/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As COVID-19 spreads around the globe, many of us feel we have no voice, no ability to affect change. There is nothing we can really do other than try to “<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-flatten-the-curve-of-coronavirus-a-mathematician-explains-133514">flatten the curve</a>”. </p>
<p>Recent news coverage has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/who-video-games-coronavirus-pandemic-mental-health-disorder-2020-4?r=US&IR=T">noted World Health Organisation support of gaming</a> as a way to escape from the daily reality of exponential curves and tragic news stories. This narrative reflects rapid change in how gaming is perceived.</p>
<p>It wasn’t long ago video games were still being <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2019/08/05/do-violent-video-games-really-drive-people-commit-mass-shootings/1924128001/">blamed for school shootings and real-world violence</a> without evidence. “Game addiction” was touted as a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2019/08/05/do-violent-video-games-really-drive-people-commit-mass-shootings/1924128001/">new classification by the WHO</a> despite the assurances of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6035022/">researchers and medical practitioners</a>. Indeed, games have long been blamed for society’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/games-blamed-for-moral-decline-and-addiction-throughout-history-123900">moral decline</a>.</p>
<p>Now suddenly, video games have become a darling of shelter-in-place and stay-at-home orders. They are a form of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-27/coronavirus-social-distancing-friends-online-animal-crossing/12080982">social engagement</a> that allow humans to safely follow our instincts to gather together in a time of anxiety. They allow us moments of escape and a sense of agency when we feel we have none.</p>
<h2>Gamers as loners</h2>
<p>The historical narrative around gamers describes them as anti-social, in service to the myth of the lone teenage boy playing in a basement, perched on pizza boxes in the dark, dimly outlined by the glow of the screen. </p>
<p>This stereotype was never true. Games have always been social, from the <a href="https://www.oldest.org/entertainment/board-games/">first multiplayer board game</a> in ancient Egypt to the <a href="https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3900/the_history_of_pong_avoid_missing_.php?print=1">installation of Pong!</a> in a bar in Sunnyvale, California, to the <a href="https://timeline.com/golden-age-video-arcades-940a177ccb30">arcades</a> and neighbourhood gatherings of the 1980s.</p>
<p>During COVID-19, people aren’t playing alone – they are using games to come together. Many are sharing their <a href="https://animal-crossing.com/">Animal Crossing</a> connect codes to <a href="https://www.inverse.com/gaming/animal-crossing-new-horizons-multiplayer-coop-party-play-airport">unlock multiplayer modes</a>, and gathering in massive multiplayer games on <a href="https://www.playstation.com/en-au/explore/playstation-network/your-psn/">PlayStation Network</a> (which had <a href="https://www.playstation.com/en-us/corporate/press-releases/2020/playstation-network-monthly-active-users-reaches-103-million/">over 100 million monthly users</a> before coronavirus hit) or <a href="https://www.xbox.com/en-AU/live">XBOX Live</a>. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325980/original/file-20200407-18916-y6jkbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325980/original/file-20200407-18916-y6jkbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325980/original/file-20200407-18916-y6jkbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325980/original/file-20200407-18916-y6jkbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325980/original/file-20200407-18916-y6jkbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325980/original/file-20200407-18916-y6jkbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325980/original/file-20200407-18916-y6jkbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325980/original/file-20200407-18916-y6jkbf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Players can share codes to meet up on online islands and play Animal Crossing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1585857188908-5b6de3179683?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1350&q=80">Sara Kurfeß/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>The free game <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/call-of-duty-warzone/9mwwnmh6z0jh?activetab=pivot:overviewtab">Call of Duty: Warzone One</a> <a href="https://ew.com/gaming/coronavirus-videogames-industry-impact/">has spiked</a> in terms of online multiplayer activity, drawing more than 15 million players online within days of its release. </p>
<p>The videogame industry is <a href="https://cowen.bluematrix.com/sellside/EmailDocViewer?encrypt=511852dd-fc31-49b8-8870-277abe4f1526&mime=pdf&co=Cowen&id=georg.szalai@thr.com&source=mail">expected to fare better</a> than other business sectors affected by coronavirus. </p>
<p>Players are finding not just an escape from the news of the pandemic or the same four walls of their home, but also social interaction, human contact, value in knowing there are others out there. It’s the reason the industry is rallying around <a href="https://venturebeat.com/2020/04/05/40-more-game-companies-join-whos-playaparttogether-coronavirus-awareness-campaign/">#PlayApartTogether</a>, a promotion organised by gaming companies on behalf of the WHO that has gained more than 4.7 billion consumer media impressions (or times online content is consumed) worldwide. </p>
<p>Similarly, opinion pieces are now challenging our prior notions around <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/opinion/screen-time-kids-covid.html">screen time</a> limits for children in isolation and the virtues of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/technology/coronavirus-how-to-live-online.html">living online</a>.</p>
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<h2>We can be heroes</h2>
<p>As an academic and a researcher, I’m tracking stories of how these lockdowns are giving us a chance to bond with family members. I’ve seen a friend connecting in new ways with his 11-year old son, because they are both at home and playing Minecraft. </p>
<p>Several colleagues are pursuing active research into how games are helping people cope in this time of stress and panic, how they are sharing information, and how their interaction with games is a tool for social survival. </p>
<p>The use of Twitch, Amazon’s live streaming service for gamers, is <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/21185114/twitch-youtube-livestreaming-streamelements-coronavirus-quarantine-viewership-numbers">up 10% globally and as high as 66% in hard hit areas such as Italy</a>. The platform is also seeing users expand into non-game activities such as cooking classes, yoga or <a href="https://www.kotaku.com.au/2020/03/professor-calls-students-idea-to-teach-class-on-twitch-terrible-does-it-anyway/">university lectures</a>. </p>
<p>Games also give us a form of agency that is somewhat different than other media. They provide us a sense of control, the ability to be a hero or save the world. They give us the ability to explore, to compete, to solve. They can engage us in epic quests, allow us to solve mystery, conquer aliens, and more. </p>
<p>Australian charity <a href="https://checkpointorg.com/checkpoint-playaparttogether-challenge/">CheckPoint</a>, which provides mental health resources for gamers and the gaming community, is gathering stories of online connections during social isolation. They suggest gamers create an “interactive story” on their social media timeline, reach out to gamers they’ve lost touch with or try boardgames via an online <a href="https://www.tabletopsimulator.com/">tabletop simulator</a>. </p>
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<p>Although no one is suggesting games can give us real-life pandemic solutions, they can <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/opinion/pandemic-game-covid.html">simulate a pandemic and help us explore response strategies that rely on cooperation</a>. We can temporarily inhabit an alternate universe where we <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/plague-inc-develops-a-game-version-in-which-you-save-the-world-from-a-virus-pandemic">save the world from outbreak scenarios</a>. They remind us we have agency and effect, that we can continue to strategise until we come up with winning solutions, and that there are often numerous ways to win.</p>
<p>Longer term, games can help more young people engage in science, technology, arts or maths <a href="https://www.neafoundation.org/ideas-voices/ionfuture/">careers</a> or <a href="https://www.nsta.org/publications/news/story.aspx?id=57938">studies</a>, and even <a href="https://books.google.co.nz/books?id=XX5xDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA137&lpg=PA137&dq=gapp+lab+utah&source=bl&ots=uhaPdGgGyL&sig=ACfU3U1ZgadGd2MqtZlx9uWOPMqGh_NDIQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjinvmd7bvoAhVFU30KHZR_D-0Q6AEwCXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=GApp%20lab&f=false">engage both patients and doctors in research on health and well-being</a> in new ways. All these outcomes seem critical to our long term future in ways they didn’t just a few short weeks ago.</p>
<p>COVID-19 may be the turning point when the world realises playing video games is potentially a form of empowerment that brings people together to solve real world problems. It may be a critical moment where we reflect on the importance and power of play.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135809/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Phelps receives funding from the Tertiary Education Commission of New Zealand in support of his efforts to explore applied immersive gaming and its use in applications ranging from health, education, simulation, and entrepreneurship. He has also received funding in the past from other relevant agencies and organizations both in New Zealand and the United States in support of his academic research. </span></em></p>No longer seen as gaming loners sitting in basements on stacked up pizza boxes, video game players are finding meaningful social connections despite physical isolation.Andrew M. Phelps, Professor, University of CanterburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1233592019-09-17T04:25:01Z2019-09-17T04:25:01ZApple Arcade and Google Stadia aim to offer frictionless gaming, if your NBN plan can handle it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292734/original/file-20190917-19059-xioc33.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C21%2C2035%2C1339&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Google's Stadia will be available through the Google Chrome web browser, on smartphones, smart televisions, tablets, and through Chromecast.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stadia_Cloud_gaming_Gamescom_Cologne_2019_(48605890597).jpg">dronepicr/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two of the biggest tech companies in the world, Apple and Google, are launching cloud-based gaming services this year. </p>
<p>Apple Arcade, due for release in two days, will ultimately go head-to-head with Google’s Stadia when the latter launches in November. And both will also be battling a surprising foe: friction.</p>
<p>In this context, “friction” means anything that increases inconvenience for the user. Friction makes you take extra steps, think more than necessary, or work harder to get the service you want. In designing a gaming platform, friction is bad. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gaming-through-the-ages-older-australians-are-embracing-video-games-44899">Gaming through the ages: older Australians are embracing video games</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>Both companies will attempt to reduce friction by using <a href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-au/overview/what-is-cloud-computing/">cloud technology</a> to store digital resources and services on their own servers, and deliver them to clients through the internet. </p>
<p>The game files will thus be stored and shared in much the same way that documents or photos are currently handled via DropBox, Google Drive, and Apple’s iCloud.</p>
<p>Specifically, Apple Arcade will use a model called “infrastructure as a service”. As long as you have an Apple device, you can play hundreds of games at any time, from any location, including offline (once you’ve downloaded the game). </p>
<p>This model outsources the problem of data storage to remote data centres around the world. The user’s device remains responsible for the operating system, maintenance of the software (such as <a href="https://www.techopedia.com/definition/24537/patch">patches</a> and graphics drivers) and real-time processing of data.</p>
<p>Google Stadia is planning to use a slightly different model, called “platform as a service”. This means Google will take care of all the maintenance and processing requirements too, so the user’s device acts only as a receptacle for hosting the application and user data.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292149/original/file-20190912-190031-15mafrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292149/original/file-20190912-190031-15mafrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/292149/original/file-20190912-190031-15mafrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292149/original/file-20190912-190031-15mafrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292149/original/file-20190912-190031-15mafrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=295&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292149/original/file-20190912-190031-15mafrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292149/original/file-20190912-190031-15mafrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/292149/original/file-20190912-190031-15mafrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Google’s Stadia has a ‘platform as a service’ model which requires the user to maintain only certain aspects of data and the application on their device.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Laura Bernheim / Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Budget-friendly gaming?</h2>
<p>Both services will use a flat rate, monthly subscription model to let users play a multitude of games that would otherwise cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. </p>
<p>For Apple Arcade all games are included in this fee, but you need suitable Apple hardware. </p>
<p>Ambitiously, Google’s Stadia promises to eradicate the limitation of hardware cost. Google will handle the hardware requirements, software processing and maintenance. </p>
<p>Instead of needing an expensive PC with the latest hardware and software, or dedicated gaming console, Stadia users simply need an inexpensive computing device such as a phone, Chromecast, or smart TV. All of the heavier processing requirements will be handled by Google, and the games simply beamed to your device. </p>
<p>However, unlike Apple Arcade, Stadia requires payment for individual games (neither of the services will have in-app purchases requiring additional payment).</p>
<p>When it comes to mobility, both Stadia and Apple Arcade will offer gameplay across multiple devices, from any location with all progress saved. </p>
<p>Sounds great right? What could possibly be the downside of these services?</p>
<p>We should heed culture critic Neil Postman’s <a href="https://mcluhangalaxy.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/neil-postman-on-technologys-faustian-bargain/">warning regarding technology</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>New technology is a kind of Faustian bargain. It always gives us something, but it always takes away something important. That’s true of the alphabet, and the printing press, and telegraph, right up through the computer.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The Faustian bargain in this context involves privacy and data, connectivity, and user control. </p>
<h2>Privacy and data</h2>
<p>As with any network technology, as soon as you opt into Apple Arcade or Google Stadia, your data becomes part of their system. </p>
<p>In digital games, it’s possible to track all kinds of user behaviour as you play. </p>
<p>While this might not lead to the building of psychological profiles and user manipulation on the scale of the Facebook <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/17/facebook-cambridge-analytica-kogan-data-algorithm">Cambridge Analytica scandal</a>, Google and other Silicon Valley giants have <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/should-big-tech-own-our-personal-data/">an awful record of respecting user privacy</a>.</p>
<h2>Network connectivity</h2>
<p>Bad internet connection? Sorry, you’re out. </p>
<p>If you opt for Apple Arcade, this is less of a problem as you can download the game and play offline, but depending on your connection it can take minutes or hours before you can start playing - and let’s hope you don’t have a monthly data limit.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, to achieve 4K resolution streaming using Stadia, you require a steady flow of 20 megabits per second (Mbps). This will require a National Broadband Network (NBN) connection, but the <a href="https://www.whistleout.com.au/Broadband/Guides/what-nbn-speed-do-you-need">entry-level NBN plan achieves a meagre 7Mpbs average</a>.</p>
<p>Even for 720p resolution, <a href="https://www.videosolo.com/tutorials/screen-resolution-comparison.html">which barely qualifies as high-definition</a>, you need 10Mbps. Simply put, you’re going to need to pay for an upper-tier NBN plan, assuming that’s even possible in your area.</p>
<h2>Mods and extras</h2>
<p>Apple Arcade and Google Stadia also remove the potential for mods in gaming. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.pcgamer.com/au/a-beginners-guide-to-mods/">Mods</a> (an abbreviation of “user modification”) are extensions that offer new levels, items, quests, or characters. These are made by amateur game developers and made available, generally for free, across the internet on various platforms such as Valve’s Steam.</p>
<p>The mod scene has had an <a href="https://www.polygon.com/2013/9/2/4672920/moba-dota-arts-a-brief-introduction-to-gamings-biggest-most">enormous influence</a> on gaming culture. The World of Warcraft 3 mod, Defense of the Ancients (DotA), popularised the now enormously successful Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre. Counter-Strike began as a mod for Half-Life.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gamers-use-machine-learning-to-navigate-complex-video-games-but-its-not-free-114906">Gamers use machine learning to navigate complex video games – but it's not free</a>
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</em>
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<p>Both Apple Arcade and Google’s Stadia operate as closed systems, not allowing user modification in any substantial way. Any mod scene for these services is, at the moment, impossible by design.</p>
<p>And although Google is an enormous company, if the Stadia service is cancelled, all of its users will lose their individual game purchases.</p>
<h2>A frictionless bargain?</h2>
<p>We all want less friction in our lives. </p>
<p>We want things to be easy and accessible. In this sense, cloud technology offers a seductive bargain, encapsulated in one of Apple’s slogans: “it just works”. </p>
<p>Yet, in pursuit of things “just working”, we make sacrifices. We offer up our privacy, data and control.</p>
<p>The question becomes, what are we willing to lose in striking this bargain? Because, as Neil Postman reminds us, we will always lose something.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123359/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Conway does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Google’s Stadia and Apple Arcade will rattle the gaming world this year. Both aim to solve current limitations, but as user experience improves, issues around connectivity and cost arise.Steven Conway, Senior Lecturer - Games and Interactivity, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1180282019-05-30T18:10:36Z2019-05-30T18:10:36ZAn AI taught itself to play a video game – for the first time, it’s beating humans<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277225/original/file-20190530-69059-81bj46.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C0%2C4500%2C3785&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/colored-realistic-artificial-intelligence-isometric-composition-717513073?src=Lmdl0JzQ9xxMk-TjlPxrOA-1-57">Macrovector/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since the earliest days of virtual chess and solitaire, video games have been a playing field for developing artificial intelligence (AI). Each victory of machine against human has helped make algorithms smarter and more efficient. But in order to tackle real world problems – such as automating complex tasks including driving and negotiation – these algorithms must navigate more complex environments than board games, and learn teamwork. Teaching AI how to work and interact with other players to succeed had been an insurmountable task – until now.</p>
<p><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi/10.1126/science.aau6249">In a new study</a>, researchers detailed a way to train AI algorithms to reach human levels of performance in a popular 3D multiplayer game – a modified version of Quake III Arena in Capture the Flag mode.</p>
<p>Even though the task of this game is straightforward – two opposing teams compete to capture each other’s flags by navigating a map – winning demands complex decision-making and an ability to predict and respond to the actions of other players.</p>
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<p>This is the first time an AI has attained human-like skills in a first-person video game. So how did the researchers do it?</p>
<h2>The robot learning curve</h2>
<p>In 2019, several milestones in AI research have been reached in other multiplayer strategy games. Five “bots” – players controlled by an AI – <a href="https://openai.com/blog/openai-five/">defeated a professional e-sports team in a game of DOTA 2</a>. Professional human players were <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/24/18196135/google-deepmind-ai-starcraft-2-victory">also beaten by an AI</a> in a game of StarCraft II. In all cases, a form of <a href="https://medium.com/@jonathan_hui/rl-introduction-to-deep-reinforcement-learning-35c25e04c199">reinforcement learning</a> was applied, whereby the algorithm learns by trial and error and by interacting with its environment.</p>
<p>The five bots that beat humans at DOTA 2 didn’t learn from humans playing – they were trained exclusively by <a href="https://openai.com/blog/competitive-self-play/">playing matches against clones of themselves</a>. The improvement that allowed them to defeat professional players came from <a href="https://openai.com/blog/how-to-train-your-openai-five/">scaling existing algorithms</a>. Due to the computer’s speed, the AI could play in a few seconds a game that takes minutes or even hours for humans to play. This allowed the researchers to train their AI with 45,000 years of gameplay within ten months of real-time.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277227/original/file-20190530-69091-148dim3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/277227/original/file-20190530-69091-148dim3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277227/original/file-20190530-69091-148dim3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277227/original/file-20190530-69091-148dim3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277227/original/file-20190530-69091-148dim3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277227/original/file-20190530-69091-148dim3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/277227/original/file-20190530-69091-148dim3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Dota 2 eSports tournament in Moscow, May 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/moscow-russia-may-2016-dota-2-420304147">Roman Kosolapov/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Capture the Flag bot from the recent study also began learning from scratch. But instead of playing against its identical clone, a cohort of 30 bots was <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1711.09846.pdf">created and trained in parallel</a> with their own internal reward signal. Each bot within this population would then play together and learn from each other. As David Silver – one of the research scientists involved – notes, AI is beginning to “remove the constraints of human knowledge… and create knowledge itself”.</p>
<p>The learning speed for humans is still much <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/1604.00289.pdf">faster than the most advanced deep reinforcement learning algorithms</a>. Both OpenAI’s bots and DeepMind’s AlphaStar (the bot playing StarCraft II) devoured thousands of years’ worth of gameplay before being able to reach a human level of performance. Such training is <a href="https://towardsdatascience.com/takeaways-from-openai-five-2019-f90a612fe5d">estimated to cost several millions of dollars</a>. Nevertheless, a self-taught AI capable of beating humans at their own game is an exciting breakthrough that could change how we see machines.</p>
<h2>The future of humans and machines</h2>
<p>AI is often portrayed replacing or <a href="https://hbr.org/2018/07/collaborative-intelligence-humans-and-ai-are-joining-forces">complementing human capabilities</a>, but rarely as a fully-fledged team member, performing the same task as human beings. As these video game experiments involve machine-human collaboration, they offer a glimpse of the future. </p>
<p>Human players of Capture the Flag rated the bots as more collaborative than other humans, but players of DOTA 2 had a mixed reaction to their AI teammates. Some were quite enthusiastic, saying they felt supported and that they learned from playing alongside them. <a href="http://sheevergaming.com/">Sheever</a>, a professional DOTA 2 player, spoke about her experience teaming up with bots:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It actually felt nice; [the AI teammate] gave his life for me at some point. He tried to help me, thinking ‘I’m sure she knows what she’s doing’ and then obviously I didn’t. But, you know, he believed in me. I don’t get that a lot with [human] teammates.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/DotA2/comments/bf0f71/open_ai_cooperative_mode_ai_bias/">Others were less enthusiastic</a>, but as communication is a pillar of any relationship, improving human-machine communication will be crucial in the future. Researchers have already adapted some features to make the bots more “human friendly”, such as making bots <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/videos/410533063?t=01h09m01s">artificially wait before choosing their character during the team draft</a> before the game, to avoid pressuring the humans.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1117178288605204480"}"></div></p>
<p>But should AI learn from us or continue to teach themselves? Self-learning without imitating humans could teach AI more efficiency and creativity, but this could create algorithms more appropriate to tasks that don’t involve human collaboration, such as warehousing robots.</p>
<p>On the other hand, one might argue that having a machine trained from humans would be more intuitive – humans using such AI could understand why a machine did what it did. As AI gets smarter, we’re all in for more surprises.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118028/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A self-taught AI beat humans at their own game – here’s how they did it.Maude Lavanchy, Research Fellow in Behavioural Economics, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)Amit Joshi, Professor of Artificial Intelligence, International Institute for Management Development (IMD)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/857562017-10-19T19:00:47Z2017-10-19T19:00:47ZBringing back an old idea for smart cities – playing on the street<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190725/original/file-20171018-30390-1juljct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Play activates cities and engages people, and by appropriating urban spaces it changes what these mean to people.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Smart cities promise efficiency and resilience in urban design to combat climate change, population growth, transport congestion and other wicked problems. The processes that run a city may be abstracted into algorithms that feed on big data, their design optimised for efficiency, commuting, work and other purposes.</p>
<p>This is a positive development for urban spaces, but does this approach overlook other human needs? </p>
<p>While research centres and urban designers are <a href="https://theconversation.com/lessons-from-adelaide-in-how-a-smart-city-can-work-to-benefit-everyone-81824">installing sensors</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/while-governments-talk-about-smart-cities-its-citizens-who-create-them-59230">trackers and cameras</a> on <a href="https://theconversation.com/city-streets-become-a-living-lab-that-could-transform-your-daily-travel-71272">every street corner</a>, game designers and artists are using a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/sep/04/playable-cities-the-city-that-plays-together-stays-together">cornucopia of technologies</a> to bring back an old idea – playing on the street. I have developed one such game for <a href="http://www.gamesweek.melbourne">Melbourne International Games Week</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-smart-cities-1-0-to-2-0-its-not-only-about-the-tech-73851">From Smart Cities 1.0 to 2.0: it’s not (only) about the tech</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>Everyone knows what play is, but as adults we often forget how to play or trivialise its significance. Play is a particular way of being, a different way of seeing the world. </p>
<p>The idea of play as pointless fun is challenged by the designers of serious games who remind us that it is fundamental to learning. We play with possibilities, see how something plays out – this allows us to explore alternative realities and to see familiar situations in a new way.</p>
<p>Play also creates social bonds, connection and community through these shared experiences. Play activates cities and engages people. It appropriates and takes over urban space, changing what it means to people. </p>
<p>Playful citizens can then see their town or city in a new way, feeling a new sense of connection, and sensing new ways it could be.</p>
<h2>Not entirely a new idea</h2>
<p>While children used to play routinely in cities before the age of digital distraction, adult play in cities is not entirely a new idea. The emergence of the modern city in the 1900s led to changes in how people engaged with and experienced public space in the form of promenading and other social play. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/waiting-rediscovering-boredom-in-the-age-of-the-smartphone-83207">Waiting: rediscovering boredom in the age of the smartphone</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>Last century, the <a href="https://savingplaces.org/stories/how-we-came-to-play-the-history-of-playgrounds/#.WeaidhOCxBw">playground was invented</a> as a site designed for play. During the 1960s, the <a href="http://www.forumjournal.org/article/view/599">Situationists deployed play</a> in cities as a strategy for subversion. And in the 1970s the <a href="https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/New_Games_movement">New Games movement</a> developed outdoor play as a community-building process.</p>
<p>More recently, the interventions into public space of playable cities have revitalised earlier strategies for urban play. Technology has enabled urban play to introduce new modes of engagement.</p>
<h2>What is a playable city?</h2>
<p>Play creates alternative ways of seeing the world. This involves not only changes in data, but changes in attitude and how we feel in cities. These are things that are harder to achieve with other design strategies in public spaces. </p>
<p>We all know what a game is – we are living in a time with the highest level of play literacy. <a href="https://www.pcauthority.com.au/news/latest-digital-australia-report-explores-the-progress-and-purpose-of-games-469708">Participation in games continues to rise</a>, with 68% of Australians playing video games.</p>
<p>Play is often structured through technology. We may recognise that the city has rules, but those rules become changeable through an invitation to play. Games provide new rules of engagement. </p>
<p>Cities are in process, in flux. Although on the surface they are made of concrete, data, steel and glass, they are equally made of people and culture.</p>
<p>Rather than creating playgrounds for adults, playable cities transform spaces that adults already occupy into playful experiences.</p>
<h2>A new creative platform</h2>
<p>Playable cities appropriate smart cities infrastructure to engage people with their city and with one another. It’s a form of “hacking” urban space. Through a shared sense of community and ownership, visitors, residents and workers in playable cities may then become part of the conversation about urban design.</p>
<p>In this way, smart cities and playable cities may inform each other and provide a new creative platform for artists and designers. Developing encounters in a playable city blends disciplines such as urban design, public art and game development into a hybrid practice situated in urban space.</p>
<p>Technologies like augmented reality sit alongside live theatre, as players move between looking at the screen of their mobile to one another, observing the spaces of the city, or drifting through <a href="https://www.iainstitute.org/what-is-ia">information architecture</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-iphone-x-apple-is-hoping-to-augment-reality-for-the-everyman-83798">With iPhone X, Apple is hoping to augment reality for the everyman</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Invitations to be citizens of play</h2>
<p>This approach recognises the multilayered nature of urban space, its complexity, possibilities and how these can be remapped into a playful experience. This happens through mobile phones, signs and ciphers hidden in laneways, large public screens and through the changes in the behaviour of players and the attitudes of those who watch them play.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190720/original/file-20171018-30394-1wlhfnd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190720/original/file-20171018-30394-1wlhfnd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190720/original/file-20171018-30394-1wlhfnd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190720/original/file-20171018-30394-1wlhfnd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190720/original/file-20171018-30394-1wlhfnd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190720/original/file-20171018-30394-1wlhfnd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190720/original/file-20171018-30394-1wlhfnd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190720/original/file-20171018-30394-1wlhfnd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">With signs and ciphers hidden in laneways, the physical and digital worlds come together in the playable city.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cities have always been melting pots of possibility, places that we go to rediscover ourselves - some of their major contributions to the cultural economy are community, connection and creativity. </p>
<p>If that sounds too utopian as we reach <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/06/05/a-golden-age-for-dystopian-fiction">peak popularity in dystopian fiction</a>, then perhaps all this play is simply training for the apocalypse – zombie survival runs are a popular genre in street games.</p>
<p>Playable cities do not delineate sites of play but blend this activity with the daily operation of the city itself. Sometimes it is overt, where player behaviour challenges existing rules and conventions of public space and, as a result, transforms the meaning of the site in question. More often than not it is covert, play in secret. </p>
<p>In this way, play persists in cities despite mass surveillance and urban alienation. It’s emerging in opposition to these as a coping strategy that draws attention to the many tensions in cities today: connection and alienation, actual and virtual, digital and analogue, public and private, civic and corporate. Come and join the big game.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can experience Melbourne as a playable city with <a href="http://ludea.net/wayfinderlive/">Wayfinder Live 2017</a>, a mixed-reality mobile game that explores Melbourne’s laneways and streets to unlock a hidden city. The author developed Wayfinder for <a href="http://www.gamesweek.melbourne">Melbourne International Games Week</a>, Asia Pacific’s largest digital games festival, from October 22-29.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85756/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Troy Innocent receives funding from Creative Victoria and the City of Melbourne. </span></em></p>As adults we often trivialise the value of play. But playing games lets us play with possibilities, see how they play out – and exploring alternative realities helps us see the familiar in new ways.Troy Innocent, City of Melbourne Knowledge Fellow 2017-18, Senior Lecturer in Games and Interactivity, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/766992017-05-30T20:17:03Z2017-05-30T20:17:03ZCurious Kids: Why do adults think video games are bad?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169295/original/file-20170515-7009-15ymtg2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Why not ask a parent to play a problem-solving video game with you? </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/caucasian-boy-holding-game-console-controller-557311669?src=xmjfy2UQtFkYhCbEpCp58g-1-4">Shutterstock/Alan Ingram</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is an article from <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782">Curious Kids</a>, a new series for children. The Conversation is asking kids to send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. All questions are welcome – serious, weird or wacky!</em> </p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>I want to know why adults think video games are bad because the adults around my neighbourhood are ANNOYING me by saying “READ A BOOK! NO VIDEO GAMES”. Why can’t they say “it’s time to play video games now”? – Bo, aged 9, Melbourne.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Parents and children can have different ideas when it comes to video games. </p>
<p>Children like video games because they are fun and because they can be challenging. You have to solve problems, work out the best moves for your character, and decide how to use your equipment and supplies in the best possible way. Making all these decisions can be exciting. </p>
<p>Parents want to make sure that their children are safe and healthy. Because of this, they notice different things about video games. </p>
<p>Many worry that playing video games might have a bad effect on the way their child behaves. For example, if a video game has lots of fighting in it, they worry that playing it will encourage their child to be violent. </p>
<p>They are concerned that their child might always choose to play a video game instead of playing outside and getting exercise. Even though you sit still when you read a book, they know that kids can develop good reading skills and learn a lot. Many adults aren’t so sure that kids can learn anything educational from video games. </p>
<p>Sometimes adults think that spending too much time with animated characters is unhealthy for kids. They know it’s important for kids to spend time with “real” people and learn good social skills needed for the real world. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zFPPFrVEcKs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">If you do play video games, make sure there are a range of game types in your collection.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What do experts say?</h2>
<p>Experts think playing video games can have good and bad effects on kids. <a href="http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2013/11/video-games.aspx">New research</a> shows that there are lots of benefits. </p>
<p>One good thing is the video games that children play today often encourage them to work in teams, cooperate, and to help each other. This is because games today are often designed for multiple players, not like <a href="https://youtu.be/uLbuLHKIy4c?t=6s">old-fashioned video games</a> that were mostly designed for one player. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ErTUexMtBMQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Video games have changed a lot since your parents were kids.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uLbuLHKIy4c?wmode=transparent&start=6" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">These ads for old video games show just how much game design has changed.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, children who are obsessed with video games and play them for a long time can get really competitive and can often try to win at all costs. Experts aren’t sure yet, but they have real <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10964-017-0646-z">concerns</a> that this might lead to kids acting like this in real life too. </p>
<p>One thing you also might like to know is that kids who regularly play video games often get <a href="http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/5586/1742">higher grades</a> in maths, science, and reading tests. This is because games require players to solve puzzles. You won’t get higher marks playing <em>any</em> video games, just those that require the player to solve these kinds of puzzles. </p>
<h2>Doing more of the good and less of the bad</h2>
<p>It’s important for kids to think about what types of games they pick. </p>
<p>Make sure all of your games aren’t fighting games. Instead, choose more games where you need to solve puzzles. These are fun and can also help with your schoolwork. Your parents will be much happier about that!</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170514/original/file-20170523-8913-1xxek9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170514/original/file-20170523-8913-1xxek9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170514/original/file-20170523-8913-1xxek9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170514/original/file-20170523-8913-1xxek9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170514/original/file-20170523-8913-1xxek9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170514/original/file-20170523-8913-1xxek9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170514/original/file-20170523-8913-1xxek9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170514/original/file-20170523-8913-1xxek9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Think about whether the fighting games you play are affecting how you play with your friends in real life. Only you will know the answer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/zorin-denu/5714445672/in/photolist-9GY2Bo-ara191-8miB6X-oVrZWT-ar7gmM-oXJhMr-eajCnR-4XidE-72DM51-aAYLuD-e1rkBb-beugVF-eaeYmG-73ugX8-52zUMi-72AQVC-eajBQM-atn51g-72ABep-72Arsj-6H57pp-4uQAcd-7N2XkP-4uQAmf-fsXW9e-4Xmq2-dsvaG3-cWe7z5-ftdj1Y-61zVu8-fsXXir-c8FRHA-pferM2-7L8oBQ-pDpyn4-aWTSfH-9cZd1P-o1pamY-pfcqE3-eoUtPD-oXJB8A-pferGx-oXKfNH-oXKfPK-oXJCfq-QyvJ5S-72J5RG-oXKfxT-pdcvEu-pfeqEc">Flickr/Zorin Denu</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Also, think about whether the fighting games you play are affecting how you play with your friends in real life. Only you will really know if they are having a bad effect. If they are, you might want to change the games you play.</p>
<p>Why not ask your parents to play a problem-solving video game with you? This will help your parents see that video games are not all bad. </p>
<p>It’s also important that kids and adults don’t <a href="http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/screen_time.html">spend too much time using a screen</a>. That means kids not spending all their time on technology, and parents not always checking their phone and screens. </p>
<p>What we want to aim for is adults and kids who can spend some of their time on their screens, but also enjoying other kinds of interests and spending time with family and friends.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to us. They can:</em></p>
<p><em>* Email your question to curiouskids@theconversation.edu.au
<br>
* Tell us on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationEDU">Twitter</a> by tagging <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationEDU">@ConversationEDU</a> with the hashtag #curiouskids, or
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* Tell us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/conversationEDU">Facebook</a></em></p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/168011/original/file-20170505-21620-huq4lj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Please tell us your name and age (and, if you want to, which city you live in). You can send an audio recording of your question too, if you want. Send as many questions as you like! We won’t be able to answer every question but we will do our best.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76699/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joanne Orlando does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Bo, aged nine, wants to know why adults think video games are bad.Joanne Orlando, Researcher: Technology and Learning, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/634542016-08-04T02:26:25Z2016-08-04T02:26:25ZGames and gambling: Xenophon’s ill-judged counter strike<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133012/original/image-20160804-12234-148kre4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A screenshot from Counter Strike: Global Offensive.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The wellbeing of children – especially when at risk – is frequently the focus of media reporting. Often these news stories bring our much-needed attention to situations of violence and maltreatment, such as <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2016/07/25/4504895.htm">Four Corners’</a> recent report on the shameful abuse of children in Northern Territory detention centres. </p>
<p>But there is another story about at-risk children and teenagers in the news, one that is marked by misinformed views and less questioning journalism. Independent Senator Nick Xenophon – who usually takes robust stances on climate change and cultural diversity – has recently called for the introduction of legislation that will <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jul/31/nick-xenophon-calls-for-first-person-shooter-video-games-to-be-defined-as-gambling">define certain transactions in video games as gambling</a>. </p>
<p>He plans to <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/australian-senator-calls-for-first-person-shooter-games-to-be-classed-as-gambling-a7165381.html">introduce a bill to Parliament</a> that could stipulate a minimum age for playing first-person shooter games which include payment for mystery items. This is a feature of games such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch and indeed many mobile games that get revenue through micro-transactions.</p>
<p>(The popular mobile game Angry Birds 2, for example, “sells” a treasure chest containing in-game resources of unknown value for 80 gems, which can be purchased with real money. Even Pokémon Go sells items of indeterminate value, such as incense, in its in-game shop.)</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132936/original/image-20160803-12201-1vne5gc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132936/original/image-20160803-12201-1vne5gc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132936/original/image-20160803-12201-1vne5gc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=835&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132936/original/image-20160803-12201-1vne5gc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=835&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132936/original/image-20160803-12201-1vne5gc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=835&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132936/original/image-20160803-12201-1vne5gc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132936/original/image-20160803-12201-1vne5gc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132936/original/image-20160803-12201-1vne5gc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1050&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nick Xenophon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dan Peled/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>News reports have inevitably represented the issue according to the same “media effects” model Xenophon has adopted. That is, first-person shooters <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jul/31/nick-xenophon-calls-for-first-person-shooter-video-games-to-be-defined-as-gambling">“groom kids for gambling”</a> and video games expose unsuspecting children and young people to <a href="http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/story/4065599/gambling-risk-for-kids/">danger and risk</a>. </p>
<p>It is the kind of half-story often told, one that reflects our tendency as a society to reductively demonise every new medium, to blame them for our problems, and turn them into scapegoats for our bad habits and antisocial behaviour. </p>
<p>For instance, book-reading was once considered a lazy, indulgent or reclusive activity, TV gave our children “square eyes” and being online all the time prevented young people from learning how to behave appropriately in face-to-face contexts. Oh, and video games turn high school kids into mass murderers (think Columbine or Sandy Hook), or at the very least make our children obese, more aggressive and lacking in empathy. They also have been said to cause learning difficulties, behavioural problems and now, according to Xenophon, early-onset gambling addiction.</p>
<h2>A problematic model</h2>
<p>Yet this cause-and-effect model of media influence is deeply problematic. Firstly, our media practices are always historical, cultural, personal and contextual. No one aspect can be isolated and seen as representative of those practices, as this always obfuscates the actual effects, which are complex and shifting, good and bad in varying degrees. </p>
<p>Xenophon told <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/technology/games/just-when-we-got-used-to-kids-dying-or-killing-on-screen-something-worse-came-along-20160728-gqfp5x.html">Fairfax Media</a> that these “insidious” games played by hundreds of thousands of Australian teenagers “purport to be one thing” but are “morphing into full-on gambling and that itself is incredibly misleading and deceptive”.</p>
<p>In classifying video games as “gambling”, Xenophon focuses on a recent controversy involving Counter Strike: Global Offensive. “Unopened” items (packages of content that may contain things such as customised “skins” to decorate your gun) were being “gambled” on through third party groups, in violation of the games’ terms and conditions.</p>
<p>Valve, the owner and publisher of this game, has since issued 23 <a href="http://kotaku.com/valve-issues-cease-and-desist-letter-to-23-counter-stri-1783975845">cease and desist letters</a> to gambling sites using Steam accounts (Steam is Valve’s digital distribution platform), stating they are in violation of the subscriber agreement. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132934/original/image-20160803-12216-1uw6tdd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132934/original/image-20160803-12216-1uw6tdd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132934/original/image-20160803-12216-1uw6tdd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132934/original/image-20160803-12216-1uw6tdd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132934/original/image-20160803-12216-1uw6tdd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132934/original/image-20160803-12216-1uw6tdd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132934/original/image-20160803-12216-1uw6tdd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A screenshot from Overwatch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Blizzard press centre</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Gambling’s manifestation within some areas of video games is a reflection of general societal problems. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jul/31/nick-xenophon-calls-for-first-person-shooter-video-games-to-be-defined-as-gambling">According to The Guardian</a>, the gaming research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming estimated in June that skin gambling had an annual turnover of A$9.7 billion. It also forecast that the market would continue to grow steadily.</p>
<p>But while games and gambling sometimes do <em>converge</em>, they more often <em>diverge</em>. They are different practices. Many gamers don’t gamble, just as many gamblers don’t play video games. </p>
<p>According to <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/stats/">Steam</a>, there are currently over 800,000 daily players of DotA worldwide, and over 500,000 Counter Strike: Global Offensive players. But how many of these gamers have a gambling problem, or are likely to develop one? The <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10899-015-9535-0">Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation</a> conducted research into the link between gambling and video gaming, concluding that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the link between video gaming and gambling may not be strong. Frequency of video game play was not related to gambling behaviours in this study. In fact, gambling appeared less popular among this population than in the general community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And crucially, while games such as <a href="http://blog.dota2.com/">DotA 2</a> or Counter Strike: Global Offensive do offer in-game purchases of indeterminate value, they are not a necessary or even important part of the game. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133014/original/image-20160804-12201-ykqfd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133014/original/image-20160804-12201-ykqfd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133014/original/image-20160804-12201-ykqfd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133014/original/image-20160804-12201-ykqfd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133014/original/image-20160804-12201-ykqfd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133014/original/image-20160804-12201-ykqfd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133014/original/image-20160804-12201-ykqfd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Screenshot from Counter Strike.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Nor do they generally function as gambling in terms of pay-off. Players purchase items from a virtual marketplace, akin to an in-game eBay or iTunes store. But the items alter only cosmetic attributes such as colour, giving the player no tactical advantage. For many of these games that fall under Xenophon’s definition of gambling, these chance-based purchases are an optional adjunct, not the main focus of game play. </p>
<p>From the perspective of many gamers, Xenophon clearly hasn’t played these games. He misrepresents and oversimplifies the actual practice of in-game purchasing. Playing Counter Strike: Global Offensive isn’t gambling; the “gambling” aspect is tangential to the game. </p>
<h2>Culturally significant</h2>
<p>As sociologist and author of <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2817823-the-future-of-childhood">The Future of Childhood</a> Alan Prout has written, the idea that children are innocent, ignorant and in need of protection and restriction became popularised at the end of the 19th century. Yet researchers of children and media today acknowledge the way young people are active agents and consumers of media – including games – and co-creators within the participatory media environment. </p>
<p>While in-game micro-transactions and pseudo-gambling activities may be part of online shooters such as Counter Strike, popular multiplayer games also provide deeply engaging and empowering spaces for young people, involving the acquisition of necessary skills and new media literacies, and an attendant sense of self-efficacy.</p>
<p>They are also a means of connecting meaningfully and playfully with other gamers and game communities. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133013/original/image-20160804-12207-y21ddp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133013/original/image-20160804-12207-y21ddp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133013/original/image-20160804-12207-y21ddp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133013/original/image-20160804-12207-y21ddp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133013/original/image-20160804-12207-y21ddp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133013/original/image-20160804-12207-y21ddp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133013/original/image-20160804-12207-y21ddp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gamers playing in 2014.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">artubr/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Game scholars such as <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/authors/miguel-sicart">Miguel Sicart</a> have noted that contemporary media culture is characterised as both creatively playful and increasingly gamified. From coffee redemption cards at your local café and Fitbits quantifying your physical fitness, to the rise of augmented reality games like Pokémon Go, the playful is imbricated with the everyday in new ways. </p>
<p>In our three-year research project looking at mobile games and digital play in Australian households, we have found that games of all kinds bring families together – recalibrating the old adage a “family that plays together, stays together”. In many cases, digital and online games are used as another vehicle for developing intimacy and “being with others” at home and away.</p>
<p>In contemporary life, digital games have become a dominant medium. They earn more revenue than the film and television industries combined. Like all media forms, our use of them is complicated and entangled. </p>
<p>Mobile games are embedded in the minutiae of our everyday lives, online multiplayer games are important social and communicative spaces, and we accrue points and awards in many settings as motivation for daily routines. </p>
<p>As a society, we need to comprehend this complexity, not be subject to more over-simplification and fearmongering via an outdated model of media effects. Let’s focus on understanding play as an important part of contemporary culture rather than conflating it with social problems. In other words, play on…</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63454/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Larissa Hjorth receives funding from an Australian Research Council Discovery grant, Games of Being Mobile. This grant ethnographically explores mobile game practices in Australian households over three years.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ingrid Richardson receives funding from an Australian Research Council Discovery grant, Games of Being Mobile. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>William James Balmford receives funding from an Australian Research Council Discovery grant, Games of Being Mobile. </span></em></p>Nick Xenophon wants to crack down on first-person shooter games, which he claims are a form of gambling. But his stance oversimplifies the way these games are played.Larissa Hjorth, Professor of Mobile Media and Games, RMIT UniversityIngrid Richardson, Associate Professor in Digital Media, Murdoch UniversityWilliam Balmford, Research Assistant & PhD Candidate in Digital Ethnography, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/600332016-07-07T02:11:02Z2016-07-07T02:11:02ZDebunking one of the biggest stereotypes about women in the gaming community<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129478/original/image-20160706-795-1dk9ely.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C1%2C1112%2C735&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When girl gamers do well, men will often find ways to discredit the success.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?autocomplete_id=&language=en&lang=en&search_source=&safesearch=1&version=llv1&searchterm=woman%20video%20games&media_type=images&media_type2=images&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=262149974">'Gamer' via www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Although women now make up <a href="http://www.theesa.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/">almost half of all video game players</a>, the gaming community remains, in some ways, hostile toward women.</p>
<p>For example, the <a href="http://gawker.com/what-is-gamergate-and-why-an-explainer-for-non-geeks-1642909080">GamerGate controversy</a>, which began in 2014 and involved a harassment campaign against prominent female gamers, journalists and designers, reflected a longstanding undercurrent of misogyny and sexism in the community. In some cases, those who challenged the sexism found themselves <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/technology/gamergate-women-video-game-threats-anita-sarkeesian.html">threatened with rape or death</a>. </p>
<p>There’s also the long-held stereotype that men are simply better gamers than women. Women gamers are often perceived as incompetent players who aren’t genuinely interested in the games but rather sign up to get attention. If a female gamer <em>does</em> play well, she’s often derided as a hacker – someone who cheats to gain an advantage – because “<a href="http://www.pcgamesn.com/counter-strike-global-offensive/how-the-deck-is-stacked-against-women-in-e-sports">there is no way a girl can be that good</a>.”</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcc4.12159/abstract">2016 study</a>, we set out to examine whether men really make better gamers than women and, if so, what drove the gender performance gap. Specifically, we wanted to compare how quickly men and women leveled up in Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games, which are online worlds where thousands of players develop characters, make friends, join groups, complete quests and slay dragons together. </p>
<p>If men are actually better gamers than women, they should advance to higher levels within the same amount of play time. But if they don’t progress any faster, this finding would help refute one of the most pervasive stereotypes that continues to exist in the gaming community.</p>
<h2>Getting to the next level</h2>
<p>Our research used anonymous server data from over 10,000 men and women in two MMOs, “<a href="https://www.everquest2.com/home">EverQuest II</a>” in the United States and “<a href="http://jx3.xoyo.com/">Chevaliers’ Romance III</a>” in China. We knew each player’s actual gender through their account registration information. </p>
<p>When players finish quests and kill monsters in MMOs, they earn experience points. When experience points reach a threshold, the player ascends to the next “level,” which unlocks new abilities, skills and access to new content. As in most video games, levels indicate a player’s progress.</p>
<p>Naturally, players spending a lot of time in the game are likely to reach high levels. That is why the <em>speed</em> of leveling up, rather than the level itself, measures performance in our study. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129570/original/image-20160706-12703-rjvvs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129570/original/image-20160706-12703-rjvvs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129570/original/image-20160706-12703-rjvvs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129570/original/image-20160706-12703-rjvvs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129570/original/image-20160706-12703-rjvvs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129570/original/image-20160706-12703-rjvvs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/129570/original/image-20160706-12703-rjvvs6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A still from EverQuest II, one of the two MMO games analyzed in the study.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/p-m-m/7051161293/in/photolist-bK63Ar-57iJyg-BbAid-BbAie-8xS5TZ-AXRg-AXS1-PHHRW-PHFQm-btSzpM-2bTDdn-6AAEKF-6AENWj-bwbhUA-bwbhXf-2bTDhz-GH7R9-2bTDev-3kavfx-6ADsa2-6ADxDr-6AqeDv-6ADvwt-6AADTR-6AQbMY-3keX71-PHHnu-6AAAjz-6AHaXS-PHFQE-2bTDf2-6Aunmb-6AD25Z-6ACPLt-6AtZzw-6AHp1G-6AD9xK-6AquMg-6AqdkF-57nVGJ-PHHn5-6AuaBh-6Au7Qm-6AHogf-6ACW4H-PHHnj-PHHnE-PHHn3-6AEUU7-PHFPy">Phil... Just Phil/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Before getting to our findings, we want to point out a couple of things we took into consideration. First, players who had reached the top level in the games were excluded in our analyses. Because top-level players couldn’t advance any further, their rate of leveling up was essentially zero. We removed these players to avoid confounding our analyses, but this also meant that we were not able to measure gender differences between the most advanced players. </p>
<p>Second, our analysis recognized that the rate of leveling up slows down as players progress. For example, it would take a lot more time and effort for a level 60 player to level up than a level 30 player. Therefore, our analysis compared apples to apples by evaluating players’ performance only against others who were at the same level.</p>
<p>Contrary to the stereotype, we found that player gender itself does not cause performance differences. Instead, the perception of women as poor gamers is fueled by other factors. For example, we found that women spent less time playing overall than men and chose more assistive character classes, such as Priests, who fare better healing group members than fighting on their own. When we took such factors into account by statistically controlling them in the analyses, the gender performance gap disappeared; women advanced at least as fast as men did in both games. </p>
<p>We also realized that different players are interested in different aspects of MMOs, and a few of those differences may correlate with gender. There’s some <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2009.01453.x/abstract">empirical evidence</a> that men tend to focus more on achievement in video games – leveling up rapidly, gaining in-game status and competing against others – while women are drawn to social interactions, whether it’s helping other players or forming long-term relationships. </p>
<p>This suggests that men should advance faster than women. However, we found the opposite: Women advanced at least as fast as men did. So taking into account different play motivations (which we were unable to do in this study’s analysis) likely only strengthens our conclusions.</p>
<h2>Beyond video games</h2>
<p>The stereotype that women are inferior gamers is not only false, but could also make women more easily discouraged and less likely to play in the first place. Of course, this gender performance stereotype exists in a number of other contexts. In the software development community GitHub, for example, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/12/women-considered-better-coders-hide-gender-github">women are perceived as worse coders than men</a>.</p>
<p>Our research has notable implications for this important social issue. Studies have shown that <a href="http://pss.sagepub.com/content/18/10/850.abstract">video games can be an important gateway to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields</a>. If stereotypes about girls and women are preventing them from playing, then it could <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samantha-parent/why-our-daughters-should-play-more-video-games_b_8044800.html">potentially contribute to preexisting gender inequality and stereotyping in these fields</a>. </p>
<p>One approach to dealing with this issue is to promote stereotype-free gaming experiences for women and girls through <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=OsRY-40AAAAJ&citation_for_view=OsRY-40AAAAJ:IjCSPb-OGe4C">female-supportive gaming communities</a>, such as the <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3021963/most-creative-people/the-girl-gamers-of-pms-clan-can-own-you-any-time-of-the-month">PMS Clan</a>, one of the oldest and most renowned female-oriented gaming communities in the world. Scholars such as <a href="http://gabrielarichard.com/">Gabriela Richard</a> at Pennsylvania State University have found that members of these communities are more confident and perceive themselves as better gamers. </p>
<p>Game designers can also help. They have the ability to construct the games to make them less hostile and more welcoming to female players. For example, Riot Games established the Tribunal, a system that <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/can-a-video-game-company-tame-toxic-behaviour-1.19647">allows the player community to review reported bad behaviors from fellow players</a>, and then vote on whether to punish the offender. Banned players also get a “reform card” with the details of the offense, as well as judgments from the Tribunal. So far, the Tribunal has significantly reduced online harassment. </p>
<p>While programs like Tribunal are a starting point in the larger battle to end gender stereotypes, our findings will hopefully allow female gamers to realize that, when it comes to inherent skill, they’re on a level playing field.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/60033/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cuihua Shen receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rabindra Ratan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Many think that men are simply better than women at video games. Researchers recently compared performances of male and female gamers to determine if there’s truth to this assumption.Cuihua Shen, Professor of Communication, University of California, DavisRabindra Ratan, Assistant Professor of Communication, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/495522015-10-30T14:54:28Z2015-10-30T14:54:28ZThe rise and rise of e-Sports, tournament videogaming and the League of Legends<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100343/original/image-20151030-16527-1bj8y86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/48006568@N05/8095444017/sizes/l">artubr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The final of the 2015 World Championship of League of Legends, a fantasy-themed, real-time strategy videogame, is being streamed worldwide by the BBC. Like the most popular of sporting occasions such as football tournaments and the Olympic Games, video gaming tournaments attract thousands of spectators to arenas and millions more watching live broadcasts. So how did videogames cross from being a bedroom activity to a highly competitive tournament sport with serious prizes to match?</p>
<p>Videogames have always had passionate followers and conventions – Atari’s 1980 Space Invaders Championship had 10,000 entrants – but now they come with US$2m prizes, big company sponsorship and streaming to audiences of hundreds of millions through services like <a href="http://www.twitch.tv/">twitch.tv</a>. What was once “geek” culture has gone mainstream. Several generations since the late 1970s have grown up with games, which with increasing sophistication appeal to a broader and broader audience. Competitive sports have mass appeal; now e-sports and tournament videogaming follow the same path.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100342/original/image-20151030-16550-1b4h8ck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100342/original/image-20151030-16550-1b4h8ck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100342/original/image-20151030-16550-1b4h8ck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100342/original/image-20151030-16550-1b4h8ck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100342/original/image-20151030-16550-1b4h8ck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100342/original/image-20151030-16550-1b4h8ck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100342/original/image-20151030-16550-1b4h8ck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100342/original/image-20151030-16550-1b4h8ck.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pong: very early mulitplayer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Atari</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Certainly, high-speed internet has allowed games designers to concentrate on creating an online, multiplayer aspect to their games. The story of League of Legends begins with Starcraft, a 1998 science fiction-themed real-time strategy game from Blizzard Entertainment. While it was popular as a single player game, Blizzard’s online multiplayer matchmaking and ladder system <a href="http://eu.battle.net/">Battle.net</a> turned the game into a phenomenon. Head-to-head gaming has been around since the earliest days of Pong and the Atari 2600 in the late 1970s and early 80s, but with the addition of the internet it became faster and easier to find opponents to play. </p>
<p>Blizzard also made the Warcraft series, a fantasy-themed version of Starcraft. A community-created modification of Warcraft III produced a very fast-paced game called Defence of the Ancients that was very popular on Battle.net, and this laid the ground for a new genre: the <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2013/9/2/4672920/moba-dota-arts-a-brief-introduction-to-gamings-biggest-most">multiplayer online battle arena</a>. <a href="http://www.leagueoflegends.com">League of Legends</a>, from Riot Games, which came in 2009 fitted into this fast-paced, skill-based, and extremely social arena with quick matchmaking to find opponents. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B2qjrKRH2Q8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Alongside the development of the game and platform is what would in the past have been called “geek culture”, but is more likely to be referred to as “gamer culture” today. Home videogame consoles have been a common presence in living rooms for 20 years, but the demographic of those playing has changed. Figures from the Entertainment Software Association show that four out of five US households play games, with 44% of gamers now women, and the average age of 44 showing that many have been playing games for years. </p>
<p>On the other hand, “casual games” such as those for mobile phones such as Candy Crush, have changed what we do with our spare moments. To put this in perspective, the <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/trends/2014/story/flappy-bird.html">most searched for game</a> in the UK in 2014 wasn’t <a href="https://www.destinythegame.com/uk/en/home">Destiny</a> (best-selling game of the year) but mobile app game <a href="http://flappybird.io/">Flappy Bird</a>. Flappy Bird and other casual games have become staples of public transport commutes rather than newspapers and books. We are all geeks now. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100344/original/image-20151030-16550-q7lskt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100344/original/image-20151030-16550-q7lskt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100344/original/image-20151030-16550-q7lskt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100344/original/image-20151030-16550-q7lskt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100344/original/image-20151030-16550-q7lskt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=480&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100344/original/image-20151030-16550-q7lskt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100344/original/image-20151030-16550-q7lskt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100344/original/image-20151030-16550-q7lskt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In a League of Legends game, a party assembles.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/yxxxx/5369833895">yxxxx2003</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Korea, ahead of the e-Sports curve</h2>
<p>Of anywhere in the world, it is South Korea that has most embraced online videogaming and e-Sports: seven out of ten players at the League of Legends 2015 World Championship have flown over from Korea. One view is that South Korea is ahead of the curve, and a vision of what the UK could be like in ten years time.</p>
<p>Having spoken to Koreans about their love of videogames, even they admitted they didn’t really understand why Korea has embraced online e-Sports with such a passion. It is a phenomenon that has been discussed in <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/raising-stakes">many books</a> and journal articles. Some writers point to the early arrival of broadband (South Korea still has the highest broadband internet speeds in the world), and the fact that Korea has the highest percentage of its population online (<a href="http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2375771/id-system-hacks-expose-the-whole-of-south-korea-to-identity-theft">40m out of 50m people</a>). I think it’s South Korea’s love affair with technology and the new, combined with a highly competitive culture.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100341/original/image-20151030-16547-1s25hx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100341/original/image-20151030-16547-1s25hx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/100341/original/image-20151030-16547-1s25hx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100341/original/image-20151030-16547-1s25hx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100341/original/image-20151030-16547-1s25hx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100341/original/image-20151030-16547-1s25hx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100341/original/image-20151030-16547-1s25hx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/100341/original/image-20151030-16547-1s25hx3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prize money from tournament videogaming, 1998–2014. Source: www.esportsearnings.com.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Esports_Tournament_Prize_Amounts_1998%E2%80%932014.png">Aron Ambrosiani</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Tournaments supported by South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have certainly helped, playing a key role in establishing bodies such as the Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA). Cash prizes have led to professionalisation of top players, with the cash income possible effectively <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/64bfe382-412f-11e5-9abe-5b335da3a90e.html">turning competitive videogaming into a career path</a> – hence the Korean word for it, pro-gaming – and gives younger gamers something to aspire to. In Korea (and beyond) top teams are turned into celebrities, driving gaming into the mainstream.</p>
<p>So how did we go from real sports to e-Sports? We became gamer geeks. The young lady on her phone playing Clash of Clans or Candy Crush Saga is a glimpse of a possible future, with South Korea perhaps the best vision of where the UK and others are headed. Geek culture has already taken over our cinemas, spawning a steady stream of superhero movies, so perhaps it’s little surprise that the sports people want to watch are changing too. </p>
<p>Fans of popular sports such as football, rugby and cricket can probably rest easy on their laurels for the moment, but there are probably young men and women right now who aren’t aspiring to rise to the top of these more traditional games, but who instead have been inspired to try their hand at tournament gaming. The rest of the world may be behind Korea’s gaming curve – but possibly not by that much.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49552/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Grundy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How did we go from videogames played in bedrooms to watching live in front of an audience of millions?David Grundy, Principal Lecturer, Northumbria University, NewcastleLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/459442015-08-13T01:29:56Z2015-08-13T01:29:56ZDon’t panic, the internet won’t rot children’s brains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91526/original/image-20150812-18088-10nsn1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dire predictions on the future of children’s brains are shocking, not least because of how flimsy the evidence is to support these views.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kwarz/13974382668/">zeitfaenger.at/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You know the deal: a social phenomenon rises from obscurity to international familiarity within the blink of an eye. Pitchforks are sharpened, torches lit, and higher thought goes out the window. <a href="http://othersociologist.tumblr.com/post/14900114577/elvis-presley">Elvis Presley’s hips</a>, the skin revealed by a bikini, <a href="https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-238178966/much-ado-about-harry-harry-potter-and-the-creation">Harry Potter’s sorcery</a> – you would think by now we’d have learnt to occasionally sit back and thoughtfully stroke our collective chin before writing the eulogy for humankind.</p>
<p>You’d be wrong: an editorial published in the BMJ today <a href="http://press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/august/technology.pdf">highlights one more example</a> of our societal knickers getting into almighty knot. </p>
<p>The editorial focuses on Professor Susan Greenfield, British scientist and high-profile commentator, who has been publicising the idea that internet use and video games have harmful effects on children’s brain and behavioural development. </p>
<p>Her views are so strident that her recent book, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mind-Change-digital-technologies-leaving/dp/1846044308">Mind Change: how digital technologies are leaving their mark on our brains</a>, draws deliberate parallels with climate change, arguing the two issues are of equal importance to our collective future. Greenfield’s dire predictions on the future of children’s brains are shocking, not least because of how flimsy the evidence is to support these views.</p>
<h2>The (lack of) evidence</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2011/aug/15/susan-greenfield-video">One claim</a> is that social networking media can negatively affect children’s sense of personal identity, and also how they develop empathy within friendships. Even more controversially, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/aug/06/research-autism-internet-susan-greenfield">Greenfield has drawn a link</a> between social media use and the development of autism.</p>
<p>However, a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23645343">large amount of research</a> in this area has found that adolescents’ use of social networking sites often enhances the quality of existing friendships. It has also been found that most adolescents actually <a href="http://pps.sagepub.com/content/7/3/203.short">portray their identity quite accurately</a> on Facebook.</p>
<p>What’s the big deal, you may ask, isn’t this just harmless theorising? I strongly disagree. The purported link between social media and autism, which is <a href="http://deevybee.blogspot.com.au/2011/08/open-letter-to-baroness-susan.html">without evidence and scientifically implausible</a>, is insulting at best, and breathtakingly stigmatising at worst.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/the-dark-side-of-social-media-baroness-susan-greenfield-says-social-media-is-rewiring-our-brains/story-fnjwnhzf-1227123736728">Another Greenfield claim</a> is that intense use of video games may lead kids to become aggressive and have shorter attention spans. Again, this view needs far more nuance than is being presented. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23519430">One recent review</a>, for instance, found playing action video games may actually provide a small improvement in cognitive abilities.</p>
<p>The evidence linking violent video games and aggression in kids is not clear-cut. Some studies have found the playing of violent video games can lead to small, short-term increases in aggressive thoughts and behaviours. But <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-video-games-corrupt-childhood-9479">questions have been raised</a> about the quality of this evidence.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91529/original/image-20150812-18101-ezk9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91529/original/image-20150812-18101-ezk9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91529/original/image-20150812-18101-ezk9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91529/original/image-20150812-18101-ezk9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91529/original/image-20150812-18101-ezk9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91529/original/image-20150812-18101-ezk9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91529/original/image-20150812-18101-ezk9d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The sacrifice of physical activity for more screen time is a real concern that’s in grave danger of being overshadowed by a hyperbolic discussion about how technology damages kids’ brains.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/58648496@N02/5380522396/">Lighttruth/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These particular studies also don’t consider the social benefits that can come with gaming. Playing video games isn’t the socially isolating experience that it once was, and the <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-a0034857.pdf">friendships and social learning</a> of multiplayer gaming can also be very important.</p>
<p>This, of course, is not to downplay other concerns that may accompany the increased use of social media and video games among children. <a href="http://telethonkids.org.au/news-events/news-feed/2015/july/video-top-10-tips-for-cyber-safety/">Cyber-safety</a> and the <a href="http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1479-5868-8-98.pdf">sacrifice of physical activity</a> that accompanies more screen time are legitimate, evidence-based concerns with which parents need to engage. </p>
<p>But these important issues are in grave danger of being over-shadowed by a hyperbolic and evidence-light discussion that frames technology as damaging kids’ brains. There is little evidence for this view.</p>
<h2>Scientists and their responsibility</h2>
<p>Perhaps the biggest issue this kerfuffle raises in my mind concerns the responsibilities of scientists. </p>
<p>There’s no admission ceremony to become a scientist, no Hippocratic-like oath, no hand placed on a holy book while pledging to uphold this or that. There’s no need for any of this, because without following the fundamentals of science, you are, quite simply, not a scientist.</p>
<p>At the very core of science is the judgement of theories in light of available evidence. Scientists are humans. We have our own beliefs and prejudices, and at times it is near-on impossible to divorce ourselves from these. </p>
<p>That’s why the only kingmaker in science is evidence: objective, irrefutable observations. For every scientific theory proven through observations, there are dozens that lie shattered on the floor. And that’s how it should be. </p>
<p>Scientists can and should play a role in public discourse, particularly with issues of such importance as the impact of technology on children. At the very least, a scientist’s voice should – hopefully – add a dispassionate dimension to a very passionate debate.</p>
<p>There is currently little evidence that internet use and video games create “mind change” in kids. The only thing needed to change this position is evidence to the contrary.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45944/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Whitehouse receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Autism Cooperative Research Centre. </span></em></p>Baseless claims about the damage done to kids’ development create needless panic. And they distract from legitimate, evidence-based concerns with which parents need to engage.Andrew Whitehouse, Winthrop Professor, Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.