Introducing Video Game Entertainment

There are many things people do not know about video games.  Video games can serve as a releasing tool, a friend, even as a way to feel accomplished.  Those are a few items you may have known about. Did you also know that video games do not only serve as a releasing tool, but instead as a tool for research?  Maybe not. In the following blog entries, I will walk you through what I have learned and taken out of my Video Game Entertainment course at the University of Minnesota in Duluth.

First off, let's start with the question: "Why do we like video games?". Always start with basics and knowing why we like them will help us understand why we use them for certain things: pleasure, competition, research, and even exercise.

There are many reasons we like video games.  Here are the 6 main reasons our textbook, "Playing Video Games: Motives, Responses, and Consequences", by Peter Vorderer and Jennings Bryant, defined to answer the question, "Why do we like video games?"

1. Just can't get enough of that emotional stimuli!

http://www.essence.com/2012/12/18/essence-poll-graphic-content-tv-and-video-games-blame-senseless-violence/

Gamers enjoy the sensation of emotional stimulation as a result of fast action and quality graphics.  Gamers like to be aroused (no innuendos intended). The emotional stimuli is the sweaty palm, the eye twitching, and restless-leg-syndrome inducing feeling we get when we play any video game.  I am playing Pokemon Leaf Green version as I type, it is an intense, clammy mess. Go Charmander, Go!

2. Challenge Accepted!

http://www.sicfitscottsdale.com/2013/07/are-you-ready-to-level-up/

Gamers push themselves to higher and higher skill levels and achieve new goals and personal accomplishments.  This can include a range of things from getting the best gear in Diablo III to getting all your profession skill levels to 600 in World of Warcraft. I like to think I game for the challenge because I am constantly trying new skills out and won't stop until I have reached the cap for that particular skill.

3. Must be the best! Must win!

http://kottke.org/tag/video%20games

Gamers like to prove to others who has the best skills and who can react or think the fastest using competition in video games. For instance, in the above photo, JKOTTKE really wanted to beat everyone. It was his goal to make all 5 High Scores. I wonder where he is today...

4. Immersion and Diversion 

http://techliberation.com/2008/09/16/women-play-video-games/

Gamers use video games to avoid stress or other responsibilities, or sometimes just because there is nothing else to do. I'm sure the girl in the picture above was relieving some built up stress by yelling at the 1990's style computer using a joystick to help encourage her rage.

5. FEEL LIKE MARIO, BE MARIO!

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/wlas0006/1001a/2011/11/why-people-love-video-games.html

Video games allow gamers the ability to do things they would not ordinarily be able to do in the real world.  For instance, how likely is it that this father and son duo would wear these costumes everyday in the real world?  Highly unlikely. So, by wearing it in the comfort of their own home while playing their game of choice, Mario Bros., they are more apt to be a part of the fantasy of the video game world.

6: Let's do this Together!

http://www.popmythology.com/5-reasons-i-prefer-watching-video-games/

Gamers use video games to interact with friends and learn about the personalities of each other.  Some may think that gaming is for the loners who live in their mom's basements.  This is false.  Gamers usually play with others, whether they play in person or virtually, it is still considered social interaction.

So, now that we've established WHY we play video games, are you curious as to what kind of gamer you are?  Stay tuned for an elaborate look at the different types of gamers that our book categorizes.




Vorderer, P., & Bryant, J. (2006). Playing Video Games: Motives, Responses, and Consequences. New York, NY: Taylor and Francis Group.