Why Do Students Prefer Playing Online Games Rather Than Studying ?

St. Francis School Sta.

Ana Manila High School Department WHY DO STUDENTS PREFER PLAYING ONLINE GAMES RATHER THAN STUDYING ? SUBMITTED BY: SOFIA ALYANNA B. ORTEGA 4TH YR. ST. LAWRENCE OF BRINDISI SUBMITTED TO: MS. MARIBEL J. ROQUE In the modern age, computers have become a part of a student’s life.

Almost all the things around us were made by computers with the aid of modern machines. From the edited books, design, special effects in movies, and television etc. , were all made by computers.Along with the evolution of technology, computers continue to upgrade as well until the time that computer has now become a part of student’s everyday life that are hooked to computers. Computers can now edit documents to your PC, play mini games, search information you need using the internet, save documents to your PC and play online games.

It’s like an all-in-one gadget that can do all the things you want anytime you need it. Based on facts on Wikipedia, from 1990 to the present year, online games had a big impact especially students.A game will become an online game if it involves in using a computer or a series of computers with one player in each computer to battle it out with other players using the internet depending on the game genre. An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the internet or equivalent technology, but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the internet, and hard wired terminals before modems.

The expansion of online gaming has reflected the overall expansion of computer networks from small local etworks to the internet and the growth of internet access itself. Online games can range from simple text based games to games incorporating complex graphics and virtual worlds populated by many players simultaneously. Many online games have associated online communities, making online games a form of social activity beyond single player games. According to Wikipedia, an online game is a game played over some form of computer network. Online games can range from simple text based games incorporating complex graphics and virtual worlds populated by many players simultaneously. reference: www.

wikipedia. com) Online gaming is also one of the widely used leisure activities by many high school students. Students who are playing these online games said that they are playing these games just for fun, to keep away from the heat of the sun, without knowing that there are a lot of effects of playing these games that are more than what they think. In this research, the researcher would like to know why the high school students love playing online games. Why the students prefer playing online games rather than focus to their studies.

hy they even prioritize online games more than their studies? What are the positive effects of online games and negative effects to the high school students and their studies? Playing online games, according to the book of Illich, Ivan, is beneficial. It enbles the mind of the students playing it to be more active, especially those puzzle-based games. It helps them to come up with decisions in tight situations, especially those adventure games that keep them to be alert active and strategic.Playing these types of games makes the students experienced different feelings because it is as if they are is really the one taking the challenge . (reference: Toward a History of Needs.

Paperback Heyday Books, 2005). But recently, the massive emergence of online games has greatly affected the lives of the high school students. Similar to the addiction like gambling or exercise, online gaming provides emotional escape and relief from high intervals of stress and social interaction. Since high school students continue to actively meet an endless array of deadlines, stress become an innate aspect of high school student life.With the simultaneous exposure of an intense social atmosphere, many students are fearful to expose themselves as shy and vulnerable human beings. It is the stress of schoolwork and fear of social interaction, in which online gaming has become an integral source for emotional pleasure and excitement stimulation.

The games themselves allow people to anonymously protect themselves from the real world, both socially and emotionally, while stimulating excitement in the form of adrenaline.Thus, online gaming has any effects to the life of every high school student maybe it good or bad. With the constant improvements in gaming technology, ranging from graphics to new types of controllers to faster processors, there is a growing problem, one must define addiction. Also, students prioritize playing online games than doing a lot of things, helping their parents in household chores, doing their assignments, playing traditional games because most of their times were spent in playing online games.They’re being out of focus to the things they prioritize before.

According to the center for Addiction and Mental Health, addiction is a psychological or a physical dependence on something. According to Berkely (2009), playing online computers can be thought of as time spent on the computer, playing video games, or cruising the internet in which reaches a point of disruption in an individual’s natural reality. Its expanding system of networks become a virtual community and reality other than physical reality, which greatly alters a student’s perception of life.The virtual world, in a way, becomes inseperable from its collective structure. From some students, this disembodiment from the real world becomes so out of hand, that it harms social relationships as well as disrupting school work. The game replaces friends and family, like other addictions as the source of a person’s emotional life.

(reference: Health Magazine 2008 page 7). According to Ben Alexander, the proliferation of online social networks and video games has led to the rise of what many psychologists are calling a very real phenomenon: internet addiction.And high school students, researchers say, are vulnerable to pathological computer use because they are living by themselves for the first time and have uninhibited access to games and sites like Facebook and Twitter. Nonstop video game playing and web surfing has led to the opening of a new internet addiction center in the United States, and experts on computer overuse say they expect web addictionsoon will be treated like any other addiction, such as alcoholo drug abuse.

(reference: http://www. pheschoolnews. com/2009/09/students-vulnerable-to-web-addiction/).According to Dr. Kimberly Young of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery in Bradford, Pa.

, addiction warning signs include being preoccupied with thoughts of the internet; using it longer than intended, and for increasing amounts of time; repeatedly making unsuccessful efforts to control use; jeopardizing relationships, school, or work to spend time online; lying to cover the extent of internet use; using the internet to escape problems or feelings of depression; physical changes to weight; headaches; or carpal tunnel syndrome. (reference: http://www. eschoolnews. com/2009/09/students-vulnerable-to-web-addiction/). Nnamdi Osuagwu, author of the book, “Facebook Addiction: The Life and Times of Social Networking Addicts”, said his research showed that internet addiction is often overlooked because it doesn’t usually have the physical effects of other addictions, like drugs and alcohol. A person can spend his day playing games online or surfing Facebook without his friends and family noticing physical deterioration and studying anymore, Osuagwu said, although weight gain from a sedentary lifestyle can ecome evident after long-term web addiction.

Internet games miss out on real conversations and real human development, often see their hygiene, home, and relationships deteriorate, don’t eat or sleep properly, and don’t get enough exercise, Rae said. According to the article of Professor Wilbert of Malayan, online gaming has emerged as a popular and successful source of entertainment and play for people of all ages, especially for the students. It refers to the games that are played over some forms of computer networks, typically on the internet.These games are played online, in which you can connect with multiple players. It is normally platform independent, relying on the web browser and appropriate plug-in.

Online games is one of the best inventions that is made ever by human beings. It has the ability to link players together. It has been one of the most popular activities in entertaining for younger people. Because of this, almost everybody is into it. It’s fantastic characteristic makes a lot of students become hook on it.It provides entertainment and at the same time, online socialization with different kind of people.

But sometimes, it causes negative effects. There are many characteristics describing gaming, but what is it about these games that motivate players to play. The readings present a number of reasons. According to the authors, Chen and Voderer, gamers fit into certain categories: the competitor, explorer, collector, achiever, joker, director, storyteller, performer, and the craftsmen.Each of these types of players has a specific goal for playing games, motivating them to spend hours staring at a screen. For example the explorer plays “to experience the boundaries of the play world.

” . At the same time there are players who play to escape from the harsh realities of their life and change into a “respected” character that in the fantasy world is a hero. Unfortunately some people feel compelled to escape into these fantasy worlds because of depression and oppression daily.Children all over the world seek love and peace from video games, in order to satisfy their needs. One of the dangers that society faces from video games is their anti-social ability to suck players in and not let them go for hours, even days at a time. Sucha an example of this is World of Warcraft, a massive multiplayer online game where a player’s character exists in a worldwide virtual land.

This fantasy land has its own economy, politics, and jobs for you to do once you are in, and it is because of the sheer number of things to do that many people remain trapped in this online world.Players spend hours leveling up their character to make him more powerful, or collecting gold, or even just searching for a special magic sword they need for their character. Currently the World of Warcraft is populated by over ten million active players from both sexes and from every walk of life, preteens to businessmen. With so many people playing this game, it would be proper to think that some of them are addicted to the game. Driven by Warcraft’s ultra-competitive nature, players hunt for weapons and farm gold with an intense fervor not normally associated with games.

This competition can lead to addiction to the game, and from these budding addictions stem several problems. A student can lock himself in his room for hours collecting gold, or a high school student could skip classes to keep searching for that magical mace. In this case of the student, this addiction can be very damaging to his or her development of adulthood. As a parent, neglecting to spend time with your child and not forming bonds can distance yourself from your child and low grades also resulted from it (Kiefaber).Some bonds are formed by taking a faily trip to the park or the zoo, not by letting the child lock himself in a room to play a video game. Addiction can even cause problems of a more serious degree; health related issues.

ed by taking a faily trip to the park or the zoo, not by letting the child lock himself in a room to play a video game. Addiction can even cause problems of a more serious degree; health related issues. The high school student who sits playing might not drink enough water and become dehydrated, or become malnourished over time from forgetting to eat regular meals.Moving away from the addiction factor of online gaming and massive multiplayer games, the concentration now shifts to communications between players during the game play. In certain games, squad tactics and strategy are very important components to being successful and winning the gae.

Players can use voice chat to report on enemy positions and relay commands, streamlining the action. However, it is found that most gamers do not use the voice chat for these purposes, instead using it to annoy and curse at one another.On paper, the voice chat is a very appealing feature that seems to create an aura of unity, but similar to how an automobile can be viewed as just as efficient as walking in terms of time spent in transit, in most cases the microphone no more effective in communications than silence(Illich). Silence is something that would be preferable to hearing the cursing coming from other players in the game. The primary culprit in determining the cause of this swearing is anonymity.A lack of face to face contact during a game makes a gamer feel he is alone, creating a false sense of anonymity.

Anonymity is a dangerous thing online as it desensitizes players from their actions and words. Unfortunately, just a practice makes permanent, this desensitization becomes ingrained in the gamer’s head and can permanently change how they behave in society. Lately, perhaps the most telling problem with online games is the way they alienate people from their surroundings and cause essential social skills to become lost.Since the student spent most of his time in his room doing nothing not even his assignments but just only playing the game instead of out interacting and socializing with people, he is more likely to become alienated from society. One example of this alienation is how the person dresses or even smells.

When playing a game, it is not necessary to wear deodorant or even dress properly, for you are usually alone your appearance does not affect the game. But when these gamers try to go out in society like this, smelling of body odor and looking disheveled, people judge them as socially inept or even strange.Culturally, they find that online games are even indirectly changing the way we express ourselves. According to Sven Birkits, “spoken and written expression… will gradually be replaced by a more telegraphic ‘plainspeak'” (Birkits 128). Since most online games without voice chat use text based communications, the problems that plague instant messaging also plague video games.

People who only talk in chat boxes can have difficulty in real life forming sentences and expressing themselves because they no longer have the ability to write out a thought and look it over before sending it, something done only in a chat box.While not an immediate problem, lack of verbal skills can prove more problematic if the gamer is in a job interview, or in a position where they are dealing with an angry customer. If the person is fumbling and stumbling over words, they are not going to be very convincing in either situation. Also, due to the rapid typing of message in online games, many words are spelled wrong, and over repetition, these incorrectly spelled forms of words can replace their correct counter parts.As evidenced, it is found that the online interactions provided by video games are not only dangerously addiction forming, but they also lead to social awkwardness and desensitization. All of these things are changes that are slowly taking hold of our society and becoming ingrained in our culture.

Swearing is becoming more common place and occurring at earlier ages because of the false sense of anonymity that online games create. Just because you cannot see the person does not mean they are not there and should be treated just as if both were face to face.Also, gaers are becoming more and more disconnected from common society because of their habits and lifestyles, which can evolve into causing real problems in communicating later life. Finally, the addiction forming habits of online multiplayer games can result in damaging bonds between family and friends, while also making the player dependent on his or her computer more than other people to remain entertained. One thing that must be reinforced is that while technologies are here to stay, and able to entertain us in new ways, they must never be allowed to become more entertaining than real life.The influence of technology according to Berkeley, in the field of gaming continues to grow at a rapid pace.

As computer and video games have increased exponentially in popularity over time, they have caused significant impact upon popular culture of the student’s life. This form of entertainment has spawned many fads. Video gae culture has evolved in time, particularly in connection with internet culture. Today, one can see the impact of computer and video games in politics, study its effect on lifestyle and behavior of the wow power leveling gamer especially students.Online game is the most sought leisure activity followed by students now days.

Computers play a major role in shaping the future of students. Days are gone when children loved to indulge in outdoor activities, rather than running or playing outside children spend most of their time playing online games. Online games surely have an impact on inds of students. Taking into consideration it positively is a great mind exercise and helps students explore many new things. It includes improvement in recursive and proactive thinking, increased sociability, and improved interpretive skills.Research shows that the children who played online games were more active and had sharper minds than their other counterparts.

Some video games have been specifically designed to teach people about a certain subject, expand concepts, reinforce development, understand an historical event or culture, or assist them in learning a skill as they play. Computer and video games also receive much more negative critics because gaes are often coined with issue such as mindless entertainment, enhanced social recluse, sexism and consumerism.Research shows that students who play violet video games showed an increase in emotional arousal and a corresponding decrease of activity in brain areas involving self-control, inhibition and a attention. There was a research conducted on a group of children where two action games were included the first game was the high octane but non-violent racing other was the ultra-violent. The team divided children into two groups, and randomly assigned the students to play one of the two games.

Immediately after the play sessions, the students were given MRIs of their brains.The scans showed a negative effect on the brainsof the students that played ultra- violent for 30 minutes. That same effect was not present in the students who played non-violent. High school students, according to Irish, all over the world seek love and peace from video games, in order to escape abusive parents, siblings, and classmates. The psychological effects of computer games.

Some video games lead to aggressive behavior and the negative content found in the games. Some studies have purported that there is a correlation between depression and playing computer games.Some psychologists and parents’ groups have criticized video games because they believe they cause students to sit alone infront of computer for many hours in a row, interacting with a machine (although chatting can be considered a more socially open environment) rather than running and playing outside as they exercise and improve their social skills by playing with other students or even doing their assignments and being active to their schools. They claim that video games can be even more addictive to children than TV and therefore more likely to isolate them socially in this way.People often think that increased game usage necessarily means increased depression, alienation, and lost of sense of community.

(reference: “Implications of Online Gaming”). Everyone who plays video games has a different reasons for playing and the usage of the game leads to different effects for each individual person. Childhood upbringings, peer influences, pressures at school, and family issues are all factors that have a strong connection with the effects of gaming on individuals. So if a student’s reality doesn’t counter that which is on the computer and television screen, then a child may aim to make the game he plays a reality.From this idea we see school shootings, increased drug usage, and depression. Sure video games maybe therapeutic for some people, but the small amount of people who are negatively affected by gaming impact many.

So just like one alcoholic can cause a car accident that can kill twenty people, increased promotion of violence coupled with real life graphics can do to the same thing. According to Kiefaber in his article of Implications of Online Gaming World of Warcraft, the online game, is under attack for causing students to drop out.The game in which you create your own character – an orc, a troll, a dwarf or a human – and join others to defeat enemies in the mythical land of Azeroth, is topping sales charts in the US, but its makers are receiving publicity they could do without, thanks to Deborah Taylor Tate at a Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Tate says: “You might find it alarming that one of the top reasons for college drop-outs in the US is online gaming addiction – such as World of Warcraft – which is played by 11 milliion individuals worldwide,” she said in a speech