Video and Computer Games

An ever-expanding category, the term, computer games, may refer to almost any recreational activity that can be performed using digital technologies and may include games played on self-contained machines within an arcade space, games played on self-contained platforms (Nintendo, Sega, X-Box, Sony PlayStation) attached to the television set, games played on the personal computer, games played online, and games played using portable handheld technologies. An inherently imprecise category, the term collapses distinctions historically drawn between games, sports, toys, play, stories, and role-playing.

The first games were played on computers within the programming community starting in the early 1960s, but they did not reach the commercial marketplace until 1971 with the introduction of the first arcade technologies and in 1972 with the release of the first home computer game consoles. From this modest start, and following some commercial setbacks in the 1980s, computer games have expanded into one of the most profitable sectors of the American entertainment industry and a significant force for technological and aesthetic innovation.

[Page 869]The medium had an enormous impact on the generation of American youth that has come of age since the early 1980s. Some studies have found that as many as 92 percent of Americans between the ages of 2 and 17 have played games, with adolescent males typically the heaviest game players. Some evidence suggests that boys' earlier and more frequent interactions with computer games makes them more self-confident in their relationships with new media technologies and thus contributes to a gender gap in computer access and use. Periodically, the games industry has made efforts to broaden its offerings to attract female consumers with mixed results. The number of girls playing computer games has dramatically increased over the past decade but still lags behind boys in almost every classification; the notable exception would be Web-based games where women slightly outnumber men.

Games technologies emerged at a moment when American youth had diminished access to real-world play space, and the technology seemed to respond to the need to provide entertainment and recreation to a generation of latchkey children who spent much of their out-of-school hours at home. In many ways, the traditional values and activities associated with boys' backyard play culture were mapped onto digital space, with the computer offering more opportunities for exploratory play than these youths would have experienced otherwise. Paralleling traits that E. Anthony Rotundo identified in boys' culture historically, players saw digital space as a realm of autonomy from adult supervision, sought recognition from their peers on the basis of daring and risk-taking, used games as a means of demonstrating self-control and mastery and as a means of social bonding through competition, and relied on digital environments to enact adult roles. With the emergence of multiplayer online games, opportunities for team-based competition expanded, with advocates claiming that participating in “brigades' might offer teens some of the same opportunities for building self-confidence and developing leadership and collaboration skills as traditional team sports. Other games-related activities, such as amateurlevel design and game modification might be read as the contemporary equivalent of building crystal radios, constructing balsa wood models, or working with erector sets, hobbies that helped boys develop technical skills and insights.

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