The Digital Scapegoat [COMM 203]

Time after time video games have been scapegoated by the media and our society. They have been blamed for violence, crime, and social problems among many other issues. I find these to be completely unfounded when viewing them from a cause and effect relationship. There may be quantitative statistics, but I believe that these are completely inconclusive because most are designed not to find results, but to reinforce theories. They do not take into account specific incidents and the circumstances of the incidents. Basically, it is just done specifically from a numerical approach.

Personally, I find playing video games to be a very relaxing way to escape everyday stress and almost as a therapeutic activity. For instance, if I'm feeling down, watching television or a movie does not help me take my mind off of things that are bothering me, while playing a game does. The main difference is because when I am playing a game, I am interacting with the media and not simply observing it.

I do not own any game consoles, and I usually only play a computer real time strategy game called DOTA which stands for Defense of the Ancients. The game runs off the platform of Blizzard Entertainment's game Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne which was released in 2003. DOTA is a real time strategy multi-player game that I usually play in a LAN setting with two of my friends on campus. We play the game socially, meaning that when we get together it is basically just a common activity that we can all enjoy. My two friends do not drink or do drugs, and I am currently on medication that prevents me from drinking, so it just works out to be good clean fun that we can all enjoy.

There may be some anti-social gamers, but from my experiences the only time I generally play video games is in social settings and because it is a common activity that helps us all get together, relax, and socialize. DOTA is a game that requires an immense amount of strategy, so we are constantly communicating verbally. Overall, I think the media and society scapegoat video games as causing problems, when from my perspective they are a good clean way to relax and escape from our stress and work together.