Public perceptions of video gaming

In chapter 6, Nielsen talks about the video game culture through discussing public perceptions of video gaming. Without a doubt, video games are now one of the popular media forms in the society and thus, the cultural postion of video gaming is an important topic to analzye and research. As Nielsen states, when media forms are categroized into either high culture or low culture, video games are often rated and categorized as a part of low culture (pop culture). Dividing media forms into either high culture and low culture is somewhat ambiguous in its standard of measurement. As Nielsen states, "scholars and gamers alike have argued that games are underrated as an art form, and that games only lose out in comparison to other arts" (Nielsen 134),  the reasons why I think video games are rated as a low culture are due to the higher accessibility to the medium and the pre-built conception that the main purpose of video games is for the entertainment purpose. And because public perception of gaming stands on the side of lower culture, people tend to relate video games more with problems of aggression, addiction, and other social problems. As we discussed in chapter 10, games do have some effect to players and can be related to the cause of aggression. However, all other media forms can produce just same effects as games do. Henry Jenkins states that "If video game violence was an immediate catalyst, we would have difficulty explaining why none of the shootings involving teens have occured in movie theaters or video arcades where the direct stimulus of game playing would be most acute. ....we need to look at real-world factos to discover what triggers such violence..." (Nielsen 138). As the qutoe suggests, the stereotypic image that video games are the main cause of teenager violence is incorrect. Video games can be one of many reasons that caused the teenager violence and there are many other elements that contributed to the cause of teenager violence. Nielsen suggests that this stereotypic image will fade away as more and more people become players of video games.

Nielsen also talks about branding and marketing as one of the reasons that builds public perceptions of gaming. Since video games require players to actually engage in game play, branding and marketing strategies are very important in shaping public opinion especially to those who don't play video games. Thus, as Nielsen states, branding and marketing strategies are very effective way in forming public opinions.

Another very imporant aspect that shapes the public perceptions of gaming is the usage of press. When the news press report articles related to video gaming, most of them are about negative issues. News reports such as the death of South Korean gamer due to the exhaustion after playing online game for eighty-six hours straight deals with only negative impact of video gaming. This type of news report helped build up the current public perception of video games as harmful, while not dealing with positive impact that video gaming can bring to its users.

My question for this week's discussion is this: Do you think there is any chance that video game can become considered as high culture, art? In order for video game to be considered as high culture, what should be changed regarding video games in general?