Literature Review + Hypothesis

Literature Review

Video Games continue to take the blame for many serious acts of violence in society.

Most commonly the games with high violence levels attracts a lot of negative attention.
‘The worst of these games- Doom, 007 golden eye, Duke Nukem, Postal, Quake, and redneck rampage- are also the most popular. (Grossman & Degaetano, 1999) These games are fun and also give players a sense of power and provides immediate reinforcement.’ (James Potter. W, 2003) Studies also suggest that exposure to violent video games may lead to desensitization to the real-life consequences of violence. (Baumgardner, n.d) and that young children often imitate the violence they see in the media. (Druin, 2001)

Oppositely in the ten years following Doom’s release, homicide arrest rates fell by 77 percent among juveniles. School shootings remain extremely rare; even during the 1990s, when fears of school violence were high; students had less than a 7 in 10 million chance of being killed at school. During that time, video games became a major part of many young people’s lives, few of whom will ever become violent, let alone kill. (Sternheimer, 2007).

There is a great deal of conflicting evidence regarding the link between video games and violence yet the media continue to blame video games for the youth violence in society.  

Hypothesis

The media often blames video games for the acts of violence in society. Are these accusations accountable or do video games produce any affect at all?

VARK - Questionaire Results

Visual: 5
Aural: 3
Reading: 7
Kinestetic: 6

Accoring to the VARK questionaire my two strongest learning methods are Reading and Kenestic. Which means I learn best by reading and doing. I quite agree with the results to this as this is quite accurate to how I prefer to learn when on my own. Reading up on how to do something and then trying it myself.

My weakest learning method is Aural according to the results which again I would slightly agree with as I prefer to write down notes of what a lecturer is saying rather than just sit and listen to him/her as I can quickly forget what they have said.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

• Patient.
• Completes Tasks.
• Can work in groups.
• Good IT skills.
• Learn Software quickly.
• Works well off of feedback/critisicm.
• Can write clear reports/essays.
• Good at helping others
  

Weaknesses:

• Struggle with complicated maths.
• Speaking to large audiences.
• Attention can wander when required to listen for long times.
• Not definite on how I want to go about getting a job after education.
  

Opportunities:

• Chances to learn new software
• Chances to learn techniques and skills related to chosen career path.
• Chances to improve confidence with public speaking.

Threats:

• Time consuming hobby (video gaming) conflicting with time needed to do work.
• Amount of money required to study.
• Lack of sleep and getting up late.
  

Learning Line - Reflection

Like most people my learning line begins around the time I first started education, Primary school, where I learnt the basics of numbers, words and the like. I undertook a few after school activities such as learning to swim, Jujitsu and Tennis.

Secondary school is where I found my interest in ICT, technology and Art. All of which I decided to study at GCSE. It was also at this point where I decided that I would enjoy a career path in the entertainment industry, particularly video gaming and animation in films. To follow up on this choice I studied ICT and Media at A level, opting out Art and Graphics due to lack of interest and a disagreement with how the course was taught and marked.

I chose at an early age what I wanted to do and as a result my learning line is mostly filled with my own decisions in what I wanted to learn.

The main regret I have however is that I never gained a wide range of experience in the work place. The work experiences I have completed was compulsory to my studies and were related to office based work skills. This has made applying for part time work in retail areas difficult due to lack of experience.

Learning Line

My Learning Line