User:Bu Li Spring 2008

Hello World

Video Games…Entertainment or Bad Influence? (Title subject to change)

1. I propose to make a Flickr slide show illustrating how video games affect kids and their behavior. (Such as grades, deviance, and social interactions)

2. This interests me because I am a big fan of video games, and I think that it would be interesting to see if they are more than just a source of entertainment. People should care about this because video games are extremely popular in our society today, and since the kids of today our going to be in charge of our future, it would not be good if video games end up having a negative influence on them. (Meaning they would affect their grades and possibly cause deviant behavior) I am also interested in seeing how video games can create social networks (like Xbox Live) and how they may be the source for the creation of secondary groups (Ex. Warcraft)

3. I will read Wikipedia, text book and other basic sociology texts on the following topics: Video games and violence, statistics on video games and grades of students, and research on networks such as Xbox Live. 1. I will find scholarly research on video games and how they are changing our generation currently, and how they may lead kids to deviant behavior. 2. I will use Google to find popular press discussions on video games such as Halo and Call of Duty. I will also look at Wikipedia articles, blog entries, newspaper and magazine stories, etc.

4. My plan is to explore exactly how much of our lives video games are consuming. I want to find statistics on average grades of avid video gamers as well as try to find out if they really do influence deviant behavior. For the research on deviant behavior, I will mostly look into violent games such as Halo, but on a whole I will look at a wide variety of video games. I may even explore if they can be a good influence. For example, the game, Dance Dance Revolution is a great way to exercise and have fun at the same time. I am also very interested in finding more about Xbox live and how social groups may be formed there. (Also, my boyfriend is a very dedicated video gamer on Xbox Live, so I can get some useful information from him)

5. I plan to work alone for this project.