Appeal of video games transcends age, gender

WASHINGTON – When George Washington University senior Tom Lotito came home for Christmas from a semester studying abroad in Japan, he found that his mom and sister were wishing for the same Christmas present that he wanted – the newly released Nintendo Wii. For Lotito, the president of the Nintendo Players Union on campus, getting a Wii was a no-brainer, but he was taken aback by the interest of his family members. \n“I was pretty surprised to hear they wanted the Wii,” he said. “Even several of my mom’s friends play it when they’re over, and that’s not really the sort of thing you’d expect to hear.” \nThe expanding list of gamers in Lotito’s family is representative of a greater demographic trend in the gaming world. The introduction of new games such as the “Halo” series and “Guitar Hero,” and consoles such as the Wii, are attracting a wider set of gamers and are bringing games into the social setting. \nA study produced by Pew Internet Research conducted at several colleges and universities in 2002 found that more women play computer and online games than men and about equal amounts of men and women play video games. \nThese statistics do not surprise Geoff Lorgus, who is a proctor for the George Washington University Gaming League. \n“There is no indicating factor for who is a gamer,” he said. “Everyone from geeky pocket-protector nerds to frat boys playing ‘Halo’ to techy girls. It’s nondenominational.” \nWith the growing dimensions and intensity of games comes the worry that games are taking time away from study and class. A study produced by the National Bureau of Economic Research reported that students whose roommates brought a video game console to school studied an average of 40 minutes less per day and had slightly lower first semester grades than their peers.\nLotito and Lorgus both acknowledge that playing games can be a great break from studying, but warn that problems occur when it gets in the way of schoolwork. \n“In high school, I wouldn’t care about homework,” Lorgus said. “Study biology or play ‘Red Alert’? But after one semester at college, I realized I couldn’t do that.” \nThat is not the kind of answer that Christopher Covington would like to hear. Covington, a graduate student at George Washington University, teaches computer game design and programming, which teaches students concepts integral to designing games, such as artificial intelligence, graphics rendering and user interfaces. \nCovington’s class is one of seven courses at George Washington University that teach aspects of game design, and is part of a larger trend of college campuses across the country bringing the fundamentals and ideas behind gaming into \nthe classroom. \n“We are actually seeing the beginning of a paradigm shift in the way that course material is being presented to students,” Covington said. \n“One way to make assignments more fun and engaging is to look at them from a gaming point of view. Video games are a large part of our society, and it makes sense to look upon them for inspiration \nin academia.” \nAt least 50 schools offer some kind of course in video games with some schools incorporating gaming studies into major or minor programs. For James Hahn, chair of the computer science department at GWU, bringing gaming ideas into the classroom is beneficial because it gets students interested and it incorporates a wide-range \nof disciplines. \n“This is in line with what is required to make games now,” said Hahn, who first introduced the design class in 2002. \n“Not just computer graphics and computer science skills but also story-telling, design, human-computer interaction and, since the industry has evolved into the second-largest entertainment industry in the \nworld, business.”