Research Methodology

In order to acquire research for this topic of research, many sources will be tapped.

Reports and documents that were written by people of an academic background (I.E Doctors, Psychiatrists etc) will be a large use, this is due to they have conducted complex studies based on similar titles.

News reports to bring out some of the violent crimes committed that were apparently done because of video game influence.

Using this research it will be possible to create a conclusion to the hypothesis.

Title & Hypothesis

The choice for my study is the topic of Video games and Violence.
I chose this topic because being a gamer for many years it holds the most interest to me. It is also very relevant to the course i am taking which is Computer game development.

I am interested to know if video games really do promote violence in the person holding the controller, after creating my mindmap of ideas i thought that a title fitting this research would be.
"Do video games promote violence?"
With this title in mind, i can begin finding information regarding the topic.
In order to find information on this topic i will be finding information from various sources, this includes.

:News articles/broadcasts
:Publishings
:Studies

With this in mind my Hypothesis is that
"Violence in video games does not promote violence"

Mindmap

Literature Review

Anderson and Dill 2000 states that video game violence affects the mind of those who play them and that it can cause the user to become aggressive. He states this has short and long term difficulties. Short term it causes a “burst” of aggression by increasing the users heart rate, etc.

Radford 2005 states that although video games are indeed violent, so are many television programs such as “C.S.I” and “The sopranos” and this is because violence and murder makes for great entertainment for the world. He also states that something is always being blamed for people becoming violent, being it from singers to old plays.

Ryan 2006 States that it is not the violence which brings people to play video games but the thrill that they are accomplishing something that would otherwise be impossible in the real world. He states that for a gamer to have fun no violence is required. He tested this by changing a game from a game where you kill opponents with a gun, to “tagging” them with a ball of light and sending them to their home base. In each instance the player had the same amount of fun.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

Working Solo
Willing to learn
Good understanding of basic IT programs
If find something interesting will explore it more thoroughly
Like to see a project finished
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Weaknesses:
If not kept interested, can become side tracked
Not good with working in groups
Sometimes only do the bare minimum
Sometimes need to be motivated to get work done
Can sometimes require a "Push" to talk
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Opportunity's:
To get a good occupation
To meet new interesting people
To expand knowledge
To learn useful skills
To gain group working skills
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Threats:
Stress
Insomniac
Procrastinating

Learning Skills

Result of Vark questionare:
After taking the VARK (Visual Aural Read/Write Kinesthetic) questionnaire i ended up with the results of...

Visual learning 5 marks
Aural 3 Marks
Read/Write 6 Marks
Kinesthetic 7 Marks


What type of learner i am identified as:
I am identified as a Kinesthetic learner primarily and a read/write secondly
So primarily i learn by doing things, for projects such as coding this means that i can combine the kinesthetic and the read/write at the same time.


Does this surprise me?
This comes as not much of a suprise, i find that doing something will allow me to learn how to work something in a better way than to just hear it or listen to how it is done.


Which style is my least favorite?
Aural this is the style that is based around listening to somebody explain how it is done.

What could i do to enhance this learning Style:
To enhance this learning style i could attempt to listen more and take more notes, this would hopefully allow me to take more in.

Learning Time Line

This is my learning time line.

First i started with primary school - junior school - high school, like most students.

The high schools i attended changed a lot.
First i attended Chantry high school,
Then i moved to Northgate high school.
After Northgate i joined a tutor group in Parkside and then formally joined the school.

I spent from year 8 to year 12 ( sixth form ) at Parkside pupil referral unit.

During year 11 at Parkside i got the chance to do work experience at BT in Martlesham, this was a valuable learning experience.

During sixth form i had the chance to do work experience most of the year with NotSchool a company specializing in helping students who can not go into normal schools for a variety of reasons.

After sixth form i applied for Suffolk college and done a BTEC national diploma which lasted two years
.
After college i applied for University at Anglia Ruskin in Chelmsford to do Computer game development, and here i am.