The Blue Banner

Throwing his hands in the air, Christopher "Chrispy" Payne lets out an anguished cry to the amusement of his peers in South Ridge Hall as his video game character is thrown over the edge of the playing field.

"It is part of life as a college student, and it's a better outlet for college students to have fun than the other outlets college students engage in," said Michelle Kupshik, junior biology student.

Video games are part of students' lives and are less disruptive to college life and even assist in forming friendships, according to a study by Pew Internet & American Life Project. The study also found 70 percent of college students play video games.

"If you don't let it control you, it's a really fun pastime," Payne said.

Payne is an avid gamer. To facilitate his obsession, Payne owns many gaming systems as well as games on his computer.

"I could compete with Blockbuster tonight," Payne said.

"Gamer" is a term often used by the media to describe a person who plays video games often. The term is common among college students as well, and there are different levels of gamers, depending on how often someone plays.

"It doesn't so much hinder social development as it does hinder good social development: for example, playing an online game with 8 million 11 year olds," Payne said.

Despite drawbacks, gaming also has good qualities, Payne said.

"Depending on the game, you can get a community that you can bring closer with games," Payne said.

The first floor of South Ridge is one of many examples of this sense of community. There students gather on Friday nights, crowding around a TV to hold Super Smash Brothers Melee tournaments.

"It's a really close-knit community, and we've been brought together mainly because of video games," Payne said. "It started in my room, and we would play whatever we felt like playing, and it just went from there."

Video games have become more popular as time has gone on, to the point that they were even shown briefly during the 80th Academy Awards ceremony.

"John Stewart was playing Wii Tennis," said David Howard, sophomore student. "It was interesting."

The popularity of video games has been overshadowed by some negative events. There are some cases of gamers dying due to their inability to stop playing. One example is a man in South Korea who died in an Internet café from lack of sleep and food, according to BBC News.

"It's a question of exposure," said Scott Sherman, UNC Asheville alumnus. "For instance, a person who plays 20 minutes a day, or to be more realistic, say, five hours a week, that's different from the kids in Korea that play long enough that it kills them."

Another concern is violence in video games and the effect they have on the gamers.

"They're just looking for an excuse," Payne said. "The parents (in Columbine) probably didn't spend enough time with the kids, which is why they were able to buy the guns in the first place, which allowed bad things to happen. But no one wants to blame the parents since it's a tragic situation, so they target video games or anything with a gun."

Certain combat-based games can increase the aggressive nature of players, according to studies in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

However, Sherman said this was still not proof enough that a game can cause someone to be violent toward others.

"If there is a person who plays these video games and doesn't understand the difference between what's on their little 14-inch monitor and the real world, there is something functionally wrong with them," Sherman said. "They would have been exposed somewhere. For example, the news is the most violent thing on TV."

Payne plays many combat-based video games, but he said he is probably the last person to go around campus killing people.

"It used to be violent TV, and now it's violent video games," Payne said.

At the end of the day, after all the work and tests, Payne and the other students who share the first floor of South Ridge simply find these video games as a way to relax and bond.

"It's a good way to get people together and relax after a stressful day of homework and numbers," Payne said. "Besides, it's much better to let out stress virtually than in actuality where it could be harmful."

Article Tools