Videogames as an object of study and their sociocultural effects

The School of Communication of the University of Azuay organized the conference “Violence and videogames. A journey of its implications from the individual-psychological to the sociological-cultural ”on May 31 at the Chair in Media Effects.

The speaker was Alejandro González, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Salamanca in the field of media psychology. The conference was held through the Zoom platform and was attended by more than 80 users.

González began his presentation arguing that "in the studies carried out on video games there is a polarizing vision: either they are good or they are bad, or you are in favor of them or against them." However, he emphasized that this approach provokes a partial look at the phenomenon and excludes other relevant variables.

He shared some authors who have conducted various investigations, both in favor of video games and to the detriment, and argued that the main problem with these studies is that their conclusions are antagonistic: “There is no consensus regarding scientific findings, this generates a discussion that does not necessarily imply progress, it makes it difficult ”.

On the other hand, González stated that it is extremely important to look from the outside in when using video games, since “the context in which a video game is built is very important, it is not the same as a racing game in go karts, that one in which the mission is to liberate a country and for this it is necessary to win a war; there are cultural nuances with different effects ”.

When asked about age as a relevant factor in video game studies, he stated that it is undoubtedly a variable to consider:

“Despite the lack of information, the existing findings show a greater absorption of behaviors in children, but in the short term; contrary to what happens in older people since they tend less to acquire imaginations or behaviors, but in the long term ”.

Finally, he stated that Game Studies correspond to a line of research that is in constant growth and development; He highlighted that there was an increase in studies on the subject from the global pandemic, since people had greater exposure to video games.

The last part of the conference was destined for the assistants to be able to ask questions to the speaker and start a dialogue that enriches knowledge and broadens the way of looking at this phenomenon of great relevance today.

UDA Correspondent