Video Game Observation Assignment

For your observation project, you are to play and analyze video games and collect data as you experience. Select a topic you are interested in and  follow these specific directions. In the past students have wanted to see how many girls are portrayed and in what roles, or how much cheesecake and how much beefcake there was, how differently the genders were depicted.  How much violence?  How much educational content/ Sex? You may have another question you would like to investigate.  Plan to gather data that will relate to something you wonder about as long as it is something about the influence of Video Games on our culture.

1.       Select three video games to investigate. Identify target audience. Age, gender etc.
A.

B.

C.

2.       Select your topic  __________________    and create the hit count chart below.

 3.       Now, about those categories.  While doing this assignment you are looking to see what the common thought world (worldview) in America is embedded in these video games.   In this observation assignment you are NOT to look at the obvious content, you are to focus on the secret content, the normative content, the acceptable implicit thought worlds portrayed

5.       Do your observations and data collection.   Talley your data.

7.       Write up your findings and conclusions.  Reflect on how close the data were to your expectations or how far they were from what you expected.  Then reflect on what the data tell you about this society, about its thought worlds (meanings, values, assumptions, lifeworlds, lived experience, paradigm view), and how video games have been incorporated into our thought world.  What might this mean for your students?  Would it mean the same thing for the boys as for the girls?  Would it mean the same thing for people of color?  What would it mean to people in poverty? Write  a  summary paragraph from your data chart and your written findings, conclusions and reflections  and post it on the appropriate topic on the discussion board

Describe the game ( cover of box).

These are ONLY suggestions… design your own chart!!!

Type of action:  V=violent;  C=competition;  S=spiritual/ethical;  I=ideas;  R=rescue

Type of character:  Sp=speaking; Si= silent; B=background; F= foreground;  D=display;  Su=support;  P=powerful;  V=victim or helpless;  C=cartoon;  L=loser.    V=Villain