Archived Edition: December 06, 2006 | Back to Current	Jul 31, 2010

Video game enthusiasts line up for new PlayStations
Jeremy Goldstein - EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Rusty Abedinzadeh ’09 prides himself on being a gamer. Be it in the middle of the night, early morning or squeezed between classes, he tries to put his new Play Station 3 – as well as his older PS2 and Nintendo Game Cube – to as much use as humanly possible. Abedinzadeh sports with pride his “If you are a Nintendo Geek” shirt, which lists the top 10 clues that any devoted video game enthusiast would identify with, and is trying to convince his suitemate to bring his new Nintendo Wii to school for Winter Study to add to his already vast assortment of gaming consoles.

Yet even by a serious gamer’s standards, the efforts of Abedinzadeh and his dorm-mates Brady Murphy ’09, Craig Hand ’09, Sandy Nandagopal ’09 and Mike Gerbush ’09 to obtain the new PS3 were extreme. The group set up a tent in front of Wal-Mart and waited out the final days for the PS3’s release. “I told them I was going to camp out and I really couldn’t back down after saying that,” Abedinzadeh said. “Craig drew up the time slots for when we were and weren’t in class and then we obtained a tent so we could sit while camping out in front of Wal-Mart.”

After living off of Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds for three days, the group was successful in their quest, obtaining four game systems. Although Abedinzadeh kept his system, the other three were resold by his friends, earning a profit of $1200 each.

During their endeavor, the group endured their fair share of strange looks and harassment. “Little kids would come up to the tent and moms would have the ‘Never be like them’ look in their eyes as they took them away,” Abedinzadeh said.

Reactions like these probably come as no surprise. But for many like Abedinzadeh and his friends, this is simply part of a larger trend of near-obsessive video game enthusiasm. This year, with the releases of several new systems, video games have an even more visible role on campuses. One would be hard-pressed to find an entry or a dorm floor without at least one console. While it’s easy to see that video games have a loyal following, the effects of the gaming culture are harder to define.

What is certain, though, is that video games are no longer just for the young or antisocial. Sean Hayes ’08, who has had a Nintendo controller in his hand since he was three or four, says he now tries to play video games for at least an hour every day, and most of his friends play as well, at least casually. Hayes also views gaming as an activity that brings people together.

“Because gaming has become so popular in our culture, I think it has acquired many social aspects to it, and it’s a fun diversion,” Hayes said. “On a side note, though, I’m not sure if my mom will ever say I’ve outgrown video games.”

With so many enthusiasts, there seems to be the possibility of gaming as way to link people who otherwise might not meet. Morgan McGuire, professor of computer science, hopes as much. As a researcher of game graphics, he hosts a monthly “Graphics Night Colloquium” that attempts to bring together hard-core and casual gamers and encourage conversation about video games and the role they play.

“There’s a background of culture here,” he said. “Something like 80 percent of students probably play [computer and video] games, though they might not know they are actually doing so.” There are the obvious gamers, but McGuire also pointed out that many people play different types of games such as The Sims, or even solitaire or online games.

McGuire also attempts to work his own research into the events. “This stuff I work on is interesting to a lot of people and the idea is that even if you know nothing about computers, you can follow along,” he said.

During the next colloquium, scheduled for Dec. 11 and open to students, faculty and staff, McGuire will talk about the different features and strengths of the new systems.

“Parents are often confused,” he said. “They don’t know where to go to for professional advice. I can quickly tell them about pricing, and which games will make you smarter and which games are just pornography in a game console.”

Recently, McGuire has delved questions about the educational value of video games. “Games teach ‘hands-on’ problem solving skills that are hard to learn from a book or in a classroom,” he said. “These include low-level abilities – pattern recognition, rhythm, singing on pitch, navigation – and high-level abilities – abstracting a complex situation into simple variables, planning a multi-stage strategy and managing multiple tasks simultaneously.”

Hayes, who is planning a research project with McGuire, agrees, feeling that games help him expand his imagination and inspire artwork. Hayes has also seen games that develop intellectual skills in fun ways, and pointed out that games have to potential to tap into different ways of learning, appealing to visual, auditory and experiential learners.

McGuire’s research also examines the appeal of video games, looking in particular at the effect of new graphics. “I’ve come to the realization that graphics in new games look pretty good, but they haven’t gotten much more fun,” he said. “Are the new games really any better than the original Pac-man?” He sees new advances in games as important in expressing information to a player, but not in making games much more attractive. “I’m working on fundamental questions that affect the kinds of games we can play and how engaging they are,” he said. “For example, making virtual worlds more interactive using physics, or creating computer players whose strategies are learned from human players.”

Whether or not students look past the flashy new effects, video games are undoubtedly an important part of the college social scene. “It is totally a normal activity for college students,” Abedinzadeh said. “In fact, it should be encouraged. As long as we are spending out money and time on games then we ain’t drinkin’ now are we?”