Laura Wilson
Digital Artefact Link: https://laurawiillsonuowcom.wordpress.com/mental-and-physical-effects-of-video-games/
My digital artefact altered throughout generating my blogs as I sparked an interest into a different Avenue within gaming. Although I started off looking primarily into the benefits and downfalls of visual reality games for athletes, I quickly found I was extremely passionate about the cognitive effects of video games. I decided to focus more on the ramifications, social aspect, memory and educational benefits/ disadvantages of video games. I found that throughout my digital artefact process I was formulating lots of information and research that stepped outside the boundaries of just the positives and negatives to this topic. To share my findings, I produced multiple WordPress blog posts consisting of an array of studies and case studies.
I focused on the three primary lecture materials including week threes archaeology of games and the ‘Structuralism vs Post Structuralism’ videos. This enabled me to comprehend where my digital artefact fit into as post-structuralist. My first blog detailed the benefits and potential downside of playing video games. I utilised my first blog to give my audience an understanding of what would be touched on which gave them the foundations they would need to comprehend the blogs to follow. For my second blog, I tried to utilise the affect and effect theory. Moore’s (2012) reading on the affect and effect theory correlated the most with my research as I was looking at how video games impact individuals. The final section of my framework was more open-ended but placed focused on the current issues surrounding the social and health effects within video games. I utilised extremely relevant examples that I had learnt about while reading other peoples comments. For example, I utilised Angry Birds in navigating how it can impact one’s mood, happiness, and reduce stress. I tried to utilise readings that are out of the ordinary and wouldn’t be assumed for a cognitive analysis on video games as I wanted to keep my readers interested. I believe examples like Angry Birds helped my audiences’ holistic comprehension as most people have played this game and can relate.
With my poststructuralist approach, I have been able to investigate other academic outlets for and in-depth meaning. I looked at the media and how are moral panic between gaming and negative behaviour has been correlated. As I stated in my blog post it’s extremely easy for people to associate the two however, I go into depth about this commonly held opinion by outlining what the stigma is around video games and then providing research and scholarly literature to rebuttal these beliefs.
Fast and early ideation made possible for my digital artefact to move forward successfully, and although my trajectory changed after I obtained a feedback loop through my pitch and beta, I was able to identify potential topics that I wanted to look at. This was a successful part of my DA. However, I have had limitations throughout my DA process, such as getting a significant amount of exposure on the blogs. I did upload a video of myself reading one of the blogs however the original post was flagged due to copyright reasons for the music I used. I have chosen to stick with blog posts as people can flick through them and utilise the sources easier as they just have to click on the hyperlink.
I find that google scholar and UOW library has become an increasingly necessary and effective method to be used in the analysis process. To acquire more information, I used the sources in the journal papers, which were in abundance, to provide more insight. These qualitative references were often of quite high quality and were quite useful for the analytical process.
From the beginning, I considered Twitter to be the most powerful and worthwhile platform. I have received strong, well thought out responses that I have included in my blog posts. This experience helped me to gain first-hand information and opinion from those around me, particularly those who are pursuing the same digital artefact phase or completing a degree in media and communications. It was recommended that I use hashtags in my blog posts, which helped me with my exposure.
However, there have been occasions that I have been inefficient and have not received any reviews on Twitter, this may have been attributed to my lack of followers or probably a lack of confidence from my followers. This is why I reached out to another site, Reddit, where I got quite a few beneficial replies, many of which came from like-minded people.
To conclude, the challenge of achieving this digital artefact was immensely satisfying. I’ve learned so many new things and found new ways to use academic resources, particularly through access to the UOW library resources. Although at times I was struggling with time management and an appropriate track record, I soon made my way. In the future, I can ensure that I will have stronger researching abilities and use the resources handed to me from the tutorials and lectures.
References:
Nooney, Laine, 2013 Archaeology’s of Gender in Video Game History. Game Studies 13(2)
Moore, C. 2012, ‘Invigorating Play: The Role of Affect in Online Multiplayer FPS Game’, in Guns, Grenades, and Grunts First-Person Shooter Games, edited by Gerald A. Voorhees, Josh Call, Katie Whitlock, Continuum, London
Game Cultures 