kate morr: 2009

I've decided to create a data presentation because I believe that less and les children are playing board games. I would like to encourage children to put down the DAMN controllers and remotes and play a board game with their friends and families.

This data presentation will look better in my portfolio because I don't thing that anyone would want to watch a tv show about playing board games.

The purpose of my work is to encourage children to play more board games and/or encourage parents to play more games with their children.

This data presentation will be a commercial on television possibly aired on saturday mornings with the cartoons and/or on evening family channels such as abc family.

My audience includes children and their parents.

RESEARCH!
Why should children play board games?
Playing board games promotes socialization while kids learn essential skills –recognizing and matching objects, taking turns, classifying, visual discrimination and fine motor skills, to name a few.
http://boardgames.lovetoknow.com/International_Playthings_Interview

http://ezinearticles.com/?Are-There-Any-Benefits-Of-Playing-Board-Games-For-Children?&id=1096596

While there has been a fair amount of scientific research on the psychology of older board games (e.g., chess, Go, mancala), less has been done on contemporary board games such as Monopoly, Scrabble, and Risk.[9]. Much research has been carried out on chess, in part because many tournament players are publicly ranked in national and international lists, which makes it possible precisely to compare their levels of expertise. The works of Adriaan de Groot, William Chase, and Herbert Simon have established that knowledge, more than the ability to anticipate moves, plays an essential role in chess-playing. This seems to be the case in other traditional games such as Go and Oware (a type of mancala game), but data is lacking in regard to contemporary board games.[citation needed] Bruce Halpenny, a games inventor said when interviewed about his game, “With crime you deal with every basic human emotion and also have enough elements to combine action with melodrama. The player’s imagination is fired as they plan to rob the train. Because of the gamble they take in the early stage of the game there is a build up of tension, which is immediately released once the train is robbed. Release of tension is therapeutic and useful in our society, because most jobs are boring and repetitive.”[10]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_games

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art36791.asp

Locally-played video games have a big disadvantage over board games — players are staring in the same direction (at the TV) rather than across a board at each other. And board games create opportunities for conversation by their very nature, while most video games are designed to engage people in such a way as to eliminate the possibility of meaningful conversation. (Compare playing Scrabble to the stereotypical “collection of mini-games” party video game. While one Scrabble player thinks about her move, the other three can speak freely. But when all four people are playing mini-games, they’re more constantly engaged in the gameplay, but their conversations with one another are shallower.)

Is this inherently a problem? I don’t think so, no. There’s definitely a place for party games that put play before conversation. And of course, there’s something to be said for the spoken and unspoken communication that takes place during a session of Wii Tennis. But I can’t help thinking that an important audience is currently being under-served, and that games like Buzz are just the tip of the iceberg.

So what’s below the tip? I’m not sure. Games that turn the TV into an important (but not sole) component of play could be a start. Games that make you need and/or want to look at the people you’re playing with. Maybe these games would involve proprietary peripherals, and maybe not. Maybe they’d create and enhance (as opposed to minimize) downtime, and maybe not.
http://www.edery.org/2007/05/board-games-vs-video-games/

A great deal of psychological study has been placed in the realm of figuring out what it is about board games which makes us, as people, so devoted and loving of the activity. What exactly is it about the brain that makes it so attached to the activity of competing against each other to solve a problem and win the game? A great deal of it relates to the way that we, as humans, have grown over time and both the value that we place on certain ideals and the deficiencies that we try to make up for in our daily lives. Board games offer us a chance to fulfill many of these needs and because of this, they have maintained a place in our culture for quite some time.

The types of challenges presented from board games come in the form of activities, challenges, and puzzles that we feel that we are qualified to handle. It is a challenge which requires some skill, but they are skills that we feel that we are qualified to operate. Playing a game against a well-matched opponent will provide us the greatest amount of pleasure for it will challenge us and our skills. Playing against someone much better than us would ultimately make us feel inferior, which is against the goal of playing the game; playing against someone not as good as us would ultimately bore us for the game would offer no challenge.

When the game is good enough, it will focus our attention entirely on the task at hand. If we are doing something which is interesting enough to entirely captivate us, we often will slip into a state where we enjoy what we are doing and time will fly past us. This offers us a sort of "escape" from the troubles of everyday life. This state usually will come about much more easily when the goals of the game are clearly defined. If we know what we are working toward, we can figure out what needs to be done much more easily. This helps us in achieving that state of satisfaction.

Learning how to play the game well enough to determine our progress is another important level in determining out satisfaction in playing the game. If we know enough about the game to determine that we are doing well within it, we will be much more happy than if we are lost or confused and not sure of if we are winning or far behind.

The level of control that a board game can provide will often fulfill some of our deepest needs and desires. It allows us to take fate within out hands, within a certain, controlled environment, and allow us to pursue our goals in a way that will have no lasting effects on our lives. It gives us a chance for escapism, where we can enter into a situation and pretend that we are anyone or anything. It gives us a sense of fantasy, allowing us to fulfill our needs for a thrill while staying within the comfort and safety of our own homes. Board games can be a great way for us to feel content with ourselves and the world around us and playing one can be a great way to give ourselves a boost of esteem.
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Psychology-of-Board-Games&id=1624759

It seems that very quickly board games are becoming a thing of the past. More and more parents are choosing to purchase video games for their children instead of board games. There are many parents who wonder whether or not video games are making

their children lazy when compeered with the old fashioned board games. Many also fear that video games tend to contribute to a lack of communication between them and their children. It seems that even some board game manufactures are trying to make their games more appealing to kids by adding digital devices to the mix. Take for example some of the new monopoly games that now use an electronic banking system with the use of ATM cards. It really does seem like short cuts are being used everywhere instead of allowing children to use their minds to figure things out. There are however many video games that you can play that allow for some family togetherness time. This just means that you have to a bit picky when it comes to what video games you will or will not buy.
It should also be pointed out that many families have found that children don't talk at all when they are focused on a vide game. When they are playing a board game however with their family members there is usually a lot of conversation during the game and even after the game. Studies

have shown that when it comes to a child being able to learn and think for themselves board games are still on the top of the list. This is not to say that there are not computer games that can be equally stimulating to a child's mind. The key is not to just stimulate their thinking but to teach them how to communicate with others around them. Unfortunate playing video games really does not help when it comes to motivating a child to communicate. Of course if you are just looking for a way to keep your child quiet and entertained than video games would probably be the way for you to go. So the bottom line is it really depends on what you want for family. If you want better communication and don't want your children to become video game addicts than board games may be the way to go. So how do you feel on the big board game versus video game debate? Which is better in your opinion.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/481867/board_games_vs_video_gameswhich_is_pg2_pg2.html?cat=25

While playing monopoly with my friends all night, I realised... It's more fun to play board games than to play video games.

These are the few points why I think so.
1. You can have more than 2 players in a board game.

2. A board game which you bought for KD 8/- 5 years back, costs just about the same price today. A video game on the other hand'll be worth less than a couple of bucks.

3. You can play board game by candle light even. I'd like to see how a playstation'd work without power.

4. You can change the rules in a board game. Your way is the highway.

5. It's harder to cheat & there are no built in advantages with board games.

6. Unpredictable! Most computer games seem to follow a canned script. Board games are as crazy as the people/person you are playing with. You never know what's next!
http://yet2name.blogspot.com/2006/04/board-game-vs-video-games.html

board games vs video games

First of all, I'd like to say that the anti-social behavior this article is talking about has nothing to do with violence. Violence and video games is a completely different argument.

Video games allow a person to feel as if they have accomplished something without doing anything. So you beat every Final Fantasy. Nobody really cares, except other people that have played Final Fantasy, and even they don't care that much.

A huge problem is that a lot of women are not gamers. Some are, sure, but a lot aren't. These women tend to have very little respect for in-game accomplishments. That's why a lot of gamer guys want to date a gamer girl - because she is more likely to give him the respect he doesn't deserve. I know it's not a big deal to my wife that I can build a business in Capitalism 2, a theme park in RollerCoaster Tycoon(though I did get her playing that one) or that I can build a city in Sim City 4. Every time I say "Look what I did" she reminds me that I did nothing, which is the truth.

But it does not feel that way when I am doing it. None of it is worth anything in the real world, but it feels like it's so important. So I waste time with them instead of hanging out with my family, doing work, or spending time with God or on ministry.

You may say, "But I play video games and I do all those other things too." I say to you, are you doing those things while playing video games? If so, then there is room for them in your life. Sadly, in my life, my wife is not interested and my son is not old enough. Work has it's 40 hours a week, so that's not an issue. The only thing left is God and ministry. The only way I can do ministry through video games is to play multiplayer games, so all single player games are out. And God wants me out there doing real things for real people. So even multiplayer games are out.

So my video game time really is wasted time. But I'm not going to give them up yet. I'm not ready. I'm still addicted. I want to accomplish fake things, because it's fun. One may say to me, "Entertainment is needed too, so video games are okay in moderation." But really, I could have just as much fun playing with my son, hanging out with my wife, talking to God, or doing ministry. So I'm thoroughly convinced that these games are not needed. But it's just like any other addiction... it'll eat away at me until I give in, or I get over it. I'm still giving in.