1. Lecture 4
http://mashable.com/2014/01/16/oculus-rift-crystal-cove/
Mashable.com
Writer of the article describes the OculusRift as being undoubtedly one of the coolest pieces of
technology she has ever seen. She was able to experience Oculus Rift’s Virtual reality, through its
latest prototype,the Crystal Cove. She takes “ Putting on the Oculus Rift helmet didn't just take me
into a new game experience; it took me into an entirely new world”.
Since OculusVR, released the demo for this new form of VR technology, more than 50,000
developers have began working with this it to create games using the experiences around the head-
mounted display (HMD).
The most impressive demo played by the writer was for the game EVE: Valkyrie which is a
multiplayer fighter plane shooter. The game will supposedly be released this year.
This game places the players on the seat of the pilot where they have an incredibly realistic sense-of-
view thanks to the VR headset. This also allows the player to turn on all directions and have access
to the dashboard and shooting controls.
She described this game as being the sort of game that could revolutionise flight sims, first-person
shooters and strategy games. She also added that this type of technology could be used to create
not just incredible new games, but full-blown interactive experiences.
Transmedia would allow the worlds of movies and high end games to fuse together. Some video
games such as Grand Theft Auto V or Beyond Two Souls contain the cinematic visuals, voice acting,
and production, such as Green screens and motion capture suits that can be argued, is as good as a
mid-budget feature film.
The Oculus Rift could be able to take this experience to the next level, while benefitting the film
industry. "[CGI and effects teams] spend millions of dollars and thousands of hours creating intricate
3D sets and worlds for a film and after it's over, those assets are useless," Joe Chen, however
Transmedia could allow some of its extensive CGI assets to be repurposed into a game or 3D world.
OculusVR referred to this potential by stating that they " offer a pretty interesting medium to have a
second take at those assets,".
Oculus Rift brings us one step closer to full-body immersion. Currently the experience is limited to
the head and shoulder area. However since the world it displays is so immersive it makes it hard to
not think about how it would be if other parts of the body could also engage with this VR.
Medical use
Some of the possible medical uses for the Oculus Rift VR technology is in the treatment called Virtual
Reality Immersion Threapy (VRIT).
VRIT is a type of psychotherapy, used to treat patients who suffer from anxiety disorders or phobias.
This technology has been used by the USC's Institute for Creative Technologies to treat service
members and veterans who suffer from PTSD and other post-war stresses in a programme called
Virtual Iraq/Afghanistan exposure therapy.
Another possible use is for medical students, who could perform virtual surgeries.
Dr. Rizzo was one of the first to receive the Oculus Rift developer kit. He told The Verge that "[the
Oculus Rift] has the capacity to turn virtual reality into a mass-market treatment."
http://mashable.com/2013/05/03/oculus-rift-demo-video/

2. The Oculus Rift is designed to work with all types of eyes. The consumer version will contain a menu
where the user is able to adjust the settings to their eye type. It will also contain space for glasses to
be worn underneath. "Everyone will be able to see 20/20 in virtual reality," Mitchell says
http://mashable.com/2013/12/19/the-year-in-gaming-2013/
Major League Gaming led the pack, a hybrid network and game league that hosts daily matches in
competitive games like League of Legends and Call of Duty along with four large-scale tournaments a
year. MLG's Pro Circuit Championships attract millions of viewers that watch for an average of more
than two and a half hours at once, the company said. Overall, the company reported that people
watched 54 million hours of video in 2013, compared with 15 million hours in 2012 — almost four
times as much.
Indie creators also looked toward game creation tools that could help them bring products to many
platforms at once. One of the main examples is Unity Engine; games built in Unity can play
everywhere from phones and tablets to browsers, PCs and consoles.
Casual games
Everyone is a gamer now. Whether you use a smartphone, tablet, desktop browser or Facebook,
people new to gaming had several entry points.
The gamer base on Facebook rose from 235 million in 2012 to 260 million this year. A wider variety
of games was available on the social network, according to Dan Morris, head of Facebook's Games
Division in North America people are playing Facebook games for longer periods and during "prime
time" hours in the evenings.
http://mashable.com/2014/01/27/bomb-defusing-game-oculus/
In the game Keep Talking and Nobody Gets Hurt, one player wearing an Oculus Rift virtual-reality
headset with disarming the bomb. That player uses Razer Hydra motion controls to rotate the bomb,
clip wires and press buttons.
However, he or she has no idea how to disarm the bomb; that information is in the hands of the
other players, who must leaf through manuals to figure out how to disarm it. Since the bomb is
randomly generated, players reading the instructions must determine the type of bomb before
offering a solution to the Oculus Rift wearer.
The project was made for the 2014 Global Game Jam, a worldwide weekend event where teams
spend a weekend building games based on various themes.
http://www.gizmag.com/special-report-gaming-addiction/13297/
Broadway Lodge Britain’s first rehabilitation centre with facilities to welcome gamers, who undergo
group therapy, watch videos and engage in recreational activity in order to wean them from their
addiction.
We can't simply say to a 23-year-old male 'you should never use the internet again'. It's just not
practical.”
A study by Iowa State University, claimed that one in twelve gamers between the ages of eight and
eighteen show signs of addiction. National Institute of Media and Family president David Walsh
believes that “This study is a wake-up call for families. While video games can be fun and
entertaining, some kids are getting into trouble. We need to focus on identifying the problem as
well as find ways to help families prevent and treat it.
Dr Jerald Block states "The relationship is with the computer. It becomes a significant other to them.
They exhaust emotions that they could experience in the real world on the computer through any
number of mechanisms: emailing, gaming, porn.”

3. The American Journal of Psychiatry called for Internet addiction to be added to its official guidebook
of mental disorders, with many common symptoms of other addictions, including cravings, urges,
withdrawal and tolerance also applying to gamers.
Psychological or social disorder
Dr. Block does attempt to suggest that games do not cause the problem on their own; arguing that
around 86% of addicts have some other form of mental illness which causes them to turn to the
comfort of an online persona to escape reality in the same way a person may turn to drugs or
alcohol.
Europe’s first gaming clinic - the Smith & Jones Centre in Amsterdam, has treated hundreds of
young gamers. After all these years they have changed their stance on treatment after coming to the
realisation that gaming compulsion is not a psychological problem, but a social one.
Founder Keith Bakker argues that “These kids come in showing some kind of symptoms that are
similar to other addictions and chemical dependencies. But the more we work with these kids the
less I believe we can call this addiction. What many of these kids need is their parents and their
school teachers - this is a social problem."
80% of the patients they see have been bullied at school and feel isolated or socially excluded. In the
case of younger gamers the blame would fall more squarely on the parents then, and indeed
treatment that ignores the wider problem may end up doing more harm than good.
"It's a choice," says Bakker. "These kids know exactly what they are doing and they just don't want to
change. If no one is there to help them, then nothing will ever happen."
With many symptoms being synonymous with alcohol and drug abuse it follows that the core issue
may not be entirely dissimilar, in which case the failure to identify and address the problem could
still be extremely damaging to an individual’s development.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/213929.php
Video game addiction is a global phenomenon. Some of the problems this can cause include
depression, anxiety, and social phobia, as well as bad school grades.
Dr Gentile and colleagues, while researching gamers in Singapore found that more hours spent
gaming and lower social competence and impulsivity were risk factors for becoming pathological
gamers. They concluded that the study adds weight to the idea that video gaming is similar to other
addictive behaviours, it can last for years and is not just a co-symptom of other psychological
conditions like depression or anxiety.
In fact, Gentile told the press that "those problems seem to increase as children become more
addicted."
"In addition, when children stopped being addicted, depression, anxiety and social phobias
decreased as well," he said.
Gentile also explained that:
"We're starting to see a number of studies from different cultures -- in Europe, the US and Asia --
and they're all showing that somewhere around 7 to 11 per cent of gamers seem to be having real
problems to the point that they're considered pathological gamers."
To be considered a pathological gamer, the person has to be experiencing damage to several areas
of their life, including areas like school, social, family, occupational, and psychological functioning.

4. Gentile said he believes the thresholds are different in different cultures, and for instance we know
that in general, children in Singapore spend more time playing video games than children in the US.
"We do know, however, that playing a lot is not the same as being a pathological gamer -- the
gaming must be causing problems for it to be considered pathological," he stressed.
"Pathological Video Game Use Among Youths: A Two-Year Longitudinal Study."
http://www.techaddiction.ca/video-game-addiction.html
What is gaming addiction?
Currently, there is no single universally agreed upon definition of video game addiction.
There is no set number of hours one must play in ordered to be considered addicted to video games.
Most definitions of video game addiction refer to excessive play which results in negative emotional,
social, relational, educational, or career - related consequences.
Instead of devoting energy to "real-world" activities and pursuits, a video game addict spends most
of his or her time playing games. Someone who has developed a video game addiction prioritizes
gaming accomplishments over all other activities such as spending time with friends and family,
school achievement, work performance, and interpersonal relationships.
Video game addiction may also be defined as a serious loss of control over gaming that leads to
significant harm for the player in the real world.
Signs of addiction:
Initial efforts to define video game addiction were made by modifying the diagnostic criteria for
known addictions such compulsive gambling. However, this informal method has not been widely
adopted and as such, psychologists, psychiatrists, and researchers have been forced to define video
game addiction without standardized diagnostic criteria. Definitions of video game addiction often
include the following symptoms:
-Significant negative impact on work performance, school achievement, and / or interpersonal
relationships
-Spending most of one's free time playing video games
-Frequently playing video games for six to eight hours non-stop
-Loss of interest in social activities
-Avoidance of personal responsibilities or commitments so that gaming can continue - Often staying
up very late to play video games which regularly leads to feeling very fatigued the next day
Problems
Emotional Problems - greater risk for depression, loneliness, social anxiety, anger, and feelings of
shame or embarrassment for spending so much time playing games.
Financial Problems - spending large sums of money on new gaming technology, subscription fees,
and new video games and additional features for free games. Additionally the person may lose the
motivation to work and have their hours reduced due to poor job performance, or fired.
Health Problems - Develop poor sleep habits, may neglect personal hygiene, get very little physical
activity, and may make prefer the practically of junk food, which is linked to child obesity.

5. Social Problems -spend more time playing and less quality time with humans. The addict may claim
that they have "lots of friends online" but still experience loneliness, depression, and social isolation
due to the lack of in-person contact with others.
Family Problems –Despite poor family relationships contributing to the possibility video game
addiction, video game addiction often leads to family conflict. Someone addicted to video games
may accuse concerned family members of trying to interfere in their lives. They can be verbally or
physically aggressive when others attempt to limit game play, and may try to hide just how much
they play.
Why is it addictive
Research shows that some games have more potential of being addictive than others. It suggests
that massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) such as league of legends and first person shooter
games (FPS) such as call of duty are more addictive then other types.
These games often intertwine well- established physiological principles that make them addictive:
-Have no end…which means that someone can play forever without "beating" the game and
receiving the clear signal that the game is over and it is time to move on
-Encourage online social interactions with other players…which often requires great dedication and
commitment to a team of fellow gamers to accomplish tasks / goals, even if this means neglecting
"real world" responsibilities
-Frequently reward the player for minimal effort in the early stages of gameplay and then gradually
increases the amount of time and effort that is necessary to receive a reward as the game
progresses…and by this time the player is already "hooked".
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In the 1990s, PCs and home consoles surpassed the graphic capabilities of arcade machines and
turned video gaming almost entirely into a home experience.
Consoles of the early 2000s had improved graphics and online connectivity which increased the
immersive and social aspect of video games, resulting in even greater popularity.
With each decade, video games became more immersive, more interactive, more engaging, more
commonplace, and more accessible. Not surprisingly, the percentage of people who regularly play
video games has increased as well and today 97% of children play video games.
Treatment options for video game addiction include:
1. One-to-One counselling with a psychologist or therapist who has expertise in treating video game
addiction. This may be the best option if one is able to find an affordable and qualified therapist in
his or her area, but unfortunately video game addiction specialists remain quite rare (although this is
changing as the problem becomes more prevalent).
2. Family therapy which involves modifying the family systems, interactions, and family dynamics
that may contribute to excessive gaming habits. Family therapy is more common when the identified
client is a child or teen. Family therapy may be helpful for video game addiction, but it may be quite
challenging for all the necessary family members to commit to the process.
3. Video game addiction treatment centers which offer intensive in-patient recovery programs
administered by a variety of mental health professionals. These facilities are far more common in
countries like South Korea than in the United States. Although these programs are extremely
expensive (often costing tens of thousands of dollars) there has been very little research on
treatment outcomes.

6. 4. Wilderness therapy involving the complete removal of the individual from environments where
video games are accessible. Wilderness therapy has been used as an intervention for a variety of
child and adolescent behavioral problems and is starting to be offered for video game addiction as
well. Similar to in-patient treatment for video game addiction, wilderness therapy is generally very
expensive and may not be offered locally.
5. Video game addiction books offering self-help treatment for excessive gaming. For those who are
unable to find a qualified therapist or afford more expensive treatment options, step-by-step guides
to stopping video game addiction (for oneself or for someone else) can be a very convenient and
helpful alternative.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2013/sep/20/video-games-cause-violence-
claims-cause-violence
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10314585/Aaron-Alexis-
Washington-navy-yard-gunman-obsessed-with-violent-video-games.html