Lord of the Room

Do you want to know exactly why my roommate is the MMU Voices president (MMU debate club)? Then, you must read what he told me about games industry. He says that computer games evolution has closely paralleled the larger “digital revolution”. This rapid progression had been driven by the symbiotic relationship between hardware/software and gamers demand for ‘realism’ in games. This single reason had made game characters such as Lara Croft to be cult hero (trans-media phenomenon). But this hero (or heroin) was a male-orientation of game design and marketing fosters a "gender gap" in computer access, because game playing boys had earlier access to technology rather then girls who used to play games such as Barbie (from Mattel) or diary-keeping even when there were innovative contributions by smaller female-run start-up companies. That changed as online gaming was introduce to the public, as more and more girls are beginning to play games. The Chinese government spent US$ 620,000 on research to tap up on game industry potential on gaming engine based on a reusable software core. Whereas companies such as Samsung, Sony and Microsoft have heavily invested on the Indian gaming software development market just based on its potential to gain profits in this industry. Increased realism in games has also increased the sales of hardware products as to be sufficient enough to play the games released. Even though the gaming industry is frequently beset by oversupply, poor supplies and technology compatibility problems, it has been a fairly stable backbone in beginning of the last decade, growing steadily. Even then, there is a considerable threat to this growing yet economically stable industry, as there have been many critics going against this industry despite acknowledging its capabilities. Its advancement has led some politicians and citizens to worry about the special effects as children’s spend time playing games especially blood-thirsty games such as the First Person Shooter’s to lead towards violence amongst it’s next generation. These kinds of situation in the US have resulted in the introduction of a rating system for games, administered by the Interactive Digital Software Association and this kind of rules has leaped into the Malaysia. Even then the games industry is at a pivotal point, and whilst the industry undoubtedly faces great changes during the current cycle, few would doubt that growth is not assured. (I have no idea why did I post this conversation on games, because I think it has completely ran out of topic, but I do know one thing, through this facts he gave me, we all can agree on one thing, he deserves to be the MMU Voices president undoubtedly, don’t you think so?).