Why Video Games Are Popular

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Humankind has been playing games since the moment we came into existence. Whether it is a sport, a board game, or a child’s fantasy every culture whether it is ancient or modern has something that its people do for fun. As time goes on people continue to invent new games to occupy their free time and entertain themselves. One form of play that has quickly become extremely popular is the video game. The 2011 edition of Essential Facts About the Video Game Industry states that “72% of American households play computer or video games”. In addition video game sales quadrupled in the years between 1996 and 2008 (Video Game Debate).These statistics become even more impressive when you consider how new video games are. The first video game was developed just 49 years ago in 1962 (Juergen). In comparison basketball took almost 89 years to catch on. It was invented in 1891 but it did not reach a high level of popularity until the 1980’s (Basketball).

How and why video games have become so popular in such a short amount of time is a question that many people have trouble answering. One common opinion is that this sudden spike in the popularity of video games can be attributed to some fundamental change in the values of our culture. This attitude is usually adopted by members of earlier generations, people around the ages of 50 and up who experienced childhood before video games came into existence. While our culture has changed significantly in the past few years I would argue that it has changed because video game have become so popular. Many of the staples of video games have integrated themselves into our way of life. Everyone recognizes Mario, most people can recognize the theme from The Legend of Zelda, and almost everyone has...

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...puzzle games to choose from. Video Games have become popular because their varied features and designs allow them to appeal to colossal amount of people.

Works Cited

"Basketball." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2011): 1-2. Academic Search

Premier. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.

Essential Facts About the Computer and Video Game Industry. Entertainment Software

Association, 2011. PDF.

"GlitterBerri » Special Interview – Koji Kondo." GlitterBerri. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.

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Juergen, Michele. "A Brief History Of Play." The Entrepreneur Nov. 2010: 30-36. Web.

Miller, Matt. "Ocarina of Time." Game Informer Oct. 2011: 44. Print.

The Video Game Debate: Bad for Behaviour, Good for Learning? Lessons in Learning. Rep. Canadian Council on Learning, 2009. Web.

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