Academic Reading 2

Is there more to video games
than people realize

Many people who spend a lot of time playing video games insist that
they have helped them in areas like con dence-building, presentation
skills and debating. Yet this way of thinking about video games can be
found almost nowhere within the mainstream media, which still tend to
treat games as an odd mix of the slightly menacing and the alien. This
lack of awareness has become increasingly inappropriate, as video
games and the culture that surrounds them have become very big busi-
ness indeed
Recently, the British government released the Byron report into the ef-
fects of electronic media on children. Its conclusions set out a clear, ra-
tional basis for exploring the regulation of video games. The ensuing
debate, however, has descended into the same old squabbling between
partisan factions: the preachers of mental and moral decline, and the in-
novative game designers. In between are the gamers, busily buying and
playing while nonsense is talked over their heads
Susan Green eld, renowned neuroscientist, outlines her concerns in a
new book. Every individual!s mind is the product of a brain that has been
personalized by the sum total of their experiences; with an increasing
quantity of our experiences from very early childhood taking place "on
screen!#rather than in the world, there is potentially a profound shift in
the way children!s minds work. She suggests that the fast-paced, sec-
ond-hand experiences created by video games and the Internet may in-
culcate a worldview that is less empathetic, more risk-taking and less
contemplative than what we tend to think of as healthy
Green eld!s prose is full of mixed metaphors and self-contradictions and
is perhaps the worst enemy of her attempts to persuade. This is unfor-
tunate, because however much technophiles may snort, she is articulat-
ing widely held fears that have a basis in fact. Unlike even their immedi-
ate antecedents, the latest electronic media are at once domestic and
work-related, their mobility blurring the boundaries between these spa-
ces, and video games are at their forefront. A generational divide has
opened that is in many ways more profound than the equivalent shifts
associated with radio or television, more alienating for those unfamiliar
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with new!#technologies, more absorbing for those who are. So how do

our lawmakers regulate something that is too uid to be fully compre-
hended or controlled
Adam Martin, a lead programmer for an online games developer, says:!#
Computer games teach and people don!t even notice they!re being
taught.!#But isn!t the kind of learning that goes on in games rather nar-
row? "A large part of the addictiveness of games does come from the
fact that as you play you are mastering a set of challenges. But humani-
ty!s larger understanding of the world comes primarily through commu-
nication and experimentation, through answering the question $What if?!#
Games excel at teaching this too.!
Steven Johnson!s thesis is not that electronic games constitute a great,
popular art, but that the mean level of mass culture has been demand-
ing steadily more intellectual engagement from consumers. Games, he
points out, generate satisfaction via the complexity of their virtual worlds,
not by their robotic predictability. Testing the nature and limits of the laws
of such imaginary worlds has more in common with scienti c methods
than with a pointless addiction, while the complexity of the problems
children encounter within games exceeds that of anything they might
nd at school
Green eld argues that there are ways of thinking that playing video
games simply cannot teach. She has a point. We should never forget,
for instance, the unique ability of books to engage and expand the hu-
man imagination, and to give us the means of more fully expressing our
situations in the world. Intriguingly, the video games industry is now
growing in ways that have more in common with an old-fashioned world
of companionable pastimes than with a cyber future of lonely, isolated
obsessives. Games in which friends and relations gather round a con-
sole to compete at activities are growing in popularity. The agenda is in-
creasingly being set by the concerns of mainstream consumers – what
they consider acceptable for their children, what they want to play at
parties and across generations
These trends embody a familiar but important truth: games are human
products, and lie within our control. This doesn!t mean we yet control or
understand them fully, but it should remind us that there is nothing in-
evitable or incomprehensible about them. No matter how deeply it may
be felt, instinctive fear is an inappropriate response to technology of any
kind
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So far, the dire predictions many traditionalists have made about the
"death!#of old-fashioned narratives and imaginative thought at the hands
of video games cannot be upheld. Television and cinema may be suffer-
ing, economically, at the hands of interactive media. But literacy stan-
dards have failed to decline. Young people still enjoy sport, going out
and listening to music And most research – including a recent $1.5m
study funded by the US government – suggests that even pre-teens are
not in the habit of blurring game worlds and real worlds
The sheer pace and scale of the changes we face, however, leave little
room for complacency. Richard Battle, a British writer and game re-
searcher, says Times change: accept it; embrace it.!#Just as, today, we
have no living memories of a time before radio, we will soon live in a
world in which no one living experienced growing up without computers.
It is for this reason that we must try to examine what we stand to lose
and gain, before it is too late
.
Questions 1-
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading
Passage
Write Y / N / NG next to the statements
Y / YESif the statement agrees with the writer's claim

N / NOif the statement contradicts the writer's claim
NG / NOT GIVENif there is impossible to say what the writer thinks
about thi
1 Much media comment ignores the impact that video games can have
on many people!s lives. ..........
2 The publication of the Byron Report was followed by a worthwhile dis-
cussion between those for and against video games. ..........
3 Susan Green eld!s way of writing has become more complex over the
years. ..........
4 It is likely that video games will take over the role of certain kinds of
books in the future. ..........
5 More sociable games are being brought out to satisfy the demands of
the buying public. ..........
6 Being afraid of technological advances is a justi able reaction. ..........
Questions 7-1
Circle the correct answer:
7 According to the writer, what view about video games does Susan
Green eld put forward in her new book
A They are exposing a child to an adult view of the world too soon
B Children become easily frightened by some of the situations in them
C They are changing the way children!s view of the world develops.
D Children don!t learn from them because they are too repetitive.
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8 According to the writer, what problems are faced when regulating

video games
A The widespread and ever-changing use of games makes it dif cult for
lawmakers to control them
B The appeal of the games to a younger generation isn!t really under-

stood by many lawmakers
C The lawmakers try to apply the same rules to the games as they did to
radio and television
D Many lawmakers feel it is too late for the regulations to have much ef-
fect on the use of games
9 What main point does Adam Martin make about video games
A People are learning how to avoid becoming addicted to them
B They enable people to learn without being aware of it happening
C They satisfy a need for people to compete with each other
D People learn a narrow range of skills but they are still useful
10 Which of the following does Steven Johnson disagree with
A the opinion that video games offer educational bene ts to the use
B the attitude that video games are often labelled as predictable and
undemandin
C the idea that children!s logic is tested more by video games than at
schoo
D the suggestion that video games can be compared to scienti c proce-

dure
s
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11Which of the following is the most suitable subtitle for Reading Pas-
sage? Circle your choice:
A A debate about the effects of video games on other forms of technolo-

gy
B An examination of the opinions of young people about video games
C A discussion of whether attitudes towards video games are outdated
D An analysis of the principles behind the historical development of

video games
Questions 12-1
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-E, below
A young people have no problem separating their own lives from the
ones they play on the screen
B levels of reading ability will continue to drop signi cantly
C new advances in technology have to be absorbed into our lives
D games cannot provide preparation for the skills needed in real life
E young people will continue to play video games despite warnings
against doing so
12There is little evidence for the traditionalists!#prediction that ……….
13A recent study by the US government found that ……….
14Richard Battle suggests that it Is important for people to accept the

fact that ……….
.
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Is there more to video games

than people realize

with new!#technologies, more absorbing for those who are. So how do

Y / YESif the statement agrees with the writer's claim

B Children become easily frightened by some of the situations in them

8 According to the writer, what problems are faced when regulating

B The appeal of the games to a younger generation isn!t really under-

A People are learning how to avoid becoming addicted to them

B They enable people to learn without being aware of it happening

C They satisfy a need for people to compete with each other

10 Which of the following does Steven Johnson disagree with

D the suggestion that video games can be compared to scienti c proce-

A A debate about the effects of video games on other forms of technolo-

B An examination of the opinions of young people about video games

C A discussion of whether attitudes towards video games are outdated

D An analysis of the principles behind the historical development of

12There is little evidence for the traditionalists!#prediction that ……….

13A recent study by the US government found that ……….

14Richard Battle suggests that it Is important for people to accept the

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