第二类 游戏
01 What are the advantages or disadvantages of playing video games?
1.1 好处
1.1.1 放松
It provides children with a temporary escape from their boring lives. When I was in high school, video games were my best friend. After a hard day, all I wanted to do was put
on my headset and immerse myself in the virtual world of League of Legend. It was nice to put on the shoes of a made-up character and forget all the troubles from school. I could lose all my inhibitions in video games and just focus on how I could use the character to crush other players and“save the world”.
1.1.2 成就感
It builds a sense of accomplishment. Nothing can compete with the feeling when I succeed in some extremely challenging quest. I can feel the adrenaline pumping inside my body. It gives gamers a feeling of importance, which many cannot obtain in real life. Most games contain certain puzzles that give people a self-esteem boost when they solve them. I was struggling to play against the AI on the hard level for Warcraft III. I spent tons of hours studying it and seeking advice from the online community. After a couple of weeks' practice, I finally beat the AI. I felt like I was not a C-minus student any more. I was the king of the game.
1.1.3 投入，不放弃
Most video games require your full concentration. They teach you to give all you've got on something you really want, which is a vital strength for young children. Sometimes the role you play in a game gives you the best version of yourself. You may stick with a problem as long as it takes and get up after a failure and try again. So, when children grow up, they will understand that good results need hard work. And when they face some real-life obstacles, they will not stress out or feel anxious, but give their best to come up with better ideas. And even when they fail, they will have enough courage to keep on trying until they make it.
1.1.4 团队协作
Multiplayer games teach children teamwork. Take the famous online game World of Warcraft as an example. It is a game that sometimes requires players to form teams, as large as 40 people, in order to defeat a boss. Some specialize in attacking. Some are in charge of defending the whole team. Some are the healers. Even minor mistakes from any of the three groups can cause all 40 people to die. So, a high degree of cooperation is expected from players. If children can cooperate seamlessly in a 40-person-group, they will surely flourish when they begin to work in real life, joining a work team that normally consists of only 10 members.
1.2 坏处
1.2.1 对身体不好
Children who still lack self-control may get addicted to video games easily, and addiction harms their health. I guess it is a common phenomenon that all video game addicts love to sacrifice their sleep time in exchange for more game time. Take myself as an example. I used to be addicted to StarCraft, a very popular computer game at the time. I would sit in front of my laptop for hours, stare at the screen with my full attention, and hold the mouse tightly, without even changing my position once the whole night. I felt no discomfort when playing the game. But when the sun rose, when I shut down the game and went to the restroom, I felt the sourness in my back, the stiffness in my forearms, and the dryness in my throat. It took me years to get my health back after I stopped playing video games.
1.2.2 影响学业
Most children will leave their study behind, when they are addicted to video games. Video games will give you a sense of fantasy, so you may get hooked on it. You just want to keep playing to find out what happens next, wondering whether you will get stronger or not, if you will finish the next task or kill the next monster. So, you won't have time for your school work. The moment you come home, you switch on your game and start playing, because you really cannot think of anything else. You don't care about today's homework or your math test in a few weeks. The only thing on your mind is the game. Sooner or later, you realize that you are falling behind in your academic studies.
1.2.3 暴力倾向
Many of the most popular games emphasize negative themes like sex, drugs and violence. To be more specific, criminal behavior, disrespect for authority and the law, killing of civilians or animals, abuse of drugs and alcohol, sexual exploitation, and violence toward women are common elements in today's games. For example, video games such as Grand Thief Auto and Call of Duty, for over 18 years, are training children to shoot and kill in a virtual world in which the values of life are lost. Playing these games for a long time can negatively affect the mental health of young people. Several peer-reviewed studies have shown that children who play violent video games are more likely to bully and cyberbully their peers, get into physical fights, be hostile, argue with teachers, and show aggression towards their peers.
02 What is your favorite game and why?
2.1 英雄联盟League of Legends (LOL)
Unlike most of the online games on the market, which normally have 6 or 8 characters you can choose from, LOL has more than 120 characters and, each character has its own, unique personality. You can pick one of them to match your style. If you are really brave and willing to put yourself on the front line of the war zone, you can choose a character that specializes in attacking. If you find yourself a responsible person, you can be a healer, which will back up the whole team if they are in danger. When you have chosen your favorite character, all you have to do is fight against the enemy team. In order to win, you have to work together. That's why I always play the game with my friends, because we really know each other well and we have each other's backs. It's been five years since I first played the game. The feeling when I aced an enemy team with my friends is still fresh.
2.2 魔兽争霸 Warcraft III
I love this game because it has most of my best childhood memories. I started to play this game when I was in 8th grade. The very first minute I played it, it became my biggest dream and obsession as a kid back then. It gives me the best sense of fantasy that I could ever have from a game. Ladies that ride dragons, dwarves that carry rifles, different kinds of heroes that have tons of magic arts, the list can go on and on. Every time I got back from school, the first thing I would do is play that game for an hour or two. Now, 15 years have passed and lots of people quit playing it since it's getting old. However, I still play it when I have some time off. My love for that game will never fade away.
2.3 俄罗斯方块 Tetris
It is simple. Gamers and non-gamers can easily play this game. It doesn't require as much understanding as other games. It doesn't have difficult controls. It is about putting falling blocks in the proper place in order to clear a line or make a perfect clear. I am really good at this game since I love organizing. It feels great to clear up 4 or 5 lines at one time, especially when I am about to lose and a block that fits the blank perfectly shows up at the last second. Also, I feel free to change the blocks at the very last moment before they land. It makes me feel I have the power over them, thus making me play more, especially if my blocks are misplaced, causing me to lose.
2.4 斗地主 Doudizhu
It is one of the most popular card games in China. It is easy to learn but hard to master. The game is played with three people with one pack of cards. It starts with players bidding for the“landlord” position. Those who lose the bid or don't bid enter the game as the“peasants” team. Both the“peasants” have to work together against the“landlord” to win the game. The objective of the game is to be the first player to have no cards left. There is an element of luck involved, but what counts is not only luck but also skill of playing and strategy. Poor players with great hands may be defeated by skillful players with poor cards.
2.5 升级 Sheng ji
Sheng Ji is a traditionally Chinese poker game which involves two pairs of players, in which one pair compete with the other. The goal of this game is to get or prevent the other team from getting 80 points, depending on the position your team is on; defending or attacking. Good players all have the ability to memorize the cards that have been played, so that they can guess what cards are left, and then play accordingly and wisely. Besides good memory, tacit cooperation between players often increases the chance of winning. Sometimes, a brief eye-contact allows your partner to know your strategy and respond with full support. This game is just so much fun,and people get addicted to it easily.