Short Assignment #5

[ Research Proposal]

In this post, please identify the specific, final research question that you have settled on based on your initial exploration/research. Your proposal should discuss the same ideas as the topic reflection, but should be a more finely tuned presentation of the question your research will explore. In your proposal, reveal the following:

• Offer our textbook’s definition of a proposal   (from the chapter on pp. 366-396 in our text), quoting from the text and commenting.
• Clearly state your research question
• Provide a rationale (a reason or point of interest) for your choice
• Speculate on a possible answer or answers to your question: in other words, see if you can formulate a hypothesis.
• Indicate your audience at this stage, specifically who might be interested in such an essay

NOTE: This assignment is the last chance to change your research question. Once your proposal has been approved, the question you propose is final.

A proposal is to identify a problem and give out a solution for it. My textbook, in particular, defines a proposal as, '' Most proposals identify a problem, suggest a feasible solution, and present the benefits of the solution. The purpose of’’ any proposal is to persuade readers to take some action…’’, and ‘’ Whatever the form, a proposal has to provide readers with compelling and logical reasons that prove the benefit of taking the suggested action.’’ (Writing In The Works pg. 369)

 (The final research question)

'' Can video games benefit modern society?''

 Excessive gaming among our children is a growing concern, particularly today, as mental health issues, have been more and more on the rise. Across the board, COVID-19 placed us in a much difficult situation. So many have been the lockdowns, during this pandemic, that games have been playing a key role in providing a lifeline to many, retaining sanity when choices are so limited. As we experience the breaking-down of our physical, ’’social networks’’, due to this deadly virus, one specific genre of games labeled as RPG-MMO (role-playing games/ massively multiplayer online) - which connects millions of players in a virtual world,  offering a very visually stimulating experience on a social platform that mimics real life. Games as ''Eve Online'' and ‘’Second Life’’, for example, is one such platform it even works as a platform to advertise real-world products. And although researchers start to understand the effects of excessive gaming on young people themselves, it fascinates me how adults’ gaming may affect family relationships and the development of their social skills.

Are our children wasting their lives locked in their rooms hooked on playing ‘’Fortnite’’? They could also be developing skills that may be useful to them in the future. Do games cause violence? It may be, sadly, that we are looking to what is a new normal in lack of reasonable supervision, for our young children. On the other hand, the pandemic has us secluded in your households, dealing with the everyday loneliness, how are games playing a, critical, role keeping that 'stimuli' of people interactions, alive. Is there is s a stereotype that women don’t play video games like these or is it that because it’s mostly a male dominated game?

America created comic books. Adults reading comics. Only in America, you'd say, but it is now a worldwide phenomenon. Everyone knows Superman and Batman, and the rest of the lot. However, in the 1990's, a new take on how we perceived Batman came to be. What is the true mask: the "Bruce Wayne" persona or the cape and the costume? This question can, in modern days, be applied to the modern society: What is our true life? Which is our true self? The one that gets up every morning and puts on a dress that other people will like, doing a job she or he can't stand in order to make some money or is it the avatar created, which dresses, acts, and talks without moral /society restrictions? In a way, games can be anger management.

My audience are the parents, adults, emerging young adult gamers, and also children because they need to know this, to understand it, instead of just getting a direct order from their parents an order which they will immediately respond - ‘’why, can’t I stay all night, common mom, just one more minute I am almost done. Or, ‘’No, MmOOOOooooMmmee! There is no pause in an on-line game, I’m winning! …Sobs’’. Also, people that don’t like video games will benefit from this paper, because there’s a whole association against video games, namely violent, video-games which they believe will promote real-life violence.