What is Civic Engagement?
According to the American Psychological Association, civic engagement is defined as follows:
Individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern. Civic engagement can take many forms, from individual voluntarism to organizational involvement to electoral participation. It can include efforts to directly address an issue, work with others in a community to solve a problem or interact with the institutions of representative democracy. Civic engagement encompasses a range of specific activities such as working in a soup kitchen, serving on a neighborhood association, writing a letter to an elected official or voting. Indeed, an underlying principal of our approach is that an engaged citizen should have the ability, agency and opportunity to move comfortably among these various types of civic acts.
American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, www.apa.org/education/undergrad/civic-engagement.
According to the website, "Americans for the arts", the term is defined with the following:
Civic engagement encompasses the many ways that people may get involved in their communities to consider and address civic issues. Civic engagement can be a measure or a means of social change. In arts-based civic engagement, the creative process and resulting art work/experience can provide a key focus, catalyst, or space for civic participation, whether it is becoming better informed or actively contributing to the improvement of one’s neighborhood, community, and nation.
“What Is Civic Engagement?” Americans for the Arts, 1 May 2014, www.americansforthearts.org/by-topic/social-change/what-is-civic-engagement.
What does Civic Engagement mean to Me?
Personally, from the information I have gathered, Civic Engagement is the act of either an individual or a community in which they try to provide service for said community, hoping to make a positive change.
A Social Issue in my Community.
A community that I truly feel close to home is that of the gaming, as in video games, community. I myself am a gamer as well as my close friends, family members, and even co-workers. Through games were able to express ourselves and have a good time together just as any other person would with another hobby such as sports. However, video games have carried a stigma that unfortunately still persists even today, despite the fact that the number of people who play games is increasing.
For some odd reason, video games and its players are often associated with negative connotations such as bad "child-like" habits or violence and, to make matters worse, the mainstream media loves to perpetuate this "old-world" lie. Why hold a person accountable for their actions when you can just blame the games they enjoy? Additionally, why do movies, books, or music not receive the same kind of judgement? In the end, they are all just pieces of entertainment media enjoyed by people of all kinds. Their differences does not make one better than the other and people should not be judged negatively simply for their preference.
Speaking for myself as well as for those close to me in life, gamers are just normal citizens with a particular hobby. They are neither violent, lazy, or prone to criminal activity any more than a person that enjoys music, movies, or art. The fabricated myths, the slandering articles, and the social stigma that still lingers needs to go. For it to exist as a mainstream issue at all in a country that loves to boast "acceptance" and "tolerance" is just absurd.
Correlation is Not Causation
As we are all aware, many tragedies in the form of mass shootings have occurred more than we would prefer in the last few years. Some may recall the unfortunate Christchurch shooting of New Zealand that occurred earlier in march, or perhaps the Parkland Florida shooting of February 14th 2018. Both these tragedies were unfortunate and deplorable acts of violence that definitely raises the question about safety and security in our modern day world. However, in such cases, the media and ignorant individuals amgonst the public seem to wish to take the easy way out on this subject, which will in turn solve absolutely nothing. After both shootings, the media and large quantities of the public pinned causation towards video games.
Sure, many people play video games. It wouldn't be surprising that someone who does, ends up making bad decisions and turning to crime. As I've stated earlier, games are just a form of entertainment. Nothing more nothing less. Although that doesn't stop any major media outlet from deeming them as catalysts of violence. Even going as far as to completely ignore studies and research that disprove their claims. Once such study, done by the University of Oxford, was conducted within the last year. Professor Andrew Przybylski, the Director of Research himself quotes "Despite interest in the topic by parents and policy-makers, the research has not demonstrated that there is cause for concern."
For some odd reason, video games and its players are often associated with negative connotations such as bad "child-like" habits or violence and, to make matters worse, the mainstream media loves to perpetuate this "old-world" lie. Why hold a person accountable for their actions when you can just blame the games they enjoy? Additionally, why do movies, books, or music not receive the same kind of judgement? In the end, they are all just pieces of entertainment media enjoyed by people of all kinds. Their differences does not make one better than the other and people should not be judged negatively simply for their preference.
Speaking for myself as well as for those close to me in life, gamers are just normal citizens with a particular hobby. They are neither violent, lazy, or prone to criminal activity any more than a person that enjoys music, movies, or art. The fabricated myths, the slandering articles, and the social stigma that still lingers needs to go. For it to exist as a mainstream issue at all in a country that loves to boast "acceptance" and "tolerance" is just absurd.
Correlation is Not Causation
As we are all aware, many tragedies in the form of mass shootings have occurred more than we would prefer in the last few years. Some may recall the unfortunate Christchurch shooting of New Zealand that occurred earlier in march, or perhaps the Parkland Florida shooting of February 14th 2018. Both these tragedies were unfortunate and deplorable acts of violence that definitely raises the question about safety and security in our modern day world. However, in such cases, the media and ignorant individuals amgonst the public seem to wish to take the easy way out on this subject, which will in turn solve absolutely nothing. After both shootings, the media and large quantities of the public pinned causation towards video games.
Often the most popular games of their time are primary
targets for these unfounded accusations.
What Do We Do?
As a gamer myself, I wish for these baseless accusations to cease from existence, but I understand bias and prejudice are impossible to completely get rid of. If anything, the positive aspects of gaming should be brought more into light, more so than they already are. There are many websites and social events that promote the positive communities centered around playing games, and they constantly clash with the mainstream media's negative public opinions on games. Even events known as "Game Jams" bring people together in fun collaborative efforts to make games.
If mainstream media wishes to perpetuate this blatant lie, then perhaps we gamers should up the ante. Games are supposed to be fun right? Why not show that to everyone? We can increase our efforts into showing how games are a significant form of therapy and escapism. We can show how game development bolsters creativity and pursuit in different mediums such as music, illustration, and programming. Its safe to say games foster more positivity overall, rather than negativity. In fact, some games thrive on the collaborative efforts of its players rather than competition.
Games like 'Monster Hunter World' and 'Cuphead' have no
competitive element to them and primarily focus on
cooperation between players to overcome challenges.
Gaming as a Community
Contrary to the popular stereotype that games cause anti-social and aggressive behavior in players, one could say that instead it promotes friendships and ways to connect with other people. Restating what I mentioned above, entire communities are established around the central idea of playing video games. On a personal level, I myself have spent my entire life playing games with my brother and parents. I have also had an easier time in my school life establishing friendships with other students who are also open about their gaming hobbies. Even now, as an adult, I am still eagerly making connections with other gamers in unexpected places including my job.
The following statement comes from a co-worker of mine, Daisy Herrera, who I've had a fun and easier time becoming acquainted with due to our shared interest in games:
"Video games have been misunderstood for a long time and I have been actively attempting for years to break the negative stigma associated with them. I grew up with video games and was gifted a Nintendo Entertainment System when I was about four years old, and have since then owned all of the Sony PlayStation console. I learned how to juggle my hobby while completing my schooling demands for decades without any hiccups. I am a well-rounded published scholar and am still an active video gamer and have begun to use the scholarly conference platform to advocate for the positivity of video games. This year, I gave a scholarly presentation at the Pacific Sociological Association on the impact video games have on the development of human emotion, fostering social relationships, bringing history to life, and developing other real-world skills such as teamwork, critical thinking, and leadership. A few days later, I was part of a scholarly panel at Wonder Con that focused on a few video games that inspired a comic book series. I highlighted in my presentation that these comic books were a great way to encourage the younger generations to dive into another art venture by reading the comic books related to their beloved video games. I argued that these comic series were a great way for the younger generation to see the different point of views and characteristics a comic book series can introduce to an existing game series. I believe that the misperceptions of video games is forcing society to see video games in a negative light when they should be celebrated for their art, storytelling and the development of real-world skills."
-Daisy R. Herrera, MA, CSULA Alumni
and Current Staff Member
An additional quote comes from another kind individual Daisy introduced me to. Though I have only met him twice, it was more than easy to strike up a friendly conversation based on a game we were both playing at the time.
"The myth that video games cause violent behavior is just that- simply a myth. But it is a myth that every so often politicians conservative spokespersons like to bring up in order to try to explain the reasons behind violent behavior. It is my personal belief that violence and violent behavior is caused by a wide range of factors- from behaviors taught at the early stages of life to impulsive actions the offenders can come to regret. As a video game player myself, I have found that video games are an escape from the mundane and allow me to step into a visual world of fantasy and entailment. I can pretend to be an assassin in London at the turn of the 19th century (while, at the same time, taking advantage of the educational portions of some games) or escape from walking zombies in a dystopian America while making choices that emphasize compassion and empathy. To say that video games cause violence is simply to say that art in general causes people to become violent. And while a movie, painting, video game, or novel can cause some people to experience emotional responses, aggressive behavior is not one of them. That’s just a myth."
-Jovi H. Hinojosa, CSULA Alumni
An In-Depth Look into a Community
One such example of a passionate and creative gaming-related community would be that of Touhou Project. Originally beginning as a series of Japanese indie games, Touhou has amassed an enormous amount of fans all over the world as well as a great amount of collaborative fan-made games, books, entire music circles and bands, animated adaptions, and even its own convention. It is fair to say it is nearly unrivaled in terms of how many collaborative fan projects this one game series has resulted in.
Touhou Project began in 1996 as a series of arcade-style shooters for the PC made primarily by one man, Jun'ya Ota, otherwise known by his nickname "ZUN". He has singlehandedly created the art, done the programming, and composed the music for over 20 games in the series with a few other entries being collaborations with other development teams. Additionally, after Touhou began gaining popularity, ZUN has since released his own original music albums and print works based on the series.
Touhou Project began in 1996 as a series of arcade-style shooters for the PC made primarily by one man, Jun'ya Ota, otherwise known by his nickname "ZUN". He has singlehandedly created the art, done the programming, and composed the music for over 20 games in the series with a few other entries being collaborations with other development teams. Additionally, after Touhou began gaining popularity, ZUN has since released his own original music albums and print works based on the series.
Top: Fanart from (Twitter) @moiwool, @mefomefomefo, @The_Hammer_, @YutoZin
Middle: Official Print Works written by ZUN
Bottom: Fangames "Puppet Dance Performance" and "Scarlet Curiosity"
Its fair to say that through the effort and passion of fans, Touhou has evolved from being simply a "game" community into one that contains all sorts of creative media. Indeed, games are an excellent way to explore different artistic fields and possibly careers. Whether it be music, art, coding, storytelling, or designing, there is much more to enjoying a game than just playing it.
Last Words
Playing games, both as a simple hobby and also as a creative interest, is something that hits me close to home. A heavy focus on games has led to many of my friendships in life as well as the pursuit of my current career choice. It is always easy to judge and slander something you don't understand, but for it to constantly occur as much as it does for games and gamers is just plain ridiculous. A significant step towards establishing a friendlier and more welcome society is making the attempt to understand people and things you know less about. Even if the mainstream media wishes to perpetuate their lies, those of us in the gaming community will always have open arms for those just starting to have an interest or are at least willing to attempt to understand our hobby.
Embrace your dreams.
Sources Used
Last Words
Playing games, both as a simple hobby and also as a creative interest, is something that hits me close to home. A heavy focus on games has led to many of my friendships in life as well as the pursuit of my current career choice. It is always easy to judge and slander something you don't understand, but for it to constantly occur as much as it does for games and gamers is just plain ridiculous. A significant step towards establishing a friendlier and more welcome society is making the attempt to understand people and things you know less about. Even if the mainstream media wishes to perpetuate their lies, those of us in the gaming community will always have open arms for those just starting to have an interest or are at least willing to attempt to understand our hobby.
Embrace your dreams.
Sources Used
Oxford University
Gizmodo
Engadget
Fuller Youth Institute
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