What are the effects of gaming on modern popular culture?

With the advent of such game machines as XBOX360, Play-station and Nintendo. The effects of games on popular culture have been widely investigated. With games such as CALL OF DUTY, GEARS OF WAR, and various other games. Violent games such as these have become common place in gaming culture. The modern game play has changed drastically from just playing at home with friends, to playing online against others. With this level of competition, the realism in games, game culture has taken a new form. With the advent of online gaming a lot of games have become clan based, this is where groups of individuals have joined together to compete against other clans. This clan culture has essentially created outlets for online bullying and racism where usually there would be no such situation. Over the last few years the problem of online bullying, racism, has increased and game companies have tried to create “GAME CHAT” channels and a COMPLAINTS SYSTEM to combat these issues. The responsibility is sketchy is it the responsibility of the parents to ensure that younger audiences are not using games that have been rated over 18, although it can be said that some parents automatically buy their children games that come out on the market even if the game is rated “18”. While it can be said that not all gaming has a negative impact on our culture, there are some games that could be taken to be educational, these game could have a positive impact on development of good gaming habits and even educate younger adults.

“With more than 100 million units sold and $5 billion in revenue earned, Call of Duty is a mega-entertainment franchise comparable to the likes of Harry Potter or Star Wars.

Those properties have had undeniable effects on pop culture at large. Star Wars lines still get quoted - "these are not the droids you're looking for" - while Harry Potter costumes are a perennial favourite come Halloween time. So, given the video game series' huge commercial success, has Call of Duty had a similar effect?

The people behind the games think so, but pop culture and video game observers aren't so sure.”

Source: http://tech.ca.msn.com/video-games/article/has-call-of-duty-had-a-cultural-impact

By Peter Nowak, MSN Tech & Gadgets, November 4, 2011