The game that I chose to research is called "Smack Down vs. Raw" for the Wii video game system. The reason I chose this game is because I purchased it for my nine-year-old son as a Christmas gift. As a parent and as a teacher it is always important to research what our children are playing with. Now that I'm taking this course, I realize how important it is to search for information about games that our children are using. It caught my attention when I thought about what my son might be exposed to when he is playing this game.
The game "Smack Down vs. Raw" is a wrestling game which can be viewed as good or bad. Wrestling games have been around for a long time. Lately, I pay closer attention while my son is playing this game. With this game, the player needs to use the control to act out wrestling moves such as slams, strikes, taunts and finishers as they take place on the screen. This game also allows the player to decide how much pressure to apply with the control stick. It is a powerful, physical engagment between two players or even alone against the on-screen wrestler.
My goal is to find out how violent, educational and what type of wrestling this game portrays. During my research so far, I have found out that there are many types of wrestling. One of the most popular ones is called amateur wrestling. I have learned that the wrestling games show some kind of self defense system which I think as a parent is very important for our children to learn in order to defend themselves. I personally do not agree with violent games, however, there are people who enjoy them. As parents and/or teachers, we are responsible for the education and safety of children. I will keep learning and researching about this game to find out and decide whether or not my child should be playing it. Now that I have begun my research I will continue to research other games before I purchase them.
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I really like that you chose this game as well as the "lens" through which you are viewing it -- not just the violence, but the skills that need to be developed in order to play well. One of the things to think about is how this game would be different if played on something other than the Wii -- how acting out a wrestling game is different from pushing the correct sequence of buttons on a controller to get your game player to do what you want. How is that activity (physical versus symbolic) related to learning?
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