Flappy Bird – Are we all going a little bit ”flappy”?

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For my blog this week I am going to explore the topic of gaming apps. For me, playing a game means using your imagination, a board game or maybe something with props like Twister. For my friends that is not the case. They are always on their phones or online trying out the newest game to be released. The most popular games being Candy Crush, Temple Run and Farmville. They are such things that I have never tried before but I have heard that they are very addictive. I am still stuck in a time where The Sims 1 was (and still is for me) a technological masterpiece!

For a modern teenager in this technological age gaming is quite a huge thing. Basic games like Solitaire, Monopoly and Connect4 have all gone digital. Gaming is not just for fanatics also known as ‘’hardcore-gamers’’ anymore but also every other regular Joe. You don’t have to be up to date with the latest PlayStation or Xbox available to stay on trend. This is due to games being so accessible now. All you merely have to do is download the game which is usually free from the app stores on your android or iPhones.  Everything is just a click away.

Visuals of Flappy Birds
Source: http://www.todaysiphone.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com

I decided to focus on just one game to write about on my blog this week which has been trending – Flappy Birds. I downloaded it out of curiosity because it was all over my Facebook and my friends wouldn’t stop talking about it. But I just couldn’t get into it. I merely accepted I was awful at the game and that I couldn’t get a higher score than two. It had nothing to do with lacking perseverance or just giving up (as some people said to me) – honestly, I just don’t find these kind of things interesting. I thought others would be like me but oh no! I was very wrong. Everyone I knew seemed to be swept up in the craze. It was trending all over Twitter and it was even on national news. People became obsessed with playing and trying to out-do each other.

From the way people go on about how frustrating and difficult it is one would think it is a very complicated game but it’s not. Flappy Bird has 80’s like retro gaming graphics – think old-school Mario. It consists of a small bird that you must tap for it to flap its wings so it can fly. The aim of the game is to manoeuvre this bird through series of pipes without touching them to get a high score but if you touch a pipe you die.

Researching about gaming has shown me it has affected the modern technological teenager in a far more negative light than positive. Even though studies have shown that ‘’hardcore-gamers’’ have fantastic cognitive abilities compared to others, the negatives have completely overshadowed this fact. Deaths, violent outbursts and obsession are some just to name a few examples. Studies have also shown that violent games like Gears of War have had extreme negative outbursts among teenagers. Craig A. Anderson and Brad J. Bushman from Iowa State University have conducted a study on the effects of video games on children and adolescents. The study contains findings that,

Research on exposure to television and movie violence suggests that playing violent video games will increase aggressive behavior. A meta-analytic review of the video game research literature reveals that violent video games increase aggressive behavior in children and young adults. Experimental and nonexperimnetal studies with males and females in laboratory and field settings support this conclusion. Analyses also reveal that exposure to violent video games increases physiological arousal and aggression-related thoughts and feelings. Playing violent video games also decreases pro-social behavior.

Flappy Birds alone in 2 weeks has resulted in many deaths. As result, it has been shut down and removed from the app store. I thought this would be the end of the Flappy Birds craze but I was wrong yet again. People are selling their phones with the Flappy Birds app still installed up on eBay, Amazon.com and other similar websites for large sums of money. And people are buying them.

Being sold for £1’000.00
Source: ebay.com

From simple research on the internet on the effects of gaming on my generation it does nothing but raise worries about how technology affects us. I believe the teenagers of today are too technologically saturated. The main influences in our lives no longer come from our family or peer groups but online media trends. Sometimes people are too focused about what is going on in the digital world and seem to forget about the effect it can have on the real world. I, for one am not one of the converted to the realm of gaming.