Every two weeks in my college English class, everyone would split into groups to play scrabble. As a child, I loved playing scrabble and had always enjoyed different kinds of word games. However, overtime technology became more advanced which meant that I could play wherever and whenever I wanted through my device instead of sitting down face to face against my opponent. Sitting down face to face also has its own benefits so I didn’t mind having to play scrabble. But, over time, I began to dread having to come to class on a day where all we did was play scrabble. I didn’t see the point in playing and how this was supposedly beneficial. I began to think about games like word cross and words with friends which I could play on my phone, and in my mind, were much more beneficial in developing my vocabulary and making my brain think more creatively. I started to think more about if playing scrabble as a tabletop game was truly more beneficial than playing on a device.
There was a lack of articles pertaining to whether playing online or tabletop, but I did find a multitude of articles about Scrabulous, an online knock off version of scrabble that quickly developed a large fan base. I also investigated articles relating to how playing games on a device can affect our brain. The first article of my bibliography compares digital and board top games, pointing out the pros and cons of each side. The second is an article going in depth on an experiment conducted to see the effects of gaming device usage patterns which can be seen between an extreme gamer versus someone who often plays on their smart phone. The third relates to Scrabulous and how it forced the gaming industry to adapt to the new craze. The final article relates to another highly played smart phone game, candy crush. It goes in depth into how and why candy crush is such an addictive game which in hindsight might not seem related to my topic, but it is by showing the dangers of digital games.
There still isn’t a definite answer on whether digital games are better at cultivating word power, but research is continuously being done to see the effects of digital gaming. So even if digital games were proven to be successful in developing our brain power, there are still many negative effects that may come with it.
Annotated Bibliography
Edelen, D. (2017, September 14). Are Digital Board Games Better? Retrieved from https://gamingtrend.com/feature/editorials/are-digital-board-games-better/.
“Are Digital Board Games Better”, gives a look into widely popular classic board games such as Ticket to Ride, The Settlers of Catan, etc. It discusses their wide success as a tabletop game and with the release of a digital version, sales skyrocketed both online and for the actual tabletop version. An example is with Ticket to Ride. Ticket to Ride is one the most successful tabletop games and won best board game in 2004. When the digital version of it was released, sales for the physical board game also spiked. People who enjoy the digital version of a board game, often buy the physical copy too. Despite this correlation, there are still games that are better played in person. The article discusses the pros and cons of playing tabletop games versus their online versions. In an example, they use the board game Escape: The Curse of the Temple. They explain how a digital version cannot create the same excitement as rolling a real dice and competing against people to race through the temple.
The pros and cons given in this article are very beneficial in discovering if you prefer tabletop or digital version. It shows that there isn’t an obvious answer as to which is better, but it’s more dependent on the type of game and personal preferences. For example, tabletop games cater to larger groups and allow for better social connection/cooperation and sensory feedback which is important for some games. Digital games are more organized and better at explaining different concepts and rules as well preventing loss of game pieces and allowing easy cleanup.
Soo-Hyun Paik, Cho, H., Ji-Won, C., Jo-Eun, J., & Dai-Jin, K. (2017). Gaming device usage patterns predict internet gaming disorder: Comparison across different gaming device usage patterns. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(12), 1512. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14121512
“Gaming device usage patterns predict internet gaming disorder: Comparison across different gaming device usage patterns” present findings from an experiment regarding playing games across a variety of devices such as a phone, game console, and pc. It focuses more on the use of smartphones vs pc and how gaming on a smartphone continues to evolve and diverse which causes an increase in people playing games on their phone. They also discuss the correlation of how gamers often not only play on their main console but spend a large amount of time playing on their phone as well. The experiment was done on over a large age group, students (high school and college), individuals with full time jobs, and individuals without full time jobs. They were asked a series of questions to determine what level they are on the internet addiction test, smartphone addiction test, self-control scale, patient health, anxiety disorder, alcohol use disorder, and nicotine dependency.
The information from this experiment is crucial in seeing how the evolution of technology has caused an influx of gaming which has its own effects. Smartphone games can easily become addicting even if they’re games that are meant to be educational or challenge your mind and cause a chain reaction of side effects that don’t seem correlated at first sight.
Timmons, H. (2008, March 2). Online Scrabble Craze Leaves Game Sellers at Loss for Words. New York Times, p. A1(L). Retrieved from https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A175781136/SCIC?u=nclive&sid=SCIC&xid=081423f2
“Online Scrabble Craze Leaves Game Sellers at a Loss for Words” is an article reporting on the
“Scrabulous” Craze which is an online version of the game scrabble created by an indie company for facebook. It amassed a large following of users who become loyal to the game and were furious when the creates of scrabble had it removed and sued the company that made it. It discusses the pros of the digital version and why “Scrabulous” managed to give scrabble such a boost in popularity. For example, “Scrabulous” makes it easier to play multiple games with multiple people over a large span of time. It is also more geared to target a younger audience whereas Scrabble previously had a close-knit community of players. It also discusses the idea that scrabble shouldn’t belong to anybody and should be a public domain like chess.
This article is useful in seeing a clear difference between tabletop vs digital games. Both versions have their own benefits. In the article, Matt Mason mentions that “if somethings already out there and proven, the companies should go with it” (2008). This is important in showing how digital games changed the way board games were originally supposed to be played.
Zafar, N., Kausar, R., & Pallesen, S. (2018). Candy crush addiction, executive functioning and CGPA of university students of lahore. Bahria Journal of Professional Psychology, 17(1), 67. Retrieved from https://login.proxy032.nclive.org/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/2234553406?accountid=9935
“Candy crush addiction, executive functioning and CGPA of university students of lahore” gives an example of how everyday simple games can such a large addiction. This article is crucial in relating gaming addictions to changes in our brain. It is an experiment that was done to observe the changes in people’s brains who play candy crush.
By observing what a seemingly harmless game can do, it causes researchers to think more about the consequences of technology and what can be done to reduce these effects.
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