Cover Sheet Final Draft

 

Cover Sheet

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1. What is the purpose of this paper?

 

I am using the final draft from the Unit 2 assignment as a source to counter argue the claim set throughout the paper. I will write the arguments through a first person perspective as if I were presenting the arguments directly to the individual who wrote it.

 

 

2. Who is your target audience?

 

 

My audience is anyone who read the Unit 2 assignment and didn't question the claims presented throughout. Though they are believable claims that are backed up through credible sources, there is definitely room for argument,

 

3. Did you learn/try anything new while growing this composition?

 

 I will be writing any counter arguments in different color text and font to segregate original paper from counter arguments.

 

 

 

 

 

Final Draft

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Earl Babista

Dr. Trey Conner

ENC3310

29 April  2009

 

 

“Kids, get in the house and play your videogames!”

 

 

 

 

Playing videogames have long been linked to a myriad of negative connotations.  Video games cause violence. Videogames cause childhood obesity. Videogames cause vision problems. These are just some of the claims that have been researched and printed in many publications ranging from The St. Petersburg Times to Times Magazine. However, with the implementation of new technologies, can videogames actually cause good health?

 

 

With the introduction of exergaming, a mesh of exercising and gaming (“Exergaming”), playing videogames can promote personal fitness which in turn provides multiple health benefits. There are many types of videogames that promotes different types of health benefits.

 

 

One of the main health benefits is aerobic fitness. Aerobic fitness is a measure of how well the body transports oxygen around the body, and how well your muscles utilize the oxygen (“Fitness - Aerobic Fitness”). Oxygen efficiency is especially important in regards to aerobic fitness. Our muscles are like engines that require fuel but instead of gas, we fill up on carbohydrates and fats. Once oxygen is introduced to the muscles, it’s used to burn the consumed fats and carbohydrates to keep the engines running (Weil). The more oxygen that is introduced to the muscles, the longer they’ll work. Any activity that raises your heart rate for an extended period of time will improve aerobic fitness (“Fitness - Aerobic Fitness”).

 

Dance Dance Revolution is a video game that has a player or players standing on a platform that has colored arrows and they must hit the colored arrows with their feet based on visual and musical cues. Dance Dance Revolution has varying degrees of difficulty which requires the player to move his/her feet faster depending on what level of expertise they are (“Dance Dance Revolution”). The faster and longer the player’s feet are moving, the more oxygen their bodies require. Wii Boxing is a video game that requires a player to box against a computer opponent in the same fashion as fighting in a ring. The player for an extended period of time throws punches, blocks, and counters at their opponent until someone wins.  These kinds of activities promote aerobic fitness and exercise because the player is engaged in an activity for an extended period of time which also requires mass amounts of oxygen consumption. By using Dance Dance Revolution and Wii Boxing as a tool for aerobic exercise, increases in heart health, increases in blood supply and efficiency to the heart and muscles, lowered blood pressure, and reduced body fat have become positive byproducts (Weil). In fact, Dance Dance Revolution has been so successful in promoting aerobic fitness that it is being used as part of a fitness program to be phased into some public schools in West Virginia and other states to follow (Schiesel).

 

 

 

It’s hard to believe that using Dance Dance Revolution and Wii Boxing alone can be a valid replacement for more traditional aerobic exercises like jogging, biking, and swimming. Traditional exercises like jogging, swimming, and biking are very easy to do and burn calories at a much faster rate than playing Wii Boxing.   I think the problem is that people just are so “connected” electronically that they must incorporate everything in their lives such as personal health to something visual and interactive.

 

 

I’ve played both Dance Dance Revolution and Wii Boxing and both are fun to play, but I can’t see it completely replacing anyone’s cardio routine. First of all, in order to participate in these games you must have good hand eye coordination. If you’re someone who doesn’t have great hand eye coordination, then playing these games for exercise can prove to be frustrating and fruitless. It could even be a negative impact if you become so frustrated that you eventually give up on working out all together.

 

Most people think the aerobic fitness is all you need to maximize fat loss and overall health. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Overall personal fitness also involves anaerobic fitness. Anaerobic exercises are different from aerobic exercises because less oxygen is used and the focus is more on muscle strength and development. Some examples of anaerobic exercise are lifting weights and sprinting for short periods of time (" Anaerobic exercise: energy without oxygen").

 

 

 The Wii Fit Balance Board is the perfect platform for exergaming focused on strength training and anaerobic fitness. The Wii Balance Board is a wireless peripheral for the Wii console that can be used to perform strength training exercises. The Wii Fit has many different exercises so that all muscles in the body are benefited. For the lower body, you can use the Wii Fit Board to perform a single leg extension, where you’ll stand on one leg and kick the other one backwards while leaning forward and extending an arm. The Balance Board measures how stable your stance is while performing each extension. For upper body development you can perform regular push ups on the board or you can perform a push up with a side plank ( from the raised push up position, swing one arm outward while turning sideways and pressing all your weight onto the arm resting on the balance board), which is much more difficult. After mastering the different strength exercises using the Wii Fit Board, there are additional game modes on the Wii Fit that challenge the player in outperforming the virtual trainer (Amer). Doing these exercises on a regular basis definitely has its benefits. Some include, increase in lean muscle and strength, improved balance and posture, increase in metabolic rate which in turn causes weight loss, increase in bone strength, and even increase in self esteem and self image (Van Slooten).

 

 

 

Unfortunatly, the Wii Balance Board is not the perfect platform for strength training and anaerobic fitness. The video review explained one of the major issues with the Wii Balance Board, it only supports 300 pounds. So what Nintendo is saying is, “If your over 300 pounds, tough shit you can’t play!” That seems a little harsh considering this thing is suppose to help someone who is trying to lose weight.

 

  

You’re also limited to the number of exercises that you can do on the Wii Balance Board. Those exercises are good but they are nowhere near as effective as going to the gym and lifting free weights or using exercise machines. There are so many more muscles that you can effect with weights and machines than you could with the Wii Balance Board. If you are continually doing the same exercises on the Balance Board because of platform limitations, your body will eventually hit a plateau and no matter how hard you work out on the Wii you will not see results. Whereas with traditional weights and machines, if your notice a plateau, you can adjust weights or types of exercise.

 

 

 

Hand eye coordination is another function that can be improved by use of playing video games. Hand eye coordination is the use of the eyes to direct attention to execute a specific task (Doll). People take hand eye coordination for granted but the fact of the matter is that we use it everyday. Pouring a cup of coffee, writing between the lines on a piece of paper, avoiding obstacles on the road while driving, these are just some examples of how important eye coordination is but how little we think about it.

 

 

There are a variety of different games that can be played that can greatly improve hand eye coordination. First person shooters like Halo and Counter Strike are just a couple of examples. While playing Halo or any first person shooter for that matter, the player must scan the screen for enemies and other points of interest, use their thumbs to move the analog sticks with the right amount of pressure in order to move the playable character, and move their thumbs off of the analog stick to hit other buttons in order to do another functions like throw a grenade or activate a shield, and many other small hand adjustments depending on what you want the character to do all while still looking at the screen. Sounds complicated and involved but that’s what gamers do when they pick up a controller and just play.

 

 

 

The biggest issue I have with this claim that it doesn’t take into account that someone with a mental or/and physical disability will have a difficult time improving hand eye coordination through video games. If someone has a mental disability like Downs Syndrome, they are going to find the sequencing of using specific buttons in coordination with moving visuals very difficult. If an individual have some sort of physical deformity or handicap, they may find it extremely difficult to use the hardware for videogames like controllers or stepping platforms.

 

 

 

 

One of the most overlooked benefits of playing video games is reading. A lot of video games today require the player to read text in order to learn how to play the game, follow the plot, or finish a mission (Thorpe). Some of these texts crawl, scroll, or stay on the screen and disappear. For some who don’t read very often, they could miss some very important clues within those texts that could give them advantages while playing the game.  This forces players to adjust and read faster so they can read and retain game text. This kind of reading supports cognitive health. Cognitive health involves learning, thinking, knowing, and judging (“Definition of Cognitive”). Games like World of War Craft and Everquest require heavy reading in order for the gamer to understand the world they are playing in (Thorpe).  In fact these games have so much reading in them, that novels based on these games have been published to promote even more reading.

 

 

 

You know what else improves reading skills and cognitive health? Books. The great thing about books is that they are relatively inexpensive, with the exception of college text of course. Playing World of War Craft requires a computer of some kind. Some people like to “pimp out” their computer with sound cards, video cards, special mice, and other geeky stuff. This can easily add up to the thousands. Therefore not everyone is going to benefit from improved reading by use of videogames.

Plus, unless you’re into games like World of War Craft and Everquest where typing and reading are basically required in order to play the game, extensive in game text are annoying. Most of the time when I see text in game I try to hit buttons and skip through it. I’m paying good money to entertain myself and the last thing I want to do is read. I want to blow stuff up not read a damn story about blowing stuff up.

 

I believe video games are a fun way to pass the time and have fun. Some people believe that playing videogames are pointless and unhealthy.  Like all thing in life, videogames should not be used in excess. But while playing videogames, why not have it be not just entertaining but also healthy at the same time. Benefits like aerobic and anaerobic health, improved hand eye coordination, and cognitive improvement are definitely some good reasons to grab a controller and play.

 

Nathan's Final Reviews

 

 

Works Cited

 

 

Amer, N . "Wii Fit Review." Game Zone. 21 May. 2008. 25 Mar. 2009. <http://wii.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r33035.htm>.

 

 

" Anaerobic exercise: energy without oxygen." University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics. 30 Sep. 2008. 25 Mar. 2009. <http://www.uihealthcare.com/topics/exercisefitness/exer3098.html>.

 

 

"Dance Dance Revolution." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 25 Mar 2009, 18:40 UTC. 26 Mar 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dance_Dance_Revolution&oldid=279636420>.

"Definition of Cognitive." MedicineNet. 12 Oct. 2004. 25 Mar. 2009. <http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=15297>.

 

 

Doll, Aaron . "Do Videogames Improve Hand-Eye Coordination More Than Sports?." Associated Content. 20 Feb. 2009. 25 Mar. 2009. <http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1445882/do_videogames_improve_handeye_coordination.html?cat=19>.

 

 

"Exergaming." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 18 Mar 2009, 19:56 UTC. 26 Mar 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Exergaming&oldid=278177410>.

 

 

      "Fitness - Aerobic Fitness." WebMD. 26 Aug. 2008. 25 Mar. 2009. <http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/tc/fitness-aerobic-fitness?>.

 

 

Schiesel, Seth . "P.E. Classes Turn to Video Game That Works Legs ." The New York Times. 30 Apr. 2007. 25 Mar. 2009. <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/30/health/30exer.html>.

 

 

Thorpe, Jen . "Benefits of playing video games ." Helium. 25 Mar. 2009. <http://www.helium.com/items/315478-benefits-of-playing-video-games? >.

 

 

Van Slooten, Travis . "The Health Benefits of Anaerobic Exercises." Mens Total Fitness. 25 Mar. 2009. <http://www.mens-total-fitness.com/anaerobic-exercises.html>.

 

 

Weil, MEd, CDE, Richard . "Aerobic Exercise." MedicineNet. 25 Mar. 2009. <http://www.medicinenet.com/aerobic_exercise/article.htm>.