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[merylsilverburg]

Hehe, I've been asking for a lot of help lately. Anyway, I need some assistance:

For my English paper, I'm supposed to be doing a research cause-effect paper, explaining a situation, such as:

1. Why were farmers encouraged to adopt no-till farming? What were the hoped-for results? What has happened because of the adoption of no-till farming?

or

4. Why was NAFTA considered an important international treaty? How have American businesses been affected since its passage? What unexpected results have occurred?

^ These were examples my instructor gave our class. We have to talk about something that relates to our lives, so I wanted to talk about videogames but I need a topic to make it into a statement so I can explain it. For example:

Videogames have been a factor for inducing violence within teenage boys.

^ If I choose this, I have to talk about what were the factors involved, how this this happen, etc. Then I'll have to use internet resources and magazines and other stuff as my cited works.

I was thinking about talking about the videogame marketing issue, where videogames nowadays are merely about appeal to the consumers and not about quality...but I can't think of any other topics.

So, can anyone come up with some ideas for me? I have general knowledge on some videogame issues, but not so much. I'll need to confirm this topic on Thursday when I return to class, so hopefully he'll accept some of these ideas.

Thanks in advance.

[happy_doughnut]

Ooh, interesting paper. I bet you'll write a very good one, Merly.

Eeks! I don't have much time now, since my English class starts in 20 minutes, but this thread totally caught my interest.

I think that your first topic is a good one - the one that has to do with violence. At least, there will be many sources since everyone always blames videogames... >__>

The cause can be a little tricky, though.

Let's look at the effect: The effect, I think, will not be so difficult to explore, seeing as how there have been many violent manifestations in the names of videogames. Your example could include all of those cases where "that certain videogame" was the underlaying cause for a violent breakdown. Take the Columbine HS incident, for example. Many critics said, and still do, that the game "Doom" was partly resposible for the boy's action, since it consisted of utter violence and gore. Furthermore, because the boy spent many hours playing it, he became "addicted" to it and thus went out on a shooting rampage.

In this instance, videogames we held liable for extreme and addictive violence.

Things like these can be your "effect" - what the violence in videogames "drives" boys/girls to do.

Thus, your cause can be derrived for that. You can ask something like "what causes violence to be the center of many videogames?" Furthermore, you can elaborate on that "causes" these to be popular hits (like Doom and GTA).

I like this topic, but like I said, it may prove a little tricky.

Here's an idea for you:

Why not be generic and exact at the same time? Like, ask a general question, such as "Why do many people play videogames? What are the underlying causes that cause so much appeal?"

Therefore, your "cause" can be all the factors you can think of - all of the "why's". Then, your "effect" can be something more specific, like after someone is attracted to games, what effects does this attraction bring to the person? Or to the teenage group (if you're selecting a target group) as a whole?

Eeks! Maybe I confused you . I found some links for you, but I closed them.

I'm sorry if I misunderstood... or totally confused you. I will elaborate on all of my gibberish when I get home.

Class becons now. [sleep mode = on]

[Berserker]

Maybe try something of a comparison thing, like videogames tend to get more realistic nowadays and the most populair tv-shows are real-life shows etc. Why is a game like sims so popular is it sort of a substitute for our own (perhaps boring) life, we see less and less fiction(or lack of room for our own imagination) in amusement around us. Or maybe just in general try to compare the evolution of videogame industry to other branches of entertainment etc.

Don't know if this will help, but good luck anyways!!!

[merylsilverburg]

Thanks a lot to both of you! I think I will just stick with the violence issue though...it just seems that there are more to talk about with it. Thanks again for your help guys!

[happy_doughnut]

Good call, meryl.

I would personally choose that too, since, as you said, it's quite easy to find information regarding this topic. However, the only down side I see to this is that it feels like we're kinda bashing on them. I dunno. Maybe not.

Anyway, what's your cause going to be? I've been thinking about it, and I really can't formulate a good cause. I mean, the effects are rather obvious, but the cause seems tricky.

Is it going to be something like "what causes violence in videogames?"?
If so, maybe you can ask a general question, like, "why have videogames become such a popular industry, especially amongst today's youth?" and then go on to ask, "are there any concerns we should have with regards to videogames? can, and do, they really promote violence?"... and then finally to, "why are videogames accused with being a dominant factor regarding the inducement of violence within teenage (boys)?"

All of that would tie in your causes, plus allowing you to go more in depth, and letting your "effects" be your thesis, don't you think?

Maybe, maybe not - I'm just trying to give you some ideas.

Here are some links that may be useful:

Clicky Clicky 1 ** Some stuffs on marketing and statistics.

Clicky Clicky 2 **Stuffs on videogame appeal.

Clicky Clicky 3 **Violence and videogames ... neutral-ish stance.

Clicky Clicky 4 **Violence in games, from a more psychological view, plus Columbine incident.

Clicky Clicky 5 **More violence, plus cases regarding violence due to games.

Clicky Clicky 6 **Youth Jailed. Oh, those blasted videogames!

And those are all the links I have. I have more, but I'm scared to post any more. I hope these can provide you with at least some valuable information.

Good luck on this, Meryl. Be sure to post if you need any more help!