Digital Gaming.edited.edited
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Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology *
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504
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Communications
Date
Nov 24, 2024
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docx
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Digital Gaming
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Code
Date
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Digital Gaming
Digital Platforms I Use and The Time Estimates
I often use three main devices or platforms to play digital games. These include PC,
Xbox, and my mobile phone. After calculating the average time, I realized I spend approximately
10 hours a week on each platform playing competitive games. I often play games for one and a
half hours each day on each platform. There are several days, like on weekends, when I only play
for 2 hours maximum on all the platforms due to engagement with other activities.
Time Tracking and Actual Game Playing Time:
After recording my activity for a week, I found out That I use my phone for 9.5 hours,
Xbox for 6 hours, and my PC for 5.5 hours. At the beginning of each gameplay, it was not as fun
as it was towards the mid-week and at the end of the week. In the beginning, I would play for
only 40 to 1 hour each day and at specific times, often in my free time. However, towards the
end of the week, I found myself sparing time to play games even when engaged with other tasks.
I spend about 3 hours each day to play these games every day.
Comparison and Reflection
There was a surprising difference between my initial estimates and the actual playtime.
My actual playing time was relatively higher than the time I estimated by 12 hours. I had
estimated that I would be spending 40 minutes playing games every day. However, I found
myself spending more than 3 hours each day playing Xbox games. Furthermore, the short casual
mobile games, even though they seemed short, added up more than I thought. According to
Potter (2022), the excitement of trying to reach the next level or get a bonus in these games, even
if you play for a short time, can be more tempting than longer, more predictable games. This
made me admire the unpredictable rewards, and maybe I need to look at how much time I am
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spending on these seemingly harmless "time killer" games. Looking at the real playtime, which
is 60% of my media time, it is clear that digital games take up a big chunk of my free time,
making me think about whether these habits are making my life better or if I might be overdoing
it. Furthermore, I work 30 hours every week. I found out that I spent about 8 hours of my
working hours gaming, which is about 27% of my working hours.
Patterns and Importance
The overall playtime for the games was 21 hours per week. This translated to 60% of my
media time; I spend 35 hours in media. This implicates the urgency to address the need for
checking on addictive activities. Addictive behaviors, including gaming, have the potential to
crowd out essential pursuits such as work, play, basic hygiene, and social interaction.
Benefits and Emotions
There were several benefits that these games added to my life in the experiment week.
The mobile games gave me relief from stress and offered relaxation. Competitive games offered
a break from stress, while mobile games helped me relax during breaks. Playing with friends
creates laughter and a sense of community. In addition, Competitive games require strategic
thinking, quick reflexes, and coordination, while mobile games can improve hand-eye
coordination and problem-solving skills (
Shaheen & Fotaris, 2023).
Thus, playing these games
enabled me to develop valuable skills like strategic thinking, decision-making, creativity,
concentration, and coordination in performing other tasks.
Moreover, playing games boosts my confidence, especially in situations that demand
skilled play and clutching victory. However, transferring those feelings directly to real life is
much more complicated. The strategic thinking and hand-eye coordination that comes from
playing video games may have indirect advantages, but the sense of power that comes from
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conquering obstacles in the real world is not always transferable. Seeing this disparity motivates
me to aggressively develop my confidence in non-gaming contexts, viewing the abilities I have
acquired as tools rather than awards.
Value and Payback
While the stress relief, social connection, and skill development I gain are valuable, using
60% of my media time and 27% of my working time for games makes me question my choices.
As much as I enjoyed playing such games, the potential for gaming addiction and engagement is
real. Therefore, I would need to reconsider my choices and invest more time in other activities
like non-digital or media-related leisure activities. I will need to set time limits, seek non-digital
hobbies, and leverage game-honed skills in real-world challenges to diversify these habits.
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References
Potter, W. J. (2022).
Media Literacy.
University of California. Sage publications.
Shaheen, A., & Fotaris, P. (2023, September).
Exploring Reflective Learning in Digital Game-
Based Learning
: A User Research Study. In 17th European Conference on Games Based
Learning.