LITERATURE REVIEW

Videogames are games, and according to Zimmerman (2004), a game is a voluntary interactive activity, in which one or more players follow rules that constrain their behaviour, enacting an artificial conflict that ends in a quantifiable outcome.” So videogames consist of activities which are interactive, can be played by one or more players and also follow rules. They are goal-oriented and offer virtual experiences. Videogames could sometimes be a story or challenge which does not need stories; example: Tetris game.
Over the years, videogames designs have been constantly modified from the interactive, animated games to more sophisticated platforms, attracting more players especially youth and teenagers. According to Kahne et al (2008), “Youth play these games on computers, game consoles, portable gaming devices, and cell phones; they play alone, with others online, with friends in the room, as part of team or guild in school, supervised, and unsupervised.”
These videogames play significant roles in the lives of young people of today as cited by Emes (1997) “videogame playing may be a useful means of coping with pent-up and aggressive energies”. Also, these significant roles could either be positive or negative effects. According to an article on Physorg.com, “researchers found that training on videogames did improve the participants’ performance and they became significantly better and faster at switching between tasks”. This indicates that some videogames could develop and improve players’ skills. According to Dill (2007), “Games with positive contents show positive effects, example: playing a dancing videogame can help children lose weight”, an example of this game is the Konami’s Dance Revolution, 2007. The ‘Guitar Hero’ game also leaves positive effects on players as it could increase their music knowledge and improve their guitar playing skills.
Most negative effects impacted by videogames are usually as a result of playing violent video games which might cause the players to sought violence in conflict resolutions. Koop (1982) noted that “Since the late 1970s when videogame playing joined television as a preferred childhood leisure activity, one of the main concerns that have constantly been raised is that most games feature some kind of aggression which has led some to believe that children become more aggressive after playing such games”. Apart from aggression, videogames also cause gambling or an addiction as supported by Dill (2007), who stated that “13% of a set of adolescents who were surveyed sacrificed other activities and compulsively invested money and time in gaming.”
The positive or negative effects of videogames depends on its category, since as stated earlier, Dill (2007) is of the opinion that games which have positive contents affect players in a positive way. These categories are examined below.
CATEGORIES OF VIDEOGAMES
1. Videogames do not have standardized categories but below are some of the possible categories of most commonly used games as cited by Kirriemuir & Mc Farlane (2004) in Futurelab’s games and learning literature review.

a. Adventure Games: The player solves logic puzzles which helps him/her progress through stages of the game seen as a virtual world.

b. Simulation Games: The player has to succeed in a place or situation by making real time decisions. This is mostly used in institutions of learning and business organisations to improve decision making skills.

c. Action Games: Some of these action games are shooting games while some can be reaction games. Some of these ones contain violent scenes.

d. Fighting games: The player fights computer or human controlled character(s)..

e. Puzzle Games: The player solves series of puzzles.

f. Strategy games: The player makes strategic decisions such as commanding armies within battles. Example: Millitary games – U.S. Navy Seals.

g. Sports Games: The player is involved in sports like soccer, basketball.

h. Role-playing Games: The player takes up characteristics of another person or a creature.

2. Research videogames: These differentiate multiplayer and individual games and are used in modern research studies. They have high educational advantages especially the Massively Multiplayer Online Role playing Games example: Ultima Online.

3. Educational videogames: These are used to identify educational prospectives. According to Egenfeldt-Nielsen (2006), these have 3 categories:
a. Commercial entertainment or mainstream videogames: highly motivational for youth and have high educational goals. Example The Sims, Civilization.
b. Research-based educational videogames: These have background information used for learning and they exhibit new approaches to learning, but do not possess qualities which can be compared with new commercial games. Examples: Phoenix Quest, Zoombinis etc.
c. Commercial educational videogames: These are designed to teach the players particular skills like: algebra or spelling. Examples: Math Blaster etc.