As technology advances in America, its youth embrace the many creations in todays world.

A very prominent technology used by American youth is video game systems. In Shirley Matile Ogletree and Ryan Drakes article College Students Video Game Participation and Perceptions: Gender Differences and Implications, the study of American college students discusses the current gender-related issues of video games. These aspects of gender include time involvement, interpersonal relationship effects, and stereotypical characteristics in video games. Ogletree and Drake research the extent to which these issues are affecting the lives of American youth. The first issue addressed by Ogletree and Drake is the amount of time involved in video gaming in the lives of American youth including adolescents and college students. The research used in the article looks for different factors such as gender and exact age in relation to the amount of time they spend playing video games per day. The results demonstrate that men spend on average more time than women per day. The age group of adolescent males that spends the most time gaming is the 8-10 year old boys of America; in fact, 73% of boys this age play video games for an average of 93 minutes per day (538). The article emphasizes the new research on video gaming and college students, but also wants to give the picture of what the younger youth of America is doing in comparison. For example, the 8 to 10 year old boys spend more time playing games per week than college men. The difference in college males and younger boys is that college males are more likely to just sit and watch instead of directly playing themselves (539). Ogletree and Drake have assessed the amount of time video games occupy in the lives of male college students. The next issue discussed is what the affects this large amount of time has on a typical college students life. The topic of displacement hypothesis, which means time spent in one activity displaces time that could have been used to do something else, becomes an important new term for video gamers in relationships (538). Research has showed men spend more time than women playing video games, and this has a direct correlation to interpersonal relationships problems. Results show that men are more likely to report that their partner complains about the amount of time they spend playing games. Ogletree and Drake conclude that the displacement hypothesis is evident in this situation, for the partner is complaining that their special someone is choosing to spend their time playing video games over time with the partner. The research shows that the majority of people reporting that they complain to their partner are women (539). The last issue Ogletree and Drake discuss is the stereotypical characteristics gamers are picking up because of all the time and energy put into video games. The stereotypes in video games are rooted in notions of male dominance and supremacy. In 2006, a survey of Nintendo 64 and PlayStation games found that out of over 597 characters, females only made up 14% of the characters (538). This minority of females in video games is due to its predominantly male user status. Research shows that men more likely to choose a male over a female character; thus, the video game companies cater to the majority buyers who happen to be males. The stereotypes of the female characters are very common across the video gaming world. Females tend to be underrepresented and sexually provocative. Research shows that stereotypes for females in games do not end at lack of presence and clothes, but they are also viewed as less strong and aggressive and helpless and in need of rescue (540). Ogletree and

Drakes research shows how openly blatant video games stereotype females, but also how the youth of America openly acknowledges the existence of these stereotypes. Ogletree and Drake make a very logical argument on the affects of American college students and the current gender-related issues of video games. The argument the authors make is logical because its opens with the background knowledge that is beneficial to know to set a general understanding of the new information. After establishing this framework, the authors propose new information to explore; this exploration is the affects of gender related issues in video games in the college lifestyle. The next step is that the authors report of the setup of their experiment, followed by the results from their experiments with college students. The argument Ogletree and Drake make is logical in that the progression of new information is in sync with all the previous information given to the reader; this makes for easy to follow reading. Although the articles progression is clear and logical, it lends its authors to make assumptions based on the research results. The assumptions do not have clear-cut evidence behind them, and they give the reader space to explore their own opinions on the issues of the extent to which video gaming is influencing stereotypes in society. The information in Ogletree and Drakes article is strongly backed with research evidence. The research evidence is used as specific examples throughout the article. The examples include past experiences and surveys of video games and gender related issues, a report on a specific experiment directly related to the authors thesis on college students and video games, and the statistics and correlation studies on the results of both. These examples provide firm findings that show the gender issues in video games. For example, the author will make a statement about how middle adolescent boys play the most video games out of all American youth male or female any age. Next, the author proves the statement with specific statistical information directly related to boys ages 8 to 10 (73% of them play video games everyday for over 93 minutes). This way of proving information makes the authors argument easier to understand and easier to accept the new findings of their research. Also, the use of experimental research sets the tone of the article as dry and very academically based. The reason for this article is not to entertain, but simply to inform the readers of the issues of gender in video games. The next step in Ogletree and Drakes research is addressing factors that could have affected their results. For example, the authors address the issue of interpersonal relationships with only heterosexual couples (541). In a homosexual relationship, would the displacement hypothesis still be an issue? If displacement is seen in same sex couples, then the research on displacement in relation to gender specifics is challenged. For example, a homosexual male couple might have displacement issues; therefore, one male would be predominantly the one complaining, and the other one would be receiving the complaints. This result would go against Ogletree and Drakes findings that women are predominantly the ones complaining about spending time playing video games. By narrowing the type of relationship some information could have been lost. The research on video games and gender issues is growing as American youth spends more time with video game technology. I agree with the statistical evidence of Ogletree and Drakes research, and I think the next step is evaluating specific individuals in their own environment playing video games. This

experiment would be to measure and more clearly define the problems video games cause in relationships. With a clearer definition of these problems, gender specifics will be easier to evaluate. This research would also see the effects of video games on a household. For example, a family of three (mother, father and son), has the potential to show multiple interpersonal relationships. Does the amount of time the son affect relationships with both parents? In my experience, my brother spends 2 to 4 hours a day playing video games, and he fights almost every other day with my parents. The topic of video games always seems to get thrown in their arguments. These arguments set the tone for how the family is going to interact for the rest of the day, so this new research would be important to measure how video game affects on the entire family. Ogletree and Drakes study of American college students and the current gender-related issues of video games provide evidence that relate aspects of gender to time involvement, interpersonal relationship affects, and stereotypical characteristics in video games. The overall style of the article is easy to understand due to its logical argument and statistical evidence. Ogletree and Drake results show that there are many trends appearing in video games and gender, but the results also show a need for more in depth research in the field of video games and gender issues.

Works Cited Ogletree, Shirley Matile, Ryan Drake. College Students Video Game Participation and Perceptions: Gender Differences and Implications. Springer Science and Business Media, LLC. (2007): 537-542. EBSCOhost. Georgia Tech Library. 10 Oct. 2007 <http://www.library.gatech.edu>.