Online gaming term paper, any good sources?

[nesuser2]

I've decided to go with online gaming as my controversial topic for my term paper. Does anybody know of any good sources for information. EVERY search I try anywhere gives me casino gaming. Mainly just looking for fully opinionated articles and nothing really long. 5-7 pages max but 3-4 pages or less is more preferable. Any help is GREATLY appreciated!! :D

Also, just to clarify...I was going to do the pro's and con's of online gaming. I'm not sure what people would have against it but I'm sure there are tons of reasons. I mean....video games are bad for you, so online gaming has to be much worse ;) It probably rots your brain LOL Thanks in advance everyone!!

EDIT: I almost forgot, I have to do a paper on any controversy in my field of study. I'm going to college for computer networking and this is the best thing I can think of right now. If anybody can think of any other controversies that would have good info on both sides, I'm always open to suggestion.(These people thinks you should____and these people think you shouldn't, something along those lines)

[Cantaloup]

Well, the violence in video games issue would probably be more controversial. With that you could refer to the senate hearings of the 90's, Columbine, the ESRB and rating system, etc. It seems to me like you would be able to find a lot more info on that topic.

EDIT: I just remembered something that might be useful if you decide to stick with on-line games as your topic. There was a case where a man committed suicide because of EverQuest (http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/mar02/31536.asp). I'm sure you'll be able to find other articles about this as well.

[gamegirl79]

I would try to find an article about the Everquest phenomenon. See if you can find a story about someone who lost their job, wife, kids, car, savings, etc. due to Evercrack. :) You can search for news articles on Google, so I think that would be a good start. On the flip side, search for articles about the positive things that online gaming brings us - teamwork, knowledge gained in learning how to set up a pc/console for LAN or online play, social interaction, etc.

When I was in college I wrote a paper about censorship on the internet, so that might also be a good controversial subject.

[Castelak]

You would find a bunch of stuff about Lineage gamers in Korea. There was some stuff about gangs PKing people in real life. :P

[kevincure]

http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,62929,00.html <-- sales of online "property" from games like Everquest. The gamemakers don't like it. There are also concerns about taxes and "theft" of online goods that have real world value. Look for writing by Edward Castronova, he's the expert in the field.

[SirDrexl]

CNN had an article about online gaming recently:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/fun.games/04/02/two.virtual.worlds.ap/index.html

You could also mention the guy in China (?) who had his virtual property stolen by a hacker and had to sue to get it back.

If your field is networking, I don't think the videogame violence issue would be close enough. If you want to do something related to video games, online gaming is probably going to have to be it.

[PhoeniX]

If you have access, try looking at Lexus Nexus, it's a database of periodicles and compendium of publically available government releases and judicial decisions. I did a term paper on the legal discourse as it affects video games and found this source invaluable. Since it is unlikely you have or can get this service as an individual try one the following sources that might allow access to this and other accedemic databases: local librarary (ask you librarian if you can access Lexus Nexus), any college you attend--perhaps even one you a prospective student of, finally ask and family or freinds if they perhaps have access to this database at work (law firms, media [news etc.], and certain governmental bureaucracys. I assure you that if you use Lexus you will find it an extremely useful way to find articles--good articles that pertain to this and really any other topic; it weeds out all the garbage for you.

[SoulBlazer]

As a future Librarian, I can second Lexus-Nexus. If you can get on it, Dialog is good also. :D