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Hello everyone, this is my presentation on what I’ve wrote in this class all semester long
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When I was playing the last game of the Overwatch Competitive season, I had no idea what would happen. I was skilled at the game but nothing like this had ever happened to me. I needed one win to be put back on the seasons top 500 leaderboard system. It’s something I always accomplished every season and it brought me satisfaction knowing I was one of the best players in the game. I was put against the wall and was already upset at the way the game I played before went, so I felt hopeless. As the match started, I felt a sense of hope and regained my confidence needed for this match. I knew that all the hard work I put into this game would prepare me for a moment like this and pay off.
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Video games have played a large role in my life. I’ve been playing video games for about 10 years. Throughout those ten years, I’ve gained different skills and learned different themes that I was able to apply to in real life. I still am learning every day I play on my Xbox One. As I started to finish up my writing, there was a common theme I wanted the reader to understand, hard work pays off. When I started my writing, I wanted to explain the social commentary of a game that meant a lot to me, NBA 2k11. Although at first, I didn’t understand what the social commentary of the game was, I realized there was so much that this game showed the community. I spoke about the things that NBA 2k11 does for the community without them even realizing it, such as spending currency wisely. In my second unit of writing, I switched gears a little bit but stood in the same field of video games. I spoke about my experience playing during the last moments of a season in Overwatch, a competitive game. I mentioned the thoughts that ran through my mind and how playing the game for so long prepared me for an unexpected moment like this. In the end I became victorious in the situation and was extremely satisfied because of it. It felt, during this moment, like the best thing I ever accomplished in my life. In my research, I spoke about why gamers spend so much time competing and trying to be better than each other. My research shows that satisfaction is found to those who are victorious in a given situation. I also spoke about the background of where human competitive nature and found testosterone plays a large role in Human Competitive Nature.
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The game NBA 2k11 is one game that means a lot to me. When I played it in middle school, it showed me that you need to work hard to get rewarded. As I look, back I see that NBA 2K11 does more than that. The buttons you have to press continuously while you play increases muscle memory in your hands as well as your dexterity. My writing shows that the different game modes this game offers teaches different skills and different themes that can be applied to the way we do things in life.
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I decided to write my story on what happened to me as I played Overwatch because I felt that this defined a part of who I am today. Prior to this moment, I’ve been playing Overwatch for about 1 year and each matched I played were about the same every time. I’ve had experience with the game but what happened to me this moment was something I never experienced. I was close to losing my spot in the top 500 leaderboards for the Overwatch Competitive Season 5. Knowing I was better than the majority people that played the game is what kept me playing. I wanted to keep proving I was skilled and the only way I did that was by staying in the top 500 leaderboards. My writing shows the ups and downs I experienced as well as the thoughts that ran through my mind during these final moments of season five. My story suggests that if you work hard and keep working hard, you will be rewarded.
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I decided to research on why is that people spend so much time trying to be better than each other and where does that competitive nature come from. My research showed that higher position in social hierarchy is the cause for humans trying to better than one another. Testosterone is what gives the person satisfaction when they know they are better than the people around them. This human competitive nature is what drives gamers to put in the hours. People want to be higher than everyone, better than their friends so that they have something to brag about. The high social status is what brings satisfaction and/or happiness to the player. My research also suggests that gamers use video games as a way to escape and cope from the problems they go through every day.
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Thank you everyone for taking the time for listening to me speak about something that means a lot to me.
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Link to my presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1WuyNJImc232jcGkFNL16zl_gHWhJ64fIVfggIjkmi_U/edit?usp=sharing