As a way to relax and have fun, Devon Harriss spends about a half an hour to an hour each night playing online video games with her friends, but she has gained more than just entertainment from her experiences.

“It’s kind of nostalgic for me,” Harriss said. “It kind of reminds me of back in high school when there was little responsibility and little worries. You could just go home and play games.”

Harriss, a self-described “gamer,” is one of many students who participate in online gaming on a regular basis. Online gaming allows participants to play video games with friends and other people across the world.

The freshman illustration major has played online video games for the past three to four years, usually playing the Xbox 360 or Wii. Harriss said she usually plays with people she already knows but has also met a lot of interesting people in the meantime.

“It’s funny and cool because you can interact with people you wouldn’t normally get to,” she said. Harriss added that while gaming she met someone from Canada, who she still plays with on occasion. While interacting with him, she has learned about his culture.

Communications professor David Gunkel said online gaming has changed playing video games from a solitary activity to a social one.

“Now the draw itself isn’t just the game but also the social aspect,” he said.

Better computing power and faster online connections are the two main reasons why Gunkel said online gaming has advanced to what it is today, and he expects it to grow further.

Sophomore biology major Alex Bean agreed that the social aspect is a huge draw.

“It’s just fun to play against other human beings,” he said. “There’s that social aspect of playing with a friend, and it’s fun to know that me and my friends are competing against other people.”

Through the course of playing online games for the past four years, Bean said he usually plays with his friends but has met interesting people along the way.

Bean has played with people from Canada, Ireland, England, France and Brazil.

“It’s not everyday that you get to talk to people from other countries,” he said.

Although the violence in video games and the lack of physical activity have been credited as potential negatives to playing video games, Gunkel said he stills thinks the pros of online gaming outweigh the cons.

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