Regrettably, progress has been slow on my Genius Project for the last couple of weeks. Other than continuing to monitor the survey that I sent out to the students of Sage Creek High School, I have failed to accomplish much between my previous and current updates. Therefore, while this post will contain an update regarding my survey statistics, this post will more focus on the future of my project and where I intend to direct my attention.
Since my last post, only four new people have responded to my survey. As of now, 38 voters (30.2%) have declared the Action genre to be their favorite for relaxation; 22 voters (17.5%) have declared Adventure; 21 voters (16.7%) have declared Sports; 16 voters (12.7%) have declared Role-playing; 12 voters (9.5%) have declared Action-adventure; and 17 voters (13.4%) have declared other genres. From this statistic, it is easily evident that the most popular genre of video game for relaxation is the Action genre, with nearly double the amount of votes received by its closest competitor, the Adventure genre. As the survey has been sent to six hundred of the students at Sage Creek High School, I am hopeful that more students will respond; currently, only one-fifth of the students have responded. However, all data I receive, no matter how seemingly trivial it may be, is instrumental to the successful completion of my Genius Project by May 2017.
Looking to the future, I can say with certainty that my project will finally be in full-swing once the second trimester begins. At that point in time, Biomedical Innovations (the fourth and capstone course in a four-year Biomedical Sciences stream at Sage Creek) will begin, and a unit on creating statistics based on data is embedded into the curriculum; this will prove incredibly useful for me when I eventually analyze all of the data I have compiled in order to craft a representational version of my final product, anxiety management plans that incorporate video games, by the date of the TED-style presentation to be given in May 2017. Additionally, I am happy to say that my passion has not wavered; I am still committed to determining the most effective genre of video games for the purpose of alleviating pent-up anxiety. Anxiety is purely detrimental to humans, so any method of alleviation is therefore absolutely necessary; however, given the entertainment value of video games, alleviation could be achieved through entertainment rather than simple meditation or other such activities (which are also excellent choices).
 |
| Action-adventure games such as Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim are also immensely popular among video game players. Skyrim in particular is an excellent choice for anxiety alleviation because the game world is incredibly immersive and players are completely free to roam the world as they so choose. Photo Credit: Bethesda Softworks |
As my final update, I am in the process of reaching out to the faculty at both San Diego State University and UC San Diego to attempt to obtain a mentor for my project. As I stated in my declaration blog post, both of the initial candidates I contacted had to reject my request due to personal as well as business matters; this led to a setback which I have experienced considerable difficulty in attempting to surmount. However, I am not one to give up easily; I will continue forward with my project even if it is some time before I acquire a mentor. After all, I am relatively skilled with data sets and conducting internet research, so I am not discouraged.
I know that this is probably a cliché by this point (given that this is my fourth blog post already), but as always, I sincerely hope that you all continue to follow my project progress in the weeks and months to come. And if you enjoy video games as much as I do, this is sure to be an incredible journey. I look forward to updating you all in my next post.
