Benefits of Video Games - Essay Example

Benefits of Video Games A wild shoot down of people in the city is on the run, sparking a horrendous bloodbath. The blood stained hands of agent Farid carrying the Five Seven handgun are now on Harper’s forehead. The mind has to be made up quickly, should the trigger be pulled to kill Harper or not? This situation is not too unknown to the ‘Gamer’ kids playing Black Ops and numerous videogames like these each day. The improved strategic decision making skills player develops on incurring situations like one mentioned above does enforce the idea that videogames indeed have benefits. On the other hand, videogames are also being accused of casting adverse effects like promoting too much violence. Do the benefits of playing videogames outnumber its negative effects? As interesting as it may sound, playing videogames has numerous benefits, including ones on the health. Playing video games has shown to have positive effects on kids suffering from long term illnesses namely Parkinson’s disease, autism and depression. Illnesses like these project challenges for the kids daily but playing video games help to induce positivity in them since they trigger the neuron related mechanisms in the kids. For example, a research was done by University of Utah on kids affected with these illnesses where they were made to play purposely designed video games and the results showed remarkable improvement in terms of the kids being more resilient and confident (Gallagher 2013). Playing video games helps decrease the physical pain, making use of the technique of distraction. Psychologists made military soldiers suffering from extreme physical pain play the game ‘Snow World’, helping them recover using less intensive treatment (Gallagher 2013). Despite having all these health benefits, video games have an old allegation of putting kids to an increased risk of obesity. World Health Organization states the primary cause of child obesity as videogames. According to studies, if children played videogames for more than three hour each day, they would eat 180 calories than what is required, eventually gaining weight (Borland 2011). However studies breaking this age old notion have been carried out. For a span of three years, 482 twelve year olds were studied by a Michigan State University research team. The video games did not show any significant effect in the determination of weights of the kids, but other factors like the socioeconomic status, race, age etc were predominantly responsible (Campbell 2011). The most prominent beneficial effects of playing video games include the improvement in cognitive learning. Not only playing video games can increase the short and long term memory but it can also have increase the attention span of the player. In fact, Massachusetts Institute of Technology neuroscientist Earl K. Miller states that old people can be made younger in terms of their cognitive skills if they are made to play video games (Ritchell 2013). Green and Bavelier’s study in 2003 showed the development of cognitive skills through playing video games. As shown in figure 1, video gamers (VGP) outperformed non video gamers (NVGP) with an increased capacity of attention and lesser percentage error, which can be seen from studying that how many objects were immediately recognized in the visual scene by the players, which is also known as subitizing (Corso 2014). Figure 1 However it should be noted that playing video games makes people live in a two dimensional cyberspace, where humans have not been designed to exist. Not only it causes your brain to shrink, it also cannot substitute the importance of real life experiences that should not be sacrificed for the sake of playing video games. But at the same time, if video games are specifically designed to boost cognitive skills, they can be really helpful in the future (Bergland 2013). Surprisingly, the video games are also beneficial for your eyesight. Dr Daphen Maurer from the McMaster University concluded that people playing shooting games for example Call of Duty and Medal of Honor have an increased chance of curing their cataracts since these games have such rapid actions which require exceptional amount of attention and response from the person, in turn sharpening their vision (Gallagher 2013). Conversely speaking, the shooter games have long been accused of promoting violence. The Newtown massacre shooter Adam Lanza was obsessed with playing violent shooter games. Amongst the 12 video games found in his room, a game called ‘School Shooting’ was also discovered which involves the character shooting school students in the school premises (Pilkington 2013). Though we can be convinced that shooter may have had an influence of this pro violent game, Christopher J. Ferguson’s study on video games stuggests that the studies which show a link between video games and violence in kids are imprecise and there is no accurate evidential basis to prove this argument (Vitelli 2013). Video games have also proved to benefit socially. The social games children play help them to experience different social situations which can help them as they grow. They undergo conflicts in a virtual world which they might have to deal with in the real world. They can also experience plethora of emotions being a virtual character. For example, the game ‘The Sims’ allows characters to interact and socialize, do jobs and grow their relationships which can possibly help children learn new social skills (Vitelli 2014). Many games instill good decision making skills in the player which can help in real life. In games which form social communities for example ‘Farmville’ and ‘World of Warcraft’, decisions have to be formulated regarding whom to trust, make a partner or lead a group of people. These games help develop several social skills like these (Granic et al 2014). On the other hand, despite finding improvements in his research where the people were made to play certain games like ‘The Sims’, Donald Patterson from Nanyang Technological University stated that it was not completely convincing that the skills that children learn while playing these games can be transferred to the practical world. Playing video games and giving up on socializing is not an answer. However, the social benefits of playing video games should not be rendered completely useless, but the fact that how quickly children learn from these interactive games should be incorporated into educational training in the future (“Playing The Sims and Other Games for an Hour a Day Helps Train Your Brain” (n.d.). Video games have been said to initiate pro-social learning through its plots, characters etc. For example, if the content of the video game allows kids to play as a doctor treating patients, it might help inculcate a more virtuous and helpful attitude in kids that may stick to their personality for long. However if we view Kutner and Olson’s research in 2008 on 12000 middle school children suggested that kids playing ‘M’ (mature) rated games regularly were involved in fights, damaged school property and stole things. On the contrary, it should be stated that research does not necessarily underline the video games as being the causes of the anti social behavior of the kids; it might be that the kids with these behavioral issues are attracted to ‘M’ rated games more (Koo et al n.d.). For long our minds have been clouded with the idea that video games impact us negatively, but the benefits of playing video games have outweighed the other notions. Discovering the incredible potential that these video game posses in terms of influencing people’s lives socially, health wise and in many other ways, we should work on making video games which can influence people in the best way they can. References Gallagher, D. (2013, March 10). 7 health benefits of playing video games. Retrieved November 19, 2014, from http://theweek.com/article/index/241121/7-health-benefits-of-playing-video-games Pilkington, E. (2013, November 25). Sandy Hook report – shooter Adam Lanza was obsessed with mass murder. Retrieved November 19, 2014, from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/25/sandy-hook-shooter-adam-lanza-report Vitelli, R. (2013, April 1). Can Video Games Cause Violence? Retrieved November 19, 2014, from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/media-spotlight/201304/can-video-games-cause-violence Playing The Sims and Other Games for an Hour a Day Helps Train Your Brain. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2014, from http://www.healthline.com/health-news/tech-playing-sims-and-other-games-helps-train-your-brain-031313#1 Koo, G., & Seider, S. (n.d.). Video Games for Prosocial Learning. Retrieved November 19, 2014, from http://people.bu.edu/seider/Consolidated papers/Prosocial Learning in Video Games Final Version_Ko.pdf Vitelli, R. (2014, February 10). Are There Benefits in Playing Video Games? Retrieved November 19, 2014, from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/media-spotlight/201402/are-there-benefits-in-playing-video-games Borland, S. (2011, May 21). Playing computer games increases obesity risk in teens by making them hungry. Retrieved November 19, 2014, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1389096/Playing-games-encourages-obesity-teens-making-hungry.html Campbell, M. (2011, January 20). Video games may not boost teenage obesity after all. Retrieved November 19, 2014, from http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20927955.100-video-games-may-not-boost-teenage-obesity-after-all.html#.VG0k3jSUcy4 Granic, I., Lobe, A., & Engels, R. (2014, January 1). Retrieved November 19, 2014, from https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-a0034857.pdf Richtel, M. (2013, September 4). A Multitasking Video Game Makes Old Brains Act Younger. Retrieved November 20, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/05/technology/a-multitasking-video-game-makes-old-brains-act-younger.html?_r=0 Corso, D. (2014, January 1). A Review of Video Game Effects and Uses. Retrieved November 20, 2014, from http://caravel.sc.edu/2014/03/a-review-of-video-game-effects-and-uses/ Bergland, C. (2013, October 31). Video Gaming Can Increase Brain Size and Connectivity. Retrieved November 20, 2014, from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201310/video-gaming-can-increase-brain-size-and-connectivity Read More