Positve Effects of Video Games

Analysis

Ever since, the birth , video games have received a negative reputation in the media and by our society. However they do not deserve the common stereotypical reputation it has in the present day. President Obama has stated in his response to video games in our society with ” Put them away…”. Video games are a medium of communication and education they can be used in both a positive and negative manner.

Video games are starting to be widely accepted into society due to its many beneficial factors and it has become now one of the main source of entertainment. Video games are discriminated with stereotypical claims such as how addictive they are and how they negatively influence your health. Most of these claims are untrue and can possibly happen on extreme cases. I feel as though video games have not negatively influenced my life, and on the contrary I feel they have helped me more.

Background

Currently video games are being widely played by various age groups from toddlers to grandparents and are being accepted into society as a casual form of entertainment. Due to the fact video games are rising in demand so are the amount of video game jobs in the job market .There are many companies that are hiring video game developers and designers. Such examples of these jobs include video game testers, marketer, concept designer, sales and etc. The video game industry is very huge and around Christmas time in 2011 it was the biggest sales market. Many video games were being bought creating a large revenue for the industry. Professional gaming is also catching a lot of attention.

There are many professional gaming teams than there have ever been in the past. Games such as Starcraft 2, League of Legends, Street Fighter 4, and many others have many teams and are constantly participating tournaments with a large prize pool. Recently IGN had hosted an IPL 4(IGN. Pro. League) a tournament in Las Vegas with games such as League of Legends and Starcraft 2 as their main attraction. The seats for the tournaments were sold out and there were over 300,000 viewers watching from home. The total prize pool for the tournament was 150,000 USD. Professional gaming has become a way to make a living and is a profitable job. A Starcraft 2 player known as MC has made $250,000 in earning this year. Who says playing video games does not pay?

Characteristics

There are many negative stereotypes linked to video games that discourage society from accepting them. One event that gave this a bad reputation to video games is one a report about a 13 year old who committed suicide due to stress from an online game called “World of Warcraft“ (Dvorak). These are only at extreme cases.

The players usually due to exhaustion or they become mentally unstable., and due to exhaustion Society believes that video games create addicts but it is the user’s fault for not being able to balance the video game into their lives in a healthy manner. Too much of anything is harmful whether it be exercise or video games. Another negative stereotype is that they cause obesity and make the player unsociable. None of these are proven facts. Video games do not make you unsociable or obese. They are a result of it’s how you choose to live your life.

Dynamics

Technology keeps developing further and further every day and so are video games. The more technology develops the more appealing video games start to be. Now there is dynamic video games that incorporate movement and self video instead of the traditional controller. This is making video gaming much more appealing to older audience because they have never experienced this before and it gives the illusion of exercise.

More video games are now incorporating online play, so now the player can play with their friends and family instead of playing alone. You also play with complete strangers so you have to socialize and it will further help develop your social skills. There are also a number of educational video games that appeal to parents to buy for their children. Times are quickly changing and video games are becoming more popular than ever before.

Evolution

Society and media seem to focus on the negative aspects of the video games and they completely ignore the positive aspects that video games have to offer. Video games improve eyesight and memory and in general good for the brain. In 2010 researchers have found out that playing violent fast paced video games help kids distinguish items from clutter and help differentiate different shades of grey. Playing video games help increase your hand eye coordination which is applicable to real life tasks. So do not be worried if you see your surgeon playing Tetris before he conducts a surgery.”Video games have been proven to help you multitask in real life much more effectively” says Daphne Bavelier a Professor of brain and cognitive science at the University of Rochester .

If you are to play video games with your family it will increase family bonds and will make you a better functioning family. This method is often used in family therapy to get the family to co-operate and work together. The same can be applied to friends as well (Steinberg). There are many games that incorporate motion and are great for getting active from the comfort of your own home. Other games help you with real life activities that offer the same experience without the risk. For example many simulations such as Train simulator, Driving simulators, Plane operating simulators and other vehicle simulators are example of video games.

These offer the same experiences as driving the vehicle without the added risk of actually running into real life accidents (Rudon). Many video games use information from the real world and incorporate them into the game. Thus video games indirectly teach you many things. Such example can be seen in the videogame series Assassins Creed and Age of Empires (Steinberg). They both teach you many actual historical facts. Some great things video games allow are to help people with illnesses. Hospitals are starting to incorporate video games into their facility because it helps the patient forget the fact that they suffering from his pain and he is engrossed in the video game (Rudon).

Video games also help people with physical and mental disabilities because then they can do something along with their friends. For a example a man in a wheelchair can play a game with an able bodied man but they cannot play soccer together. Contrary to popular belief but video games enhance your social skills due to the fact most games are online and you have to interact with the players.

Games such as MMORPG’s and MOBA style games require great amount of teamwork and interaction, It maybe have been true a couple of years ago but not anymore. A professor at Nottingham University proclaimed that video games help children with their attention deficit disorder. Video games also inspire people to pursue a career around video games such as graphic designing or programming, or the many other roles it requires.

Forecast

Video games are becoming more and more popular and will continue growing and it will continue to be more accepted. The industry is growing and new technology keeps coming out which will make gaming more beneficial and more accessible. Such as the new portable such as the Playstation Vita which brings a gaming console into the palm of your hands. They are making video games so it is more easier to play for users with disabilities. Competitive gaming will become more and more popular and more teams will be competing. Humans are advancing and they will see video games as a interactive medium to help further humanity than slow it down and distract it.

Generalisation

Society will slowly but eventually accept video games in a positive manner. I think that the video game industry will slowly build up its reputation and society will have better uses with video games. There will be more jobs in the video game job market due to the fact the demand for video games are rising. Society has been overlooking the many beneficial effects video games have been providing other than a form of entertainment. It helps us be more physically and mentally coordinated and it is being used in variety of medical rehabilitation.

I feel that only the older generation looks down on video games but hopefully we will see the greater things it offers than just means of wasting time and money. I feel that video games is a symbolizes the evolution in humanity. Video games in general are not to be blamed for negatively affecting our society. Video games are simply a medium that can be both used to convey a positive and negative message. Simply because there are negative aspects does not mean we should completely ignore it’s positive aspects.

Works Cited
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