Playing Video Games - Essay Example

Name) (Instructor) (Institution) (Course code) (Date) A segment of the human race perceives playing of video games have adverse effects not only in the lives of not only children but youths have been found to play them too. Playing video games on the other hand have positive effects in that it is useful in enhancing and developing physical, cognitive and other skills. Playing video games is considered to be cheaper than television. Research has shown that there are numerous positive and negative impacts of playing video games. It is important to note that video games is a global activity with an estimated with over 95 per cent of adolescents engaging themselves in it for entertainment purposes (Miller, 2014, p. 300). Many research mostly focused on finding the negative impacts of playing video games. That does not justify that playing video games is harmful. In fact there are many positive attributes that are associated with playing video games Many confess that playing video games is a gateway to children violence. This will not be an issue at all if the parents or guardians closely monitor the rating of these games. It is the duty and responsibility of Entertainment Software Rating Board, ERSB, to ensure that all games are rated and categorized into the established six categories. These categories include adults only, everyone, early childhood, mature, teens, and everyone 10+. Specially trained game raters usually examine and review every game before into its category from the six above. Game rating is normally done by at least three game raters. They do so using more than 30 various content descriptors so as to find the find suitable rating for each game. There is need to note that some games are made/ produce purely for educational purposes. A research done on games opted to play video games instead of watching television because playing video games is more interactive and involving compared with television (Perebinossoff et al., 2012, p. 23). Playing video games is cheap compared to television because the cost of cable television is very high alongside its monthly packages. In the long run, many families will save a lot by having a game console and a basic television at homes. By having a gaming console, the young ones will have many opportunities in comparison with the television (Dill, 2013, p. 415) By playing video games, one is able to acquire many cognitive skills. Some of these cognitive skills include the speed of thinking and processing information. One is also able to think about many things at once. For instance, playing shooting games, the character is required to be shooting while running at the same time. Research shows that children and adults who play video action oriented computer and video games normally more than 25 per cent faster in decision making without compromising on the accuracy as compared to those who don’t play (Giannotti et al., 2013). Other research indicated that pro gamers are able to make decisions and implement them up to six a second. They are also four times quicker compared to average people. Furthermore, the expert gamers have the ability to pay attention to more than six things compared to four by an ordinary individual at the same time The duration of time spend playing video games is negatively linked with academic performance of kids at school. This is due to many studies that have shown that kids perform poorly when they spend much more of their time playing video games (Van Creveld, 2013, p. 261) Another negative effect of playing games is that its gamers have been found argue more with their teachers. Further psychological studies have found that not only the gamers score low grades in class, they also fight very often with their friends as compared to those who play less. Furthermore, most of the time, they skip doing their homework with the concentration diverted to playing video games. It is important that these learners confessed that playing video games is reason for their poor academic performance at school (Raise Smart Kid, 2013) On the other hand, some studies have shown that engaging oneself in video games have let to poor performance in academics. Playing video games have been known to consume ones time away from the family. Video games interactive nature has found its way not only into schools but also into medical field due to the impacts it have. Video games found their way into schools due to its appeal to children not only because it being an effective teaching tool but also its involving and interactive nature. These schools use video games as an effective tool to involve pupils in activities that calls for them to perform repetitive task that are suitable for their learning (Gee, 2007, p. 134). Video games are not only useful in school setup; they are of great importance in the field of psychology. Video games are useful in rehabilitating children facing psychological problems. These problems include lack of self-confidence and inferiority complex. Therapists have been known to be using ideo games to rehabilitate children having psychological problems (Dill, 2013, p. 415). Apart from numerous positive impacts in the pupils learning process, video games have been known to have benefits in real life as well. For example, playing them makes an individual to not only improve the logic, but also makes only to think critically. This is because there are many games out there that contain a lot of strategic and puzzles which require the player to think deeper in order to solve a problem. The player needs to be very accurate for him or her to win it. It is therefore beneficial to not only student but also critical in tackling life challenges and problems faced in daily life. It is also very important to note that playing video games enhances one’s language and improves the concentration of the mind (West, 2012, p. 52) Playing video games is very addictive for anyone and addiction for kids usually escalates their anxiety and depression level. As a result, they often show social fears. It is not surprising to observe dwindling academic performance. The poor results is attributed to attention problems as well as impulsive behavior (Raise Smart Kid, 2013) Video games have been associated with bad behavior and violence. Kids who play a lot of violent video games be found to have a heightened violent behavior, feelings and thoughts. There is also evidence of lowered social interaction by playing these video games. This is because of the interactive and involving nature of these games. The problem is worsened by those games that reward the players for being very violent. As a result, the extent of an individual violent nature is more when he or she players more violent games more frequently. This is because these children are in control of violence and experience firsthand due to interaction with violent video games through shooting, stabbing, kicking and killing. It is for these activities of participation, continuous play and rewards that indulge one into violent behavior. Furthermore, various research have found out violent video games is linked with violent and aggressive character and behavior (Aboujaoude and Koran, 2010, p. 183) Mental health professionals Craig Anderson concluded that playing violent and aggressive video games is part of the contributing factors for the heightened violent behavior, cognition, impact on behavior and reduced empathy. He found out that playing these violent games increase an individual’s violent mind, feelings in one’s life. He concluded that exposure to any form of violent media and entertainment leads to aggressive and violent behavior (Anderson, Douglas, and Katherine, P 4) When kids play video games for too long, they become isolated socially. This is because they spend most of their time playing them with little time spend on doing other activities such as sports, doing homework, interacting with friends and members of the family ad reading. Various researches have shown that gamers expand their online gaming in real life. It is not surprising that you will find many of these gamers being lonely (West, 2012, p. 52) On the other hand, gamers often pick wrong values from playing video games especially online ones. These wrong values include aggression, vengeance and violent behavior. Online games are known to pick bad language as well. These video games also depict women as weaker human beings who are sexually provocative or helpless. This makes the young children very vulnerable to risks and dangers From the arguments above, we find that there exist numerous positive and negative impacts of video games. It is an agreed fact that many parents and guardians do not like their children playing video games due to its addictive nature. Gamers do copy and apply some of the characters behavior which is the reason as to why video games are often associated with violence behavior. Its addictive nature is blamed for the poor academic performance in schools as more time is spend gaming rather than doing homework. Despite the negative effects, there are some positive attributes about the same as discussed above. It is therefore the responsibility of the parents to monitor and watch their kids playing games. They need to do more research and recommend kind of games to played by their children and manage the amount of time spend in playing them. References Aboujaoude, E. and Koran, L. (2010). Impulse control disorders. New York: Cambridge University Press, p.183. Anderson, Craig A, Douglas A. Gentile, and Katherine E. Buckley. Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory, Research, and Public Policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007 Dill, K. (2013). The Oxford handbook of media psychology. New York: Oxford University Press, p.415. Gee, J. (2007). Good video games + good learning. New York: P. Lang, p.134. Giannotti, D., Patrizi, G., Di Rocco, G., Vestri, A., Semproni, C., Fiengo, L., Pontone, S., Palazzini, G. and Redler, A. (2013). Play to Become a Surgeon: Impact of Nintendo WII Training on Laparoscopic Skills. PLoS ONE, 8(2), p.e57372. Miller, C. (2014). Digital Storytelling: A Creator's Guide to Interactive Entertainment. 2nd ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Focal Press, p.300. Perebinossoff, P., Gross, B., Gross, L. and Vane, E. (2012). Programming for TV, radio, and the Internet. 2nd ed. Amsterdam: Focal Press, p.23. Raise Smart Kid, (2013). The Positive and Negative Effects of Video Games. [online] Available at: http://www.raisesmartkid.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=emailform&id=34 [Accessed 9 Mar. 2015]. Van Creveld, M. (2013). Wargames. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, p.261. West, D. (2012). Digital schools. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, p.52. Read More