Video Games Have Had a Positive Effect on Society - Essay Example

Module Code: Class/Group: Module Title: Assessment Title: Assignment Title: Module Tutor Name: Student ID Number: Date of Submission: Word count: 1512 Introduction Since their invention, impacts of video games have been under a lot of research. There has been an increase in attention being paid to the issue of the video games violence especially in United States. Most people have associated video games with aggression and violence (Schmierbach, 2010). Despite the negative associations of the video games, it has also been associated with positive impacts. There have been studies which have associated video games with positive impacts such as health, improvement in self-esteem and education improvement. Over the years, aggression and violent behaviour have been on rise. Aggression is a form of behaviour which is aimed at causing harm to another individual. The target individual is motivated to avoid the harm. Violence can be defined as an extreme act of aggression which includes assault and murder (Anderson & Bushman, 2001). It is vital to note that not all forms of aggression are violence. In most countries, video games are becoming highly popular. Violent video games started in 1990s and have become more graphically violent in the 20th century (Anderson, 2004). Violent based games are the mostly consumed type with boys being the major consumers (Bartholow & Anderson, 2002). This essay will prove that despite the limited positive impacts on the society, video games have a lot of negative impacts on the society. With the rise of video games, research has been carried out to determine their effect on the society. There have been links of violent behaviour with violent video games. According to Griffiths (1999), playing video games leads to aggressive behaviour. This has been evidenced by various cases of violent behaviour which have occurred in the recent past. Most of the well-known school shootings have been carried out by habitual video games players (Anderson & Bushman, 2001). Research has proved that violent video games are a major threat to children, youth and young adults. The exposure to the violent games heightens their aggression levels. The exposure has been proved to have long term effects on their aggressive personality. There are proof that exposure to violent video games have negative bahavorial and affective consequences (Schmierbach, 2010). On the other hand, some of the researchers have associated video games with educational benefits. This is especially when the video games are designed with an aim of addressing a specific issue or help in teaching a given skill. Spatial visualisation ability can be highly improved through video games. Research has associated video games with improved language skills, basic math skills, reading skills and social skills. Children with association disorders are able to benefit from video games through the brain wave feedback. It’s evident that video games can lead to educational benefits, but this can happen only with the games designed for educational purposes (Griffiths, 2002). Violent video games are the most popular posing the danger of increased aggression among the users. This makes video games a major threat to users and society. Youth violence is a major issue and its causes have been in most cases frustrating to the society. Aggressive individuals have been in most cases considered abnormal and with psychological issues (Griffiths, 1999). Research have been able to prove that exposure to violent media is directly related to aggressive behaviour. Most of the popular video games are highly violent and the main strategy for wining is mass or brutal killings. The impacts of media violence are high on children than adults. Violent video games feature death and destruction (Anderson, 2004). Most of the violent video games feature terrorists, robotic cops and prize fighters. This glorifies violence making them a major influence towards aggression (Schmierbach, 2010). Using the social learning theory, violent video games can promote violence. Social learning theory shows that children are likely to imitate what they see. On the other hands, video games have been recommended for health care. Through use of digital games, the patient health activities participation can be enhanced. Through use of video games, health care becomes fun. Digital games such as Dance Town have been specifically developed to encourage exercise, enhance coordination and improve cognition. Use of research has proved that digital games are not only for entertainment but can be used to better health. No doubts that digital games can be used to improve health outcomes but not all video games have this capability (Hawn, 2009). Only a few games have the capability to improve health. Violent video games are most popular and have no health benefits. Unintended negative impacts of video games are a major threat to society. Most of the negative impacts of video games are based on aggression. People who have been exposed to video games have shown an increase in aggressive outcomes (Anderson, 2004). Research has also shown that those who have been exposed to violent video games have been showing a decrease in pro-social behaviour. Aggressive thoughts are prompted by violent video games. Violent video games rewards aggressive tactics and hence reinforce them in users. Research also shows that competitive game play can prompt aggression. This is especially where there are face to face interactions (Southwell & Doyle, 2004). Players especially men associate reward with aggressive play especially in competitive situations. On the other hand, exposing video games to those undergoing rehabilitation have proved to lead to positive impacts. Video games exposure has been used to improve perceived self-efficacy and control of body parts (Hawn, 2009). These are among the positive impacts that can be obtained from exposure to video games. Despite this, it is hard to gain the potential positive impacts of video games without being affected by the unintended negative impacts. The negative impacts of exposure to video games such as violence are more damaging to the society. Some of the research has praised video games to have positive impacts on the society. Despite this, evidence shows that there are both positive and negative impacts on the society. From the research, it is clear that the negative impacts outweigh the positive impacts (Schmierbach, 2010). Most of the research on the video games has been carried out using young children. The studies have mainly focused on the child free play after exposure to video games. The research thus makes use of the social learning theory. From the research, it is evident that video games have both positive and negative impacts. If well designed, video games have a possibility to channel positive impacts. Video games can be designed to be used in class rooms, health care, training and psychomotor coordination. These positive associations of video games on society have made them to be recommended for educational reforms in United States (Griffiths, 2002). Some games have been associated with the ability to improve reasoning and help in strategic thinking (Southwell & Doyle, 2004). There are many genres of video games each with its impacts. There are games which are non-violent and those that are violent. Despite this, most of the popular and best-selling video games are violent. Most of the released violent video games have been able to become bestsellers despite their negative impacts. This makes it hard for the video games to have a lot of positive impacts on the society. Unless games are designed with consideration to make them less violent and more educative, they will have little positive impacts on the society. For the video games to have positive impacts on the society, their positive potential has to be developed. Games developers have the task to make the games less violent. Despite the limited research on violence and video games, it is clear that there is a compelling evidence to associate both. For a video game to have a positive impact on the society, it must have therapeutic and educational objective. The level of involvement, type of game, information, rules, setting and facilitator roles among others will determine the ability of the game to promote health or education (Griffiths, 2002). Despite this, most of the video games fail to have the elements to make them qualify to be helpful to the society. There are also no measures to limit excessive playing of video games. Adverse effects of video games make it hard for the video games to have positive benefits to the society. In conclusion, I do not agree with the topic that video games have positive effects on the society. Since their invention, video games have promoted aggression and violence. The rise of violent video games has made the industry to lead to more negative impacts. From the essay, it is evident that video games rewards violent behaviour. The positive impacts of the video games are outweighed by the negative impacts. Despite this, video games have a potential to bring positive impacts to the society. This has not been achieved due to fact that the elements to make the games more positive have been neglected by designers. With the rising popularity of violent video games, their ability to bring positive impacts on society has diminishing. It will take a lot of reforms by the game designers to come up with games that will have positive effects on the society. References Anderson, C. A. 2004. “An update on the effects of playing violent video games”. Journal of adolescence, Vol.27, no.1, p.113-122. Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. 2001. “Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: A meta-analytic review of the scientific literature”. Psychological science, Vol.12, no.5, p.353-359. Bartholow, B. D., & Anderson, C. A. 2002. “Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior: Potential sex differences”. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Vol.38, no.3, p.283-290. Griffiths, M. 2002. “The educational benefits of videogames”. Education and Health, Vol.20, no.3, p.47-51. Griffiths, M. 1999. “Violent video games and aggression: A review of the literature”. Aggression and violent behavior, Vol.4, no.2, p.203-212. Hawn, C. 2009. “Games for health: The latest tool in the medical care arsenal”. Health Affairs, Vol.28, no.5, p.w842-w848. Schmierbach, M. 2010. ““Killing spree”: Exploring the connection between competitive game play and aggressive cognition”. Communication Research. Vol. 37, no.2, p.256-274. Southwell, B. G., & Doyle, K. O. 2004. “The good, the bad, or the ugly? A multilevel perspective on electronic game effects”. American Behavioral Scientist, Vol.48, no.4, p.391-401. Read More