Video games are fun, exciting, and can even have educational value. However, some people believe video games may provide more harm than good. Some critiques of video games include increased violence and ideas that gamers are lazy, overweight, and socially impaired. In fact, video games have been used as a scapegoat for the recent rise in school shootings. While it is true that there are some games that are excessively violent, it is incorrect and illogical to blame video games as the sole reason for violence and aggressiveness among people.
There are many views on what good video games bring to the table in terms of mental stability. Few killers such as Aaron Alexis, a gunman who went on a shooting rampage at the Washington Navy Yard, and Adam Lanza, who killed 26 children in an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, were people who were fans of violent videogames. (http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/18/opinion/bushman-video-games/) While the fact that these gunmen have played violent video games in the past may be true, it would be foolish to blame their behavior on that alone. An enlightening way to put it would be, “Does the gun kill people or the person holding it?” Does everyone who owns a gun kill people or even use it? These gunmen were already proven to be mentally ill in the first place, and were most likely unstable for a long time.
It is true that videogames tend to over-glorify violence which can lead to desensitization of the player; however, it is also possible that such play actually may strengthen a range of cognitive skills such as spatial navigation, reasoning, memory and perception.
“This is particularly true for shooter video games that are often violent, the authors said. A 2013 meta-analysis found that playing shooter video games improved a player’s capacity to think about objects in three dimensions just as well as academic courses to enhance these same skills, according to the study. This enhanced thinking was not found with playing other types of video games, such as puzzles or role-playing games.”- (1. Par. 2)
With that being said, even role-playing games have their benefits. A study published in 2013 found that adolescents reported playing strategic videogames have improved their problem solving and school grades the following year.( http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-new-study-shows-benefits-of-violent-video-games-for-kids-learning/2013/12/02/9363c008-56c8-11e3-8304-caf30787c0a9_story.html) Another study by the Education Development Center and the U.S. Congress-supported Ready To Learn (RTL) Initiative found that those who involved digital media into their life such as video games can improve literacy skills while under the supervision of parents and teachers. The research that is being done by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) shows that video games can help adults process information much faster and improve their fundamental abilities to reason and solve problems. (2. Par. 10) In fact, that same study shows that show that video game players will perform higher in of perceptual and cognitive ability by 10 percent to 20 percent more than non-game players. Video games can even help in the medical field, by helping surgeons preform laparoscopic surgery according to a study by the February edition of Archives of Surgery. The upside to this is that medical students have the ability to practice with no permanent consequences. Simulations offer health care providers several upsides. Chief among them, Taekman says, are the abilities to make choices, see results and apply information immediately.(2. Par 14)
So what about those violent video games? If you knowingly knew someone was mentally unstable, would you want them to be influenced negatively by anything? The fact of the matter is, if you put a video game that is “glamorizing” violence in the hands of someone who is known to already be violent, that is a negative influence. If you are putting a violent video game in the hands of someone who isn’t mentally stable, that still doesn’t mean they won’t get a negative influence from it. What about violent movies? What are the differences? When you play a violent video game you have the chance to take on the role of the person doing the killing, and it feels like YOU yourself doing it. So is this a problem or not? The vast numbers of people who play video games do not engage in real world criminal violence.
“Despite the growing global popularity and engagement with incredibly violent videogames and extreme media portrayals of violence, violent crime rates in many Western countries have actually been falling over the last decade.” –( 3. Par. 7)
Violence has been a part of our world since the dawn of time, video games have not. Benefits like moving, thinking, cooperating, helping, learning, empathizing, growing, and seeing the world from other perspectives are a few upsides to video games. Not to mention that not all video games are violent, some games actually require you to help others, take care of “living” creatures, and learn how to responsibly manage money. It is the matter of learning how to balance what really influences a person in their life, whether or not a person plays video games a good support system and education helps people develop healthy minds in the long run.
Works Cited:
- “A new study shows benefits of violent video games for kids’ learning”. American Psychological Association and Brown University. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-new-study-shows-benefits-of-violent-video-games-for-kids-learning/2013/12/02/9363c008-56c8-11e3-8304-caf30787c0a9_story.html. December 2nd 2013. Web. December 9th 2013.
- ABC News. “Benefits of Video Games”. ABC News Internet Ventures. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2011/12/the-benefits-of-video-games/. December 26 2011. Web. December 9th 2013
- Julia Shaw. “Time to rethink the video games and violence debate”. Cable News Network. http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2013/12/05/time-to-rethink-the-video-games-and-violence-debate/. December 5th 2013. Web. December 9th 2013
- Brad Bushman. “Do violent video games play a role in shootings?”. Cable News Network. http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/18/opinion/bushman-video-games/. September 13th 2013.
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