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Phuc Nguyen

WRTG 1010

December 4, 2013

Erin Rogers

Final Draft

Gaming in todays society is viewed as an issue to the youth of this generation
according to many parents and educators. The attitude towards video games is that it
causes aggression, decreases social skills, interactions, and is an unproductive use of
time. These assumptions are inferred due to the distribution of information from the
media and may be true to an extent, but not in itself entirely. Effects of playing video
games can be very rewarding both to the individual youth and to society. Benefits of
gaming include a solution to anger issues for some, the use for rehabilitation, an
alternative education method, and mental health improvements.
A factor that makes up the majority of why gaming is viewed in such a negative
way is the concept that video games cause feelings of aggression (Journal of
Rehabilitation. However this is not the case, The small correlations that have been
found between video games and violence may be explained by violent youth being drawn
to violent video games. Violent games do not cause youth to be violent. Instead, youth
that are predisposed to be violent seek out violent entertainment such as video games
(ProCon). Video games can be used as ones time to release their emotions in a positive
manor. An individual is able to channel their frustrations into the virtual world instead of
unleashing it into the real world. Violent video games provide a safe haven for aggressive
actions and feelings, A 2007 study reported that 45% of boys played video games
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because "it helps me get my anger out" and 62% played because it "helps me relax"
("Journal of Adolescent Health" 77-83). According to this statistic video games do not
cause aggression but rather has a soothing effect on gamers. In a longitudinal study
conducted by Christopher J. Ferguson where 165 10- to 14-year-old boys and girls over
a three-year period were given violent video games to play 2 twice a week, and over the
three years study shows no long-term link between VVG and youth aggression or dating
violence (Ferguson). And according to Andrew Przybylski, his study shows that it
wasnt video games in general that caused aggression, but due to the fact that kids
werent able to figure out how to play it, but once understood the aggression went away.
Also in most cases violent kids were ask the reason for their anger and it usually led to a
situation inside the family that caused the kid to be angry not the video game
(Przybylski). So from these studies, it shows that in most cases video games do not cause
aggression, but it is usually an outside source that is causing it.
Arguments have also been made that playing video games decreases social skills
and interactions, while that is truth to an extent, a player of a video game has many
opportunities to make new friends of the same gaming community. Either through
forums, chat rooms, or just plain out playing with strangers; many players are able to
make new friends online through gameplay, and offline with people at school who play
the same game, This is an open relationship that develops between two people; as biases
created by cast, creed or color, do not come into picture (Buchanan and Elzen 29). With
the absence of the face-to-face factor, social interactions within a game become easier
and create fewer conflicts than building a friendship in real life. Showing that video
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games can build social skills as opposed to decreasing it. And even if the first friendship
occurs online, most people will eventually meet at gaming events.
Another positive benefit of gaming is that It can induce leadership [and]
[teamwork] skills in a child, (Oak). This is especially in games that require multiple
players to win. It shows children that in order to win they must learn to work with others
and sometimes take control of a situation to lead their team to victory.
Furthermore gaming has the ability to help with fine motor skills and hand-eye
coordination. With todays first-person shooter games being the majority, many children
have to keep track and control of the moving target while moving around their
environment themselves. The player must keep focus on the screen and operate the
mouse or joystick to move and aim, at the same time, [forcing] the player to be flexible
and quickly change tactics, teaching them how to handle obstacles effectively and
quickly (Raise Smart Kid). Therefore creating hand-eye coordination and quick
reflexes for the child, benefiting the kid in many other activities in his/her life.
Video games are also used in a professional setting. For example, soldier and
pilots use simulations for field training, to learn and benefit from mistakes made during
the simulation. Mark Griffiths of Nottingham Trent University says that,
Video games can prove to be a distraction for those undergoing painful cancer
treatments. In a study conducted in 2004 by Butch Rosser, a surgeon of
Laparoscopy, he studied the surgical skills of surgeons playing video games and
surgeons who did not. It was astonishing to know from the results that surgeons
playing video games were faster in action and made lesser mistakes during work
than those who did not play video games (Oak).

Due to the creations of these simulations, careers are improved, both in skill and quality.
Professionals are less stressed when they make a mistake during a simulation, and they
become more productive and skilled in what they do. Therefore creating fewer accidents
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in the world, and also making training more profitable because stimulation is much
cheaper than practicing on a real cadaver.
Some have argue that video games can decrease activity-involving movements
and exercise, which may lead to obesity and poor health, but in todays generation many
gaming consoles have been created that promote exercise and rehabilitation through
entraining means. Children dont know they are exercising because they are having fun
(Oak). These consoles include the Sony EyeToy, Nintendo Wii, Xbox Kinect, and Dance
Dance Revoluton, These systems of gaming allows the player to move around and
coordinate their physical abilities while still having the same feeling as they would
playing video games ("Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development" 1171-86).
Thus kids and adults too are able to be entertained, but still get their daily dose of
exercise.
Generally, it is said that gaming is an unproductive use of time and has negative
effects on the youths ability to learn. However when playing video games, it involves
much planning, problem-solving, and analysis from the player itself for the game to
become functional and playable, In playing video games, you need to manage your
resources such as the time, your armor or your people (Oak). In a recent study from the
University of Washington Tibi Pulu writes,
Scientists from University of Washington have been struggling for the past
decade to decipher the complex structure of an enzyme that exhibits behavior similar to
that of an enzyme key in the development of AIDS from an HIV infection, and which
might hold a critical role in building a cure for the disease. Gamers playing spatial game
Foldit have managed to collectively determine the enzymes structure in ten days (Pulu).

This shows how video games can bring a new perspective to the learning level, it
enforces players to look at problem not as a problem, but as trying to win a game. This
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can lead to the player developing better problem solving, analytical, and estimation skill
in the school environment. Leading to a positive effect on youths ability to learn.
. The negativities brought in by video games are due to the unrestricted duration
for which they are played. If there is no limit to the time in which a child is allowed to
play a video game, or no supervision on the way in which the game is played, the not-so-
positive effects of video games will start showing. (Oak). Video games can have
negative effects as so do most electronics, but if used right can have many positive
outcomes. Video games can be proved to be beneficial overall if limited to a few hours
each day. There is research that shows that gaming has negative effects on the youth but
it has proved to be very inconsistent, meaning that the gaming is not the factor that is
affecting youth grades or behavior, but an outside factor ("PEDIATRICS" 1414-24).
In conclusion it is critical to realize that playing video games should not be
viewed as a negative recreational activity but as a positive one. Video games should be
encouraged to the younger generation, for its many helpful skills both useful outside and
inside of school. For its benefits to the professional settings, that improves the quality of
jobs. Video games are a glorious creation and should not be shunned, but taken advantage
of to its fullest, GG.






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Works Cited
Buchanan, Kym and Elzen, Angela Beyond a Fad: Why video Games Should Be Part of
21
st
Century Libraries. Beyond a Fad: Why video Games Should Be Part of
21
st
Century Libraries. 29. Web. 7 Nov. 2013
< http://files.eric.ed.gov.ezproxy.lib.utah.edu/fulltext/EJ989511.pdf>

Ferguson, J. Christopher. Video games dont make kids violent. Time Ideas. n.
page. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. < http://ideas.time.com/2011/12/07/video-games-dont-
make- kids-violent/>

"Journal of Adolescent Health." Journal of Adolescent Health. 41. (2007): 77-83. Print.

"Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development." Journal of Rehabilitation Research
& Development. 8. 1171-86. Print.

Oak, Manali. "Buzzle." Buzzle. n. page. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.buzzle.com/articles/positive-effects-of-video-games.html>.

"PEDIATRICS." PEDIATRICS. 126. (2010): 1414-24. Print.
<http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/126/6/e1414.full.html>.

ProCon.org. "Video Games ProCon.org." VideoGames.ProCon.org. ProCon.org, 25 Oct.
2012. Web. 21 Nov. 2013

Przybylsik, Andrew. Review of General Psychology Time Ideas. n. page. Web. 1 Dec.
2013. < http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/gpr/14/2/154/>

Pulu Tibi Gamers solve decade old HIV puzzle in ten days. Gamers solve decade old
HIV puzzle in ten days. n. page. Web. 15 Nov. 2013
< http://www.zmescience.com/research/studies/gamers-solve-decade-old-hiv-
puzzle-in-days/>

"Raise Smart Kid." Raise Smart Kid. n. page. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
<http://www.raisesmartkid.com/3-to-6-years-old/4-articles/34-the-good-and-bad
effects-of-video-games>.







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