Connor Kading

Lisa Tyler

10/25/2020

ENG 1201

Literature Review of Video Games

While throughout the history of video games, much light has been shed – both good and

bad – as the progression of video games has come to a worldwide phenomenon. Many

misconceptions have been birthed from the minds of people who are both for and against both

video games and E-sports, and the research contained within is an effort to clear up some

misconceptions that people view towards these items of conversation.

One of the biggest misconceptions that people hold against video games in my

experience has been views on E-sports being considered a topic less worthy of physical sports,

something that is a widely common misconception. While it is true that every professional player

doesn’t go through as much physical training as an athlete would, the training is still not a

timeline that people would believe requires as much time per-day to maintain their skill level. In

a normal day, elite esports players tend to practice on average 5.28 hours per day (Nagorsky,

Eugen, and Josef Wiemeyer), and is something that many people often don’t understand, while in

addition it was also added that most 55.6% of players surveyed believed that there was a significant

correlation from physical training to their performance in esports (Nagorsky, Eugen, and Josef

Wiemeyer).

The gear that they require is also nothing to scoff at, as many professional esports teams often

have whole buildings dedicated to their craft, such as the Alienware facility for Team Liquid. Much of
their construction to hardware has been to their internet speed, carrying “2x 10GB fiber connections”

(extremely fast high-speed internet play) (Murray) which is crucial to prevent disconnects in practices.

Many professional players of the team are also very healthy, holding an on-site gym and full-time chefs

who prepare and present healthy home-cooked food for their players. (Murray)

It’s no surprise that these developments have come very well for the world of esports, as a very

popular game, League of Legends, has amassed “just under 4 million concurrent viewers for League’s

second semifinal match” (Smith) in the 2019 world championship series for the game. With something

unique to esports compared to regular sports, many of the viewers are from all across the world,

internationally and culturally, and has allowed many people from plenty of different locations to

connect in various ways.

Onto another topic regarding the misconceptions that people have, many who enjoy what video

games have to offer have claimed that video games do not incite violence from their player. While it

may be true for adults, a proven study in Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents:

Theory, Research, and Public Policy has proven that indeed, if children and adolescents pick up

onto violent video games, then the more that they play throughout the game, the higher their

aggression in verbal, physical, and relational behavior (page 113). This is a subject that people

often don’t realize that even moderation of violent video game playtime for kids is something

that shouldn’t be followed like doctrine, but parents and guardian figures should follow both

ratings and playtime guides for their children.

However, there have been studies that have considered the increase of performance in

surgeries by laparoscopic surgeons, where a correlation was found between playing video games

and their success and speed in completing their surgeries. The study, being published in 2020,

presents that surgeons who have played Video Games have a smaller significant increase in
performance compared to those who haven’t in a 3D rope pass task game, signified at -.151

decrease of performance of those who haven’t played versus a .019 performace increase to those

who did (Datta, Rabi, et al).

Works Cited:

Anderson, Craig Alan, et al. Violent Video Game Effects on Children and Adolescents: Theory,

Research, and Public Policy. Oxford University Press, 2007. ( EBSCOHost Link:

https://eds-b-ebscohost-com.sinclair.ohionet.org/eds/detail/detail?vid=3&sid=52cf1fed-

90d6-4d45-8289-4a1683df3b1a%40sessionmgr101&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU

%3d#AN=edp672740&db=edspub)

Murray, Trent. “Separating Work and Play: An Inside Look at Team Liquid's Alienware

Training Facility EU.” The Esports Observer｜Home of Essential Esports Business News

and Insights, 18 Sept. 2020, esportsobserver.com/team-liquids-eu-alienware-facility/.

Smith, Noah. “How the League of Legends World Championship Became the Super Bowl of

Esports.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 7 Nov. 2019,

www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/esports/2019/11/07/how-league-legends-world-

championship-became-super-bowl-esports/

Datta, Rabi, et al. “Are Gamers Better Laparoscopic Surgeons? Impact of Gaming Skills on

Laparoscopic Performance in ‘Generation Y’ Students.” PLOS ONE, Public Library of

Science, 26 Aug. 2020, journals.plos.org/plosone/article?

id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0232341
Nagorsky, Eugen, and Josef Wiemeyer. “The Structure of Performance and Training in Esports.”

PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, 25 Aug. 2020, journals.plos.org/plosone/article?

id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0237584.