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Video Games and Human Motor Skills

Anthony Okeke

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Video Games and Human Motor Skills

Video games possess an amazing impact on the brain's cognitive functions and activate

higher senses to produce either positive or negative results. Depending on video games and

content, one may benefit or waste away. Recent research posits that teens who play certain video

games are more violent than those who do not. As the debate over their inadequacies has

advanced, their positives have mainly been discarded. To spend their disposable leisure time,

young people prefer playing video games. Few individuals are aware of the positive influence

video games bestow on the motor abilities of gamers. For instance, teens who play the Assassin's

Creeds have better hand-eye coordination, sensorimotor skills, and visual-motor skills!

            Accordingly, Assassin's Creed requires the player to travel through time while killing

several people along the way. Visual contact is maintained with the computer screen throughout

the game, while the player's hands operate the gamepads; controlling video game characters.

This kind of high-end coordination is scientifically referred to as Hand-eye coordination, a gross

motor skill. For context, playing video games has approximately 40% more power over other

motor skills such as writing, swimming, cooking, and so forth (Bareither, 2020). Essentially,

video games immensely improve hand-eye coordination. In addition, research alludes to the fact

that Assassin's Creed players are quicker in everyday movements than their counterparts who are

not players.

            Moreover, as an action video game, Assassin's Creed augments an individual’s visual-

motor abilities. A player can encode preset visual information, such as an imminent villain, and

harmonize it with their motor abilities to win the challenge. In real life: writing, reading, driving,

swimming, and riding are examples of real-time tasks that depend on this ability.

According to research in Psychological Science, teens can improve their visual-motor abilities
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greatly by playing action video games for a minimum of five hours daily. Teenagers who —

engage their daily five hours or more in-play video games have superior visual-motor skills than

teenagers who participate in athletics. In addition, players’ sensorimotor skills and control grow

faster than those who do not play.

            The cliché that all work and no play is detrimental is true because teens who engage in

video games are all-rounded individuals. Accordingly, in their daily endeavors, parents and

teachers should encourage kids and teenagers to play video games to strengthen their sensory-

motor abilities further. In addition, the players' mental capacities are positively impacted by

video games, boosting brain activities and human motor capabilities (Getchell & Haywood,

2021). Further, parents and teachers should monitor their kids’ play to prevent overindulgence

and addiction. Like other leisure activities, too much of it can also be detrimental to one’s health

and social life.

In conclusion, it will be no good to have superior motor skills and have no one to share

them with. Parents should also encourage social life as most of the time is spent in front of a

screen. Video games, like outdoor activities, are key for developing motor abilities. However, it

is also important for teens to choose carefully the kind of video games to play. Some games are

violent, and the side effects are violent in real life. It is important to choose games that challenge

the brain to think and try and solve challenges resourcefully.

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References

Bareither, C. (2020). Playful Virtual Violence: An Ethnography of Emotional Practices in Video

Games. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.

Getchell, N., Haywood, K. M. (2021). Life Span Motor Development. United States: Human

Kinetics.