Positive Effects Of Video Games On Players

Contrary to the beliefs of those who disapprove of video games, studies have shown that most negatively associated effects of interacting with digital entertainment media are overly exaggerated. Within recent years, correlations between gaming and the healthy effects on players include improved cognitive abilities, increases in social aptitude, and mental stability. As technology improves, people from multiple different backgrounds can benefit from the application of video games, including those with disabilities. Educational games are starting to become the go-to for many education programs: including education, workforce, and military training alike.

It has also been well documented that they help develop new skills and many believe that everyone should start integrating videogames in to their lives for emotional and psychobiological improvements. Most stigmas like the effects of violence in games, are being debunked as new information has poured in at an increasing rate, indicating that the benefits of gaming should not be ignored. It should be noted however, that arguably the most problematic effect of video games is addiction.

Awareness is needed to overcome this issue and prevent it from being a possibility. Overall the effects of videogames have shown to be incredibly beneficial with multiple applications, and the world deserves more accurate exposure of its true implications and awareness to avoid potential negative impact. Without a doubt some of the more positive effects of video games on players is how effective they are at teaching new skills and strengthening existing skills. One specific study included a broad sample of 192,000 students in multiple countries.

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The results suggested that any negative impact on performance was too small to be considered problematic and in fact all genres of video games have improved the student’s cognitive skills. (Drummond & Sauer, 2014, p. 1-5). This is supported by the likes of applications like Luminosity© and Brain Age that offer games which have a neuro-psychological background. These game applications have shown to improve skills such as memory retention, problem solving adaptability, and critical thinking (Luminosity, 2018, ¶ 3).

Reports have also shown that interacting with video games promote the ability to consciously evaluate a person’s emotions and augment them (Scott, 2018, ¶ 1). The benefitted skills don’t stop there; players have shown improved hand-eye coordination, visuospatial skills, and peripheral awareness. Such skills strengthen the player’s ability to react faster to intense and complicated environments that many professions require (Woodham, 2014, p. 25-26). Additionally, these games often help develop team building and resource management skills. This is because many games involve communication, as well as knowing exactly when and where to use specific items throughout a multiplayer match which can decide the outcome of the game. All of the skills that players develop through gaming indicate a positive effect of a stockpile of enhanced cognitive performance and human capital. Along with cognitive performance, gamers are also positively affected psychologically and sociologically from the influence of video games. A study conducted by Life Course showed that the success of gamers was better than non-gamers. Reports indicated that “gamers were closer to their families, more educated, more optimistic, more conventionally successful, and more socially conscious” (Howe, 2014, p. 1-13).

This is an excellent example of how videogames are partially responsible for helping lives of gamers become less chaotic and problematic. This specific study shows that gamers gain confidence in their own abilities and aspire to be natural leaders and are more upbeat and intuitive than most people. Similarly, many have shared that they have created substantial bonds with friends because of the rapidly growing gaming community. There was also a higher correlation of gamers that have completed a college degree and are competent enough to hold a full-time job than non-gamers. This might be because of the need to sustain their gaming habit. (Howe, 2014, p. 1-13). Additionally, people show elevated moods and higher intrinsic motivation after engaging with digital interactive entertainment. This is evident through a study conducted at the Behavioral Science Institute in the Netherlands. The gamers were recorded to have significantly lowered stress levels and through gameplay, they developed unique and useful coping strategies to handle their negative emotions that could be applied to alleviate almost any stressful experience (Dube, 2015, 8).

All of this suggests that the influence of video games have the positive effects of a more successful and enjoyable life. Despite the benefits of videogames, opinions persist that videogames make players violent by the influence of content, but this concept is not really an issue. The opinion that games make people violent has been addressed by the U.S. Surgeon General, Richard Carmona, completely disregarded violence as a problem. The report he issued that addressed this concern was exceptionally clear that “mental stability and the quality of home life influenced violent tendencies exponentially more than media exposure” (Jenkins, 2006, 1). This shows that there is more to violent pathology than just the influence of videogames. Additionally, the Federal Court of Appeals also expressed that “shielding exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but deforming” (Jenkins, 2006, 8). This is supported by studies that observed the effects of violent videogames and they showed that there wasn’t any increased aggression and desensitization or decline in mental stability in videogames. In violent games there was no evidence that suggested people were compelled to commit acts of violence (Wei, 2007, p. 371-380).

Games in fact enable gamers to express themselves in ways they would be unable to in an otherwise realistic environment. Games give a release of any built-up emotions in safe environments where they could be dealt with instead of repressing them, leading to possible aforementioned violence. This is illustrated by a professor at Texas A&M University, who studied the results of multiple approaches to this concept. Dr. Ferguson concluded that violent video games should actually be promoted as an adaptive therapy tool to relieve frustrations in life. This was decided after seeing results that playing violent videogames was more effective at reducing frustration and cortisol, a stress hormone, than other traditional methods that have been used to achieve this goal (Dube, 2015, 10). This evidence shows that the violence in videogames does not negatively affect gamers and other problems need to be addressed in concern to gaming. Like most things, too much of a good thing will inevitably become a problem if not moderated and videogames are no exception.

Among the few negative effects of gaming, the most problematic, legitimate concern is videogame addiction. Peoples brains are hardwired and driven by the synaptic connections they make and this especially true whenever gamers make an association with the brain’s rewards center through gaming. It is unfortunate that videogames can be lumped into the same addictive category as food, sex, and drugs but it is a reality that anything can become an addiction which can harm you. Video games are intrinsically crafted to benefit the player, either directly by in game achievement, personal entertainment, or the benefits discussed earlier (Griffiths, 2009, p. 231-267). This makes games incredibly easy for people with addictive or sensation seeking personalities to become irrevocably hooked on these fountains of dopamine. This is problematic because without proper moderation and self-awareness, addiction to video games can mirror some of the effects of a cocaine addiction.

These include increased risk-taking behavior with time and money management, physical and mental withdrawal symptoms, and the neglect of personal responsibilities such as employment or personal hygiene in exchange for more playtime (Gray, 2018, 12). This is not to say that video games are at all considered as destructive and harming as hard drugs, but it is important to recognize that too much consumption of digital interactive entertainment is capable of rendering all of the wonderful benefits of gaming redundant. In order to avoid negative effects, players need to take a healthy approach to their level of consumption and catch problems when they develop. They need to learn the signs of their addiction and reach out for help to maintain the positive effects, as with most aspects in life that involve the risks of addiction. When used appropriately, it is apparent that more and more people need to be playing videogames.

This is because many of the positive effects and benefits that games can have overlap and enhance important matters in life. This includes exceptional academic ability, social or cognitive improvement, and the contribution to better emotional health. Despite existing dangers of addiction, video games are defiantly not a waste of time as they positively effect players by providing a personal keystone to help them succeed in life. Digital interactive entertainment should be studied more as research has only scratched the surface of its potential. Even more positive effects can be uncovered once the negative stigma against video games has been lifted. If proper awareness can be promoted to open the eyes of those with false dilemmas, an exponential amount of people will benefit. Additionally, if there can be more awareness of the effective strategies of preventing potential problems such as addiction, then the effects videogames have on players will become evolutionary as it integrates itself more into society.