A
brief review and background on Video Games:
Video games go as far back as the 1940s, according
to Wikipedia (2011), when Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. and Estle Ray Mann invented the first video game described
as a "cathode ray tube amusement device." Video games didn’t reach mainstream
popularity until it was introduced to the public in 1970s and 80s. Since then,
video games have become apart of the modern culture in the developing world.
Video games
have become really popular over the last 30 years; so popular in fact that 65%
of American households play video games and the number is increasing. It was
assumed that the gaming population was people under 18, however today they only
make up 25%, and what is more surprising is the fact that there are more people
over 50 that play the game than children. It was also assumed that most gamers
are from the male population when in fact 2 out of 5 gamers are female.
There are three
kinds of console preferences the Nintendo’s Wii, the Microsoft’s Xbox360 and
Sony’s playstation3. The Wii is most popular with the females with 80% saying
it’s their primary console. Just 11% play the Xbox360 and 9% prefer the
playstation3. Males, however; are more split up 41% still play the Wii
primarily, but fully 38% prefer Xbox and 21% like the PlayStation.
The two largest
markets for video gamers are japan and the US. So if you want to see how well
consoles are doing, just compare the market in Japan and with the market in the
US. The PlayStation3 has sold
12.35 million units; in comparison Japan has sold 4.58 million units, combined
with the international market it has sold 31.59 million units in total. The Wii
has met success in both the US and Japan selling around 30.56 million units and
9.67 million units, with a grand total of 65.32 million units sold worldwide.
Video Games:
Video games are
popular all around the world. Video games are “An electronic or computerised game played by manipulating
images on a video display or television screen” (video game 2009). My brother is one of those people who play video
games on a regular basis. There are benefits and harmful affects of playing
video games and that’s what I am going to talk about next.
There are many
benefits to playing video game, one of them is perseverance; players usually
fail the first time they play a level and they keep on trying until they
succeed. It also helps them learn how to
work in team; many games are played online and require cooperation with other
online players. Another advantage is having the ability to think quick and
making fast decisions. Video games also develop the
player’s reading skills; young gamers force themselves to read
instructions, follow story-lines, and get information from the game texts.
On
the other hand, playing video games has its side effects. Playing too much
video game makes the player socially isolated. They spend less time and energy
on other activities like homework, sports, and interacting with family and
friends. A study by the Minneapolis-based
National Institute for Media and the Family suggests that video games can
be addictive for kids, and a kids' addiction to video games increases their
depression and anxiety levels.
Many
have debated whether video games induce violence or not. This topic has been on
the minds of sociologist, researchers and so many other people ever since the first console was made.
Can
video games make kids more violent? A study done by the researchers at the
Indiana University School of Medicine
might suggest
that the answer is yes. The research included two groups of kids playing a
violent and a non-violent game for about 30 minutes. The first game was the
non-violent racing game “Need for Speed: Underground.” The other was the
ultra-violent first-person shooter “Medal of Honor: Frontline.” Later the
children were given an MRI of their brains.
The scans showed a negative affect on the brains of the
teens that played “Medal of Honor” for 30 minutes and that same result was not
present on the other brain scan of the group who played “Need for Speed”. The
only difference between them is the violent content. The fear here is how well the
effect is on a child in the long run, as this study was only 30 minutes long.
Despite the
facts and research done on this matter, there are speculations that the studies
against video games might be biased. Patrick
Kierkegaard of the University of Essex, England says that that there is no connection between real
life violence and video games. “Violent crime, particularly among the young,
has decreased dramatically since the early 1990s," says Kierkegaard,
"while video games have steadily increased in popularity and use. For
example, in 2005, there were 1,360,088 violent crimes reported in the USA
compared with 1,423,677 the year before.”
Other studies showed not only that video
games decrease crimes, but it also helps adolescent boys redirect their anger
and aggression towards video games and not in real life. A 2007 study by the Journal of Adolescent Health reported
that 45% of boys play games was because it “helps
them get their anger out” and 62% played because it “helps them relax.”
Playing video
games has its good sides and it has its bad sides. We can say that violent
video games encourage violence and aggression, but we can also say that playing
violent video games allows youth to learn how to control their emotions when faced
with a difficult situation.
Video games
don’t necessarily affect you psychologically, but it can stop you from carrying
out your responsibilities in your own life. You have to learn how to divide
your time equally and set boundaries between having too much fun and doing your
responsibilities. I believe that you should have a balance in your life, even
though am not a player, I can see the good and bad affects video games is
having on people who play around me.
Sources
Does Game Violence keep teens Aggressive? (2006).
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/16099971/ns/technology_and_science-games/t/does-game-violence-make-teens-aggressive/#.U2S-m62SzXg
Do violent video games contribute to youth violence?
(2011). ProCon.org.
The
Good and Bad Effects of Video Games (n.d.) Raise
Smart Kid.
Video
Games And Violence: Are Studies Biased? (2008). Scientific Blogging.
http://www.science20.com/news_releases/video_games_and_violence_are_studies_biased
Videogame
Statistics (2011). Educational Database
Online.
Wikipedia (2011) History
of games.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_history_of_video_games
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