Do Games Really Effect Your Actions?

Concepts and Hypothesis’

It has been said and noted that games affect a child’s attitude- One of the number one ways being violent tendencies.  Other ways include negative views on sex and women, rebellious natures, health issues, laziness, grades, and even the words that come out of their mouth. One concept is that violent games actually cause a reduction in normal physiological reactivity to images of real violence (McEntire). Another concept is that video games actually can improve physical attributes like hearing, vision, response time and even multi-tasking abilities. A lot of this, of course, depends on the game played because there are educational games out there as well that are strictly for teaching purposes. Of course, there are those that say all games are bad because you are sitting down looking at a screen when you could be reading a book, or being active. Honestly, if you’re a person that condemns all games then most likely you have never played them, nor have even looked at the other side of the story to see the positive.

Facts and Fiction

Black Smith, a 9^th grader, says that games affect kids negatively because it gives them a negative view on women. According to him, women usually aren’t used in a game unless it’s for sexual appeal. He also refers to social isolation and grade performance. He says kids want to be a part of the game world so much that they want to stay away from reality even if it means failing in school (Smith). I feel that for some kids this is not a bad outlook because I have seen many people fall under the addiction of games. School is definitely a time of your life where games must come last.

Teresa McEntire, of Families.com, also agrees that games do affect kids. She says in a study done at Iowa State University that young children were introduced to fun and cartoonish forms of violence, with little or no blood, and no real consequences to the victim, friends or family of the victim. When the children got older they added more realism and more threatening elements. Soon they had adults that were accustomed to and comfortable with seeing lots of blood and gore. The adults had an exaggerated view of how much violence exists or is “normal” in modern society, with belief systems that support the use of aggression or violence (McEntire). I can see how this would make sense. Prolonged exposure to anything violent, sexual, or mature will always affect you in a mind numbing fashion. Though it’s really up to the person to train themselves to not succumb to that numbing.

Another author writes about how action games actually help with vision. The material they used was taken from the University of Rochester. The author says that research done on game players that played action video games for a few hours a day for a month wound up having 20 percent better vision. The player was able to pick out letters that were mixed into a jumbled mess of other letters. Playing video games actually changes how your brain processes information. One great point they make with these findings is a person that has a vision problem could actually enhance their vision quality, and speed just by playing some action video games (Science Daily). I wonder if this is better than Lasik surgery. I think I will add more action games to my shopping list.

Final Outcome

These facts are based on research and study, not my own opinion.

Pros:

People can escape everyday boring life

It’s a fun sort of entertainment

It can boost an interest in computers and technology

You can make friends and communicate with people from other countries

Possible boost to your brain waves, and senses

Possible boost to your multi-tasking skills, and awareness level

Cons:

Become indifferent towards violence

Possible increase in violent tendencies

Possible waste of money

Possible alienation from the world, family, and friends

Possible addiction to games

Learn to view women in a negative way, or improper way

My own personal opinion on these studies and facts is quite simple. There is definitely more out there that I haven’t listed here, but what I have shown you are some of the main reasons, and also some studies that encompass a good variety of research. To me, you can do all the research you want and all the surveys and studies you want, but the bottom line is that the real outcome of how games affect you is, to each their own. What I mean by this is that a lot of how games affect people is based on their own personal beliefs and personality. How you are or were raised, how you live now, how you see the world, how you view women, men, violence, and fun can all be taken into account. Research can only go so far because you really can’t say how a game will affect people because we are all different. I heard that they tried to blame the Columbine incident on violent video games. Honestly, the real problem is the people themselves. If someone becomes violent because of a video game then that means that there are some deeper issues going on with that person. I do agree that violence, sex, and other attributes of games can affect a person to an extent. But the extent that affects someone is determined by the already existing facts that are affecting that person’s life. I say this because I am an avid game player. I play violent games, games that have sexually stylized characters, educational games, strategic games, and I am not indifferent towards violence or anything like that. Games are games, and life is life. I don’t mix the two, and neither should anyone else.

Bibliography:

Smith, Blake. Role Models Today. “How do video games affect kids” 08-17-2006, <http://rolemodels.jou.ufl.edu/rolemodels/entertainment/videogames.shtm>

McEntire, Teresa. Families.com. “Does violence in video games effect children?” 08-28-06, <http://parenting.families.com/blog/does-violence-in-video-games-affect-children>

Science Daily. “Action video games sharpen vision 20%” 02-06-2007. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070206100601.htm>

3 Comments »

1. jdfrost says:

   February 2nd, 2009

   honestly. I’m less likely to drive 214 MPH down my street because of the Need For Speed franchise, in addition to the fact that I find myself giving the bird less often. What happens is I get home, turn on that beautiful green circle…start up my RX-7 and take it out on my LCD.

   But it’s just like the economic theory the Post Hoc Fallacy. Just because C is after B does not mean that B causes C to occur. What kind of video games were prevalent when JW Gacy decided to rape, kill, and bury under sidewalks and crawl spaces 33 boys in Chicago? Which FPS was hot in the nation when Charles Manson convinced his followers to do the devils business?

   We’ve always had something to blame human deviance on throughout millennia of written and unwritten history. Maybe it’s time to start blaming the demons and start looking a little closer to our hearts.

2. jdfrost says:

   February 2nd, 2009

   amendment to the last paragraph…it should be STOP blaming the demons and start looking a little closer to our hearts.

3. rickerdoo says:

   February 10th, 2009

   I tend to solve all my personal conflicts with a chainsaw now. Thanks Gears of War

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