[Type the company name]| Why Video Games Are Good For You| Playing With the New Generation| | Beverley Corey| | Contents Introduction2 How video games can make you smarter2 Providing an outlet for stress and aggression3 Influences on business and career choices4 Cooperation and social interaction in gaming4 Conclusion6 References7 Introduction “Currently there are more than half a billion people worldwide playing online games at least an hour a day -- and 183 million in the US alone. ” (McGonigal, 2011) There is an extensive anti-game lobby that believes video games promote violence, anti-social behaviour, and zoned-out teenagers.
However, there is ample evidence to support my theory that video games have been unfairly maligned. In this paper I will examine research and anecdotal evidence to illustrate why video games are good for you. How video games can make you smarter Since the late 1980’s occupational and physical therapists have been using video games to treat both physical and cognitive problems. They not only improve skills such as attention and working memory, but also fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. These benefits are transferable to real life.
Steffens, 2009) “The brain has the amazing ability to reorganize itself by forming new connections between brain cells. ” (Michelon) This happens whenever we learn something new. According to Daphne Bavelier, professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, "It seems that there is a lot more plasticity you can induce by playing video games than by training people with more classical methods. ” (Steffens, 2009) In “Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter”, Steven Johnson suggests that the mind explores games the same way one conducts science experiments.
This is done by exploring rules and determining what works. (M. Steffens) Playing video games myself, and with my children, I have experienced this first-hand. Together we learned to use a systematic approach to “beating a level” by finding the right path and combination of moves by trying different tactics and making increasingly more appropriate decisions. I have personally experienced the phenomenon of tangential learning.
James Portnow has written about this subject, noting that games can introduce players to ideas that they may not have otherwise encountered. This leads to curiosity, which sets the groundwork for learning (J.Radoff) Playing “Animal Crossing” and “The Sims” introduced my daughter to the idea of budgets and value, and became a jumping off point for our discussions about good monetary habits. MMORPG’s (Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Games) don’t make education their core purpose, but there is evidence that people do learn new things they might never have, just by playing these games. (J. Radoff) In fact, in a dissertation written after conducting research in the province of Nova Scotia, Matthew White noted that ““RPG use and self-efficacy were significantly positively correlated.
He concluded that, “Couple the voluntary mass consumption of these products withthe demonstrated link between their use and academic self-efficacy, and truly beneficialoutcomes may be indicated. ” (M. White) Dr. James Rosser, Jr.
is the Director of AMTI and the Chief of Minimally Invasive Surgery at Beth Israel Medical Center. Using virtual reality to help train surgeons, he found that, “Subjects who in the past played video games for more than three hours per week have a 37 percent reduction in errors when performing laparoscopic surgery, and accomplish their surgical task 27 percent quicker, than their non-video game playing counterparts. (Web-site) These examples illustrate the learning potential of gaming, both for children and adults. Conventional wisdom tells us when it comes to our brains, we must “Use it or lose it”. Video games provide a unique way to develop our brains, and one that actually translates to our daily lives. As Bavelier notes, playing video games can improve our eyesight and field of vision for activities such as driving.
"You could train your brain to make better use of the info it receives from the retina," says Bavelier. "[By playing video games] you are correcting how well your brain computes in general. " (M. Steffens)Providing an outlet for stress and aggression The Columbine High School Massacre of 1999 spurred an intense debate about the correlation between violence and violent video games. Before committing suicide, two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 15 and left 24 injured. (http://www.
acolumbinesite. com/event/index. html) I recall listening to the news casts that day, feeling heartbroken for those affected: and in some ways, we were all affected. Perhaps that is why there were so many opinions as to what caused the tragedy. One of the knee-jerk reactions was to blame violent movies and video games.According to the media at the time, Klebold and Harris were both avid gamers.
Violent games were a natural target for so many people looking for an answer to one question…Why? In the three years prior to the massacre, Harris and Klebold got into trouble together several times. As punishment, the two teenagers started to get their computer access restricted. US psychiatrist Jerald Block believes that anger that was previously being projected into the games was turned outward, into the real world. Harris notes, “Each time they were banned from their games, culminating in their arrest in 1998, their sense of self was splintered.
From their perspective, they were required to capitulate and comply with the police, their school, their parents, and their classmates… they were being remade into normal people, toiling away within the system at the mundane tasks of living. They saw little choice but to join with others in condemning the virtual. In doing so, they went to the extreme, becoming more concrete, devaluing the abstract, and seeking harsh reality over imagination. They grew fascinated with nihilistic music, moral relativism, and the brutal exercise of power.
He also noted thatthe time that would normally have been used for playing games together was used to express their anger. He postulates that this actually increased their antisocial tendencies (J. Block) The extreme and controversial nature of this example is used to point out that the relationship between violence and gaming is a complex one, and it does not exist in a vacuum. It also supports the idea that virtual rage may, in fact, provide a valuable release from the tension and frustration that troubled teens may experience in the “real world”.A 2007 study by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital’s (MGH) Center for Mental Health and Media also addresses young teens and violent video and computer games.
They found that a high percentage of middle-school children, (66% of boys and 25% of girls interviewed), regularly play violent video games, and that many use video games to help manage their feelings, including anger and stress. (“Violent Video Games Help Kids Manage Stress”) Influences on business and career choicesWhile it seems obvious that gamers might choose to become game-designers, there are many other areas that have been influenced by gaming. In fact, in “The Kids Are Alright”, John C. Beck and Mitchell Wade argue that there is a “the gaming generation”, comprised of those born since the mid-1980’s, which is the most influential cohort group since the Baby Boomers.
Children raised in the computer age think differently from the rest of us. “They develop hypertext minds. They leap around. It’s as though their cognitive structures were parallel, not sequential.
(WD Winn) Thinking skills enhanced by repeated exposure to computer games and other digital media include representational competence, multidimensional visual-spatial skills, mental maps, inductive discovery, ? attentional deployment (such as monitoring multiple locations simultaneously), and responding faster to expected and unexpected stimuli. (P. Greenfield) Inaddition, to be successful at multiplayer games people must cooperate and coordinate activities in ways that exist in armies and businesses. There is evidence that the social and management skills one learns from these experiences are helping in the real world. J. Radoff) Video games, and the skills one gains when playing them, have applications in software engineering, Internet and media-based industries; but games also provide a training ground for business.
According to Beck and Wade, the following things have influenced “the gaming generation” in both life and in the workplace: 1) Games reward technical skills and instil a drive for excellence and winning. 2) Games encourage working effectively as part of a team. 3) Games help to train minds that switch quickly from “front-of brain activities” to“back of brain activities. ” (i. e. ulti-tasking) 4) Games foster the belief that personal performance matters.
Unlike any other medium, games get different people from different countries, political views and religions all playing together. Not because they are elite, not because they’re spectators, but because they require gamers to work together to solve problems (J. Radoff). This is particularly helpful in today’s global economy. Cooperation and social interaction in gaming The findings of a study undertaken by the McArthur Foundation conflict with a commonly held perspective that youth who play video games are socially isolated and often antisocial.
Results from the study — the most extensive U. S. study on teens and their use of digital media to date — show that America’s youth are developing important social and technical skills online, often in ways adults do not understand or value. ” (M. Ito et al) The 2007 study at the Massachusetts General Hospital’s (MGH) Center for Mental Health and Media also found that, “Contrary to the stereotype of the solitary gamer with no social skills, we found that children who play M-rated games are actually more likely to play in groups – in the same room, or over the Internet. Boys’ friendships in particular often center around video games.
As noted by Jane McGonigal in her book “Reality is Broken: Why Games Make us Better and How they Can Change the World” , “When we play multiplayer games, we become more collaborative and more likely to help others. In fact, we like and trust each other more after we play a game together -- even if we lose! And more importantly, playing a game with someone is an incredibly effective way to get to know their strengths and weaknesses--as well as what motivates them. This is exactly the kind of social knowledge we need to be able to cooperate and collaborate with people to tackle real-world challenges. MMORPG’s have complex rules and social structures.
Unlike television or reading, games often involve people from different countries, political views and religions playing together. Like in real life, you must work together in MMORPG’s to solve problems. I have also witnessed how games can help friends and family to bond and interact when separated geographically. I grew up in a community and family where families routinely played cards or crokinole on Friday evenings together. Online gaming can provide an experience similar to evenings spent in a relative or neighbour’s cozy kitchen, play Auction 45.It elicits the same sense of bonding and warmth, by allowing family and friends who are separated to play together.
Furthermore, as McGonigal notes, “When we play a good game, we get to practice being the best version of ourselves: We become more optimistic, more creative, more focused, more likely to set ambitious goals, and more resilient in the face of failure. ” This medium is also uniquely suited to those who have difficulty with face-to-face social interaction. Friends of mine have a daughter with Asperger’s Syndrome. She had enormous difficulty with school from a social perspective.Making friends and responding to the feelings of others, with Asperger’s affecting her ability to intuit what the facial expressions and body language of her peers meant, was virtually impossible.
In the on-line world, where people type what they are thinking and feeling, she quickly became adept, and made many social connections. In addition, McGonigal points out that her research indicates that, “Just 90 seconds of playing a game like World of Warcraft - where you control a powerful avatar - can boost the confidence of college students so much that for up to 24 hours later, they're more likely to be successful taking a test at school... nd more outgoing in real-world social situations. ” She continues, “Studies by both university researchers and the U.
S. Army Mental Health Assessment Team show that playing games up to 21 hours a week can produce positive impacts on your health and happiness -- especially if you're playing games face-to-face with friends and family, or playing cooperative games (rather than competitive games). ” I was lucky enough to see this in action with my friend’s daughter with Asperger’s. Conclusion Video games provide numerous opportunities for both children and adults to learn and to explore the world in new ways.
Video games provide a unique way to develop our brains that translates to our daily lives. They offer a forum in which strangers from diverse backgrounds can learn to cooperate. Games can offer an ordered refuge from a random and often chaotic world, and help to relieve stress and manage anger. In addition, they offer us a new social experience, interactive entertainment, and fun! The best way to see if I am right? Next time you pick up the controller that your teen has left out, don’t just put it away.
Pop in a game, and try playing!If you have a child or teen, play with them. According to a recent study by Brigham Young University's School of Family Life, daughters who play videogames with their parents report feeling much closer to them and demonstrate significantly lower levels of aggression, behaviour problems, and depression. Although there are Baby Boomers who play games and even some true Boomer “gamers”, the Boomer generation grew up with television as their dominate, new medium. With each generation, there is a shift in our culture.
It is no different with the gaming generation.Gradually, Boomer attitudes, values, and behaviours are being replaced by this new generation. (Beck & Wade) Like all change, perhaps it is neither inherently good nor bad-it just is. We have a choice in how we react to the latest cultural evolution. Understanding the benefits of gaming and how to make the most of them will enable us to take advantage of the opportunities they provide. It is a new world; as I was reminded just tonight, watching my 2 year old niece handle her mother’s iPhone with deft precision, playing her own video game, while I looked on in awe.
A new world, indeed. References Steffens, M (2090, June 4) Video games are good for you. Retrieved from http://www. abc. net. au/science/articles/2009/06/24/2607577.
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