Firstly, I shall talk about the issues mentioned in this article. This article talked about both the positive and negative impact of violent video games, and who will be implicated by the people who play them. Now, I shall mention a few positive traits of violent video games mentioned in this article. The positive traits of video games mentioned are that they are able to improve your motor skill and are able to improve your reaction time, and one evidence they gave would be that surgeons who play video games are more advanced than veteran surgeons. Personally, as a video gamer, I play extensively (around 10 hours a week on school days), and I find that it is able to improve my awareness of surrounding as well as my reaction time. Firstly, I play First person shooters, which are fast-paced games, which requires players to think fast, react fast, and be constantly aware of their surroundings, and to survive in the game, I have to be constantly aware of my surrounding, and when enemies appear, I would have to act decisively on where and how should I plant the attacks while keeping myself alive, and to do this, I have to be aware of my surroundings. So in short, some of the skills we are able to learn from video games include problem-solving abilities, perseverance, pattern recognition, hypothesis testing, estimating skills, inductive skills, resource management, logistics, mapping, memory, quick thinking, and reasoned judgments which some of them will not be taught in school curriculum.
Video games can also be helpful in other areas. Children who have problems with attention, self-esteem, and boundaries are often helped by the gaming experience, and video games are now being implemented into therapy for these types of children. Children that see themselves as failures also receive benefit from playing video games, because they provide the player with a sense of participation and excitement in basic life-like situations. Video games furthermore “empower” certain children who have a difficult time in social situations. For example, a child who is an outcast may gain social standing because he is a video game aficionado.
Now, I shall talk about the negative aspects mentioned in the article, and add in my own opinions. In the article, one of the few negative aspects mentioned is that violent video games may induce bad behavior in children, or anti- social behavior. “So, violent video games are just another risk factor. Just like a pack of cigarettes today contributes to an increased risk of developing lung cancer later in life. But you know, nobody says smoking isn't a problem just because two-thirds of smokers don't develop lung cancer, and it's the same with playing violent video games.” However, I shall argue that that video games do not cause anti- social behaviors, it may even have “medicinal value”. Children who have problems with attention, self-esteem, and boundaries are often helped by the gaming experience, and video games are now being implemented into therapy for these types of children. Children that see themselves as failures also receive benefit from playing video games, because they provide the player with a sense of participation and excitement in basic life-like situations. Video games furthermore “empower” certain children who have a difficult time in social situations. For example, a child who is an outcast may gain social standing because he is a video game aficionado. Also, from personal experience, even though I play extensively, I still do not sacrifice time with my friends just to play video games, nor will I sacrifice time spent with family just to play my x-box. Also, while playing my games online, I will meet people from all around the world, and will be able to chat with them, for example, there are waiting rooms and lobbies found at game server which operates like MSN or chat rooms, and players here can discuss anything under the sun. Also, players have to work together in games in order to win the game, which means that video games will help us cultivate teamwork because in video games, one cannot be a lone wolf.
One of the few other negative traits that one can connect with video games, regardless of whether it is violent or not will be the time spent on them, a.k.a addiction. Many teenagers and even adults around the world face this problem, and their addiction to games make them lose out a lot of their social life, career/ academic, etc. However, I believe that their addiction to video games can be countered if they knew how to prioritize their time and have self control over themselves. Personally, sometimes I will lack self-discipline, even though I promise myself to play for only 1 hour, it may drag on for more than that. So these are the down-sides of video games that parents are most concerned about.
Going back to the point of video games inducing violence in teenagers, I think that this is a false claim. This is because it has been proven scientifically that video games help relieve stress and pent-up anger in individuals. For example, when humans are stressed, some of the actions we may do in an attempt to relieve stress will be to punch the wall, and that instead of punching the walls, or releasing your pent-up anger on another human, which may involve physical or emotional harm, one can resort to cyber-gaming, like for example Counter Strike, where players are able to relieve their stress when they kill their opponents. So, in this sense, video games have positive impact on teenagers. Also, there are only rare cases of people who play computer games that actually commit murder, suicides and other stuffs that are attributed to the game. In the end, it all boils down to an individual’s self control and discipline. So after looking at all the positive and negative traits that video games have, I conclude that video games have positive impact on teenagers.
