Argumentative Essay On Playing Video Games

Some of the first video games ever made like Pac Man, Mario Bros.,Sonic the Hedgehog and Street Fighter never helped someone learn their ABC’s and 123’s which caused video games to develop a bad name like it’s “rotting kids’ brains” or distract them from more important studies but over time things change and become better and based off this website it says that “A number of recent studies have indicated that video games, even violent ones, can help kids develop essential emotional and intellectual skills that support academic achievement. These findings led many innovative teachers around the globe to recognize the benefits of gaming and include game-based learning in their curricula. However, it’s not just in-school gaming that reaps benefits. New research shows that all gaming can be positive.”

Addiction is another highly debated issue. Several studies have proved that video games contribute to unhealthy activities. According to Buckley, obesity among the children had increased tremendously over the years (19). They argue that there exists a connection in extended video play and the development of physical pain. There is a belief that there will be decreased effect in education, termed “displacement effect.” As such, it shows more time is spent on playing games rather than studying or doing course work. Additionally, playing video games may result in attention deficits, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. As highlighted by Brook, a greater percentage of individuals suffering from obesity are highly involved in video games (22). Most children do not engage in healthy and physically demanding activities. It is evident that children involved in sports tend to meet new people and make new friends.

According to some researchers at the University of Queensland, gaming can improve your academic performance. But in real life that is nowhere to be true. Violent video games are very addictive. Games completely affect your behaviour. You will always keep thinking about them, talking about them and planning how you will kill your next target in your game.

Video games or online games are played everyday by a vast majority of teens in the United States. It is estimated that in 2008 approximately 70-90% of teens reportedly play these games. Many individuals believe that video games offer a learning experience like no other. However, video games distract from learning and actually negatively affect the minds of teen players, therefore, playing video or online games is indisputably harmful to adolescents’ intellectual and social development.

In life, you learn that certain things just don’t mix: Diet Coke and Mentos, cereal and water, drugs and good grades, and picnic tables and dancing, just to name a few. That last example might seem a little bizarre to you, but to me it hits very close to home. Throughout my childhood, we had this picnic table that sat on our back patio. We would have tea parties on it or use it as a place to color or do homework. Sounds pretty fun, right? Sure, as long as you were using it the way it was intended to be used. Throw in my sister and her aspiring dreams to be a dancer, and suddenly our story gets a little messy. So grab a snack, sit back, and listen to the story of how my sister drove me to start taking drugs.

Growing up as a gamer, I have experienced many new things in the video game industry. I’ve been playing video games since the Sega-genisis that I started playing when I was three years old. I’ve been gaming almost my whole life, I have watched new console been introduced, seen video games go from 1080p to now an amazing 4K which makes the graphics look amazing. Modern video games even have virtual reality that you as a consumer can now play in your own living room. But, even though we have amazing things in video games the modern gamer is being introducing to a new problem. The problem I am addressing of coarse is micro transactions in video games. Modern game companies are charging you $60.00 dollars for a video game. Once you purchase this said video game you have to grind countless hours in order to obtain specific items that will enhance your abilities in this virtue world, or you can turn your real life currency into this video game currency in order to potentially get these items early on. This concept is called pay to win. The definition of pay to win as stated in wikipedia “is In some multiplayer video games, players who are willing to pay for special items or downloadable content may be able to gain a significant advantage over those playing for free.” Though I believe companies should be allowed to do this in free video game, I think it is wrong to charge someone $60.00 and afterwords try to make them buy guns in order to enhance their gameplay.

There are many benefits to playing video games. Some parents and/or educators can use video games as a tool to subconsciously teach and reinforce learning methods. Educational games and games that requires skillful thinking are tools that can help academically. Merzenich (2011) explains in his research that games can help with judgement, memory, cognitive thinking, and higher speeds in skill processing. He gives reasoning behind the academic growth of children that are gamers and how they acquire academic success due to the excessive time they spend playing.

My brother would play in the middle of the night and would always get in trouble. He was obsessed! Jack Flanagan, in his article, “The Psychology of Video Games” reports, “Video games are built to exploit this part [reward system] of our brain. Kill monster, get points. Complete level, get happy music. Win game, feel satisfied. It’s a very simple and primitive part of who we are.” However, I think video games offer much more than addictive downfalls. Daphne Bavelier, scientist at the University of Rochester and the University of Geneva, researched on how video games enhance people’s vision and attention control in which she discusses in her speech, “Your Brain on Video Games.” I believe the benefits of video games outweigh the harmful consequences they cause because video games offers finer motor skills and as the zombies we are, we want bigger and better brains to

Side effects of video games number just about as many types of video games that people play. In Lisa Weber’s article “Positive Effects of Video Games on Children,” she states several benefits that children obtain when they play video games. Some of these advantages include the areas of social development, education, and an emotional outlet. As a result, Lisa clearly displays her stance on the positive side of the opinions of video games. However, electronic gaming contains a voluminous amount of pernicious effects. When young adults and children partake in video games, they come across numerous experiences that could have a negative influence on their lives.

Does pathological game-playing cause poor school performance? To this question I have two answers. If kids play videogames too much they will have low performance in school. Some kids play video games but even it out. If kids play their video games on the weekend after homework it will have a more positive effect on schoolwork and school performance. In the article it says that kids play too many video games. I think that kids play too many video games, but i think the real problem is that they do not even it out enough. For example, if a kid plays 10 hours of video games straight they will not want to do anything else after. If the kid spreads out the time they might be willing to do other things. I think that kids who do not even out their

In Jonathan Craton’s article “The Effect of Videogames on Student Achievement” he shows the positive and negative effects video games have on present day students. He goes into detail on the benefits and shortfalls that video games could have on education and social skills of college students. Craton also mentions the psychological effects noted from video games including games with increased amounts of violence. Despite the negative effects Craton mentions in his article, video games should be used to assist in the learning process in classrooms around the world.

Video games impact the brain in a wide variety of ways. Some people could, and have, made the argument that video games are destructive for children and that they become a distraction from actual educational work (Bavelier, Green, Han, Renshaw,  Merzenich, & Gentile, 2011). On the other hand, one could certainly argue that video games could be a valuable tool in the learning environment (Bavelier, Green, Han, Renshaw,  Merzenich, & Gentile, 2011). At any rate, there are several different, and accurate views on the subject.

“I like video games, but they’re really violent. I’d like to play a videogame where you help the people who were shot in all other games. It’d be called Really Busy Hospital.”-Demitri Martin. Role playing games have been a source of fun and entertainment for children and adults. There are more safe and calm games such as Just Dance, and there are more Perilous games such as Call of Duty. Role playing games such as killer are perilous for school age children putting them in danger, teaching violence, and teaching reckless behavior.

Excessive video game playing has been a problem with today’s youth they have had more influences over the youth than ever before. That brings to my attention a question, how do video games affect the youth of our society? Excessive video game playing, especially violent video games, can lead to youth violence, a decrease in academic success and many other negative things. I realize that some parents believe that they can be good for children, I agree but I also disagree in some cases. Some parents allow their children to play video games to keep a social life and to learn how to use strategies. This is true in some cases but not in all cases. For instance, other children that play video games alone and are in their rooms constantly can

“High-school students who report spending more time playing video games or who report spending more money on video games had poorer grades in English classes” (Gentile, Lynch, Linder, Walsh 2). All young minds that play video games longer than the average time start to show a poor performance in school. These children start to think more about the video games they are watching and playing every day, rather than doing their homework and studying for tests.