Computer Games : Video Games

Studies have shown that repeated exposure to violent video games over time does affect the structure and functioning of the adolescent brain. The brain is a malleable and ‘plastic’ structure that can change and evolve with every stimulus we give it. Whether this stimulus comes from studying Spanish, training in basketball or playing a video game, every single input can affect the structure and functions of the brain if the conditions are right. While some video games enhance multitasking, visual perception and the brain’s ability to process information, research has suggested that violent video games can influence aggressive behaviour, aggressive cognition and physiological arousal. A study conducted by Doctor Vincent Matthews and his colleagues at Indiana University School of Medicine have found that there were sustained changes in the regions of the brain associated with cognitive function and emotional control after a group of young adult men were playing violent video games for a week. Similarly, in laboratory studies, some researchers have found an increase of about four percent in gamers’ levels of aggression after playing violent video games. However, other research groups have concluded that factors such as family background, mental health and

Video games are a enormous part in the world today. “More than 150 million people in the United States play video games regularly or for at least three hours per week. The number of sales has increased and in 2016, 24.5 billion games were sold, up from 23.2 billion in 2015.” “This Type of Video Game May Actually Harm Your Brain.” written by Mahita Gajanan is my positive article and “How Video Games Affect the Brain.” written by Hannah Nichols is my negative article. In this essay I am going to talk about video games and their impact on the brain (Nichols).

Everybody in this country plays video games almost every day. It does not matter what the age is, even though they are not young and have free time they would play video games and enjoy themselves. People and society says that through video games children’s and also some adults become more aggressive and violent. Video games are contributing the act of violence all over the world and they are thinking to stop video games for their benefit. The media makes false assumptions. They are not giving details of video games and missing the benefits of the video games. According to medical daily new research indicates that certain video games actually boost the brain power and improve strategic thinking. Unfortunately, our parents and society does not approve the use of video games and it has been decried by many parents and it creates destructive garbage. It also improves the cognitive flexibility which is the mental faculty of creative and lateral thinking. According to Ericson, “Our paper shows that cognitive flexibility, a cornerstone of human intelligence, is not a static trait can be trained and improved using fun learning tools alike gaming”.(Medical Daily) This is the necessary part of our human brain and it can be achieved by video games and other fun learning activities. There are many advantages just like these from playing video games. They should also look at the benefits and not just focus on the disadvantages. It also helps from

While anchormen and angry parents point fingers at video games for the source of all aggression in youth, studies show that the amount aggression video games cause is actually quite low. Christofer Ferguson, an associate professor at Texas A&M, studied video game violence and aggression in youth. He discovered that the effects the games had were “generally very low” and people were “overestimating the influence of violent games on aggression.” ( Jayson 3.) Instead, the main source of aggression was among peers, natural personality traits, mental disorders and, of all places, the home. Family life plays a huge part in a child’s behavior and while a violent game may add to aggression, it is not the main source and should not be to blame. For most, video games are relaxing. Eric Beaudoin, a twenty five year old graduate student in psychology says that he plays to relax and forget about his “dissertation, practicum, and clients and shoot some monsters.” (Jayson 2.) Gaming, no matter how violent, relaxes him enough so that he may deal with the people he faces everyday. However, it can be agreed upon by both sides of the argument that certain games are not healthy for certain age groups. A seven year old should

In recent years there have been plenty of cases of music, people, games, etc, being used as scapegoats so authorities can jump to conclusions about violent events and blame these as the main reason for such an event to take place. To give people an answer that may not even have any supporting evidence. Nowadays violence in video games is up to the level of killing people as the norm with many popular titles having this apart of the game. In many games that is the one of the main features that add together to create the game. Some game titles that include violence and killing are ‘Call of Duty,’ ‘Halo,’ ‘Grand Theft Auto,’ ‘Mass Effect,’ ‘Battlefield,’ ‘Counterstrike: Global Offensive,’ and ‘Doom.’ All of these games main storylines include the need to attack and kill to progress forward (Mainly with guns). But does this create a bad effect on people? Is this making people more likely to be violent? Even kill in real life? This is the particular ethical issue that violence in video games is having. The argument to prove if video games are really a cause of anger and if they cause a more aggressive and again violent person just by playing. In the world there are over 1.2 billion people that play video games, which is about 44% of the online population (comScore data cited by Spil Games). With majority of games including some form of violence, ranging from being very gentle lego fights to full on gore and guts in 18+

It is agreeable that there are some correlation between teenagers playing video games and how it affects the youth mentally. Heavy consumption of violence video games does indeed stimulate a change reaction in the brain waves, but there is no hard evidence stating that those changes causes teenagers to act aggressively and violently. On the contrary, it is a popular beliefs that violence video games does indeed causes teenagers to displayed unpleasant behaviors and actions because that is what they learned and observed from the games. Therefore, parents should limit and regulate the amount of time their teenagers are playing violence video games so that they can protect their children from negative behaviors.

Gordon, Serena. "Violent Video Games Do Not Promote Teen Aggression and Violence." Teens at Risk, edited by Stephen P. Thompson, Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints In Context, http://link.galegroup.com.catalog.stisd.net:2048/apps/doc/EJ3010167401/OVIC?u=j031916004&sid=OVIC&xid=48a9c1bb. Accessed 11 May 2018. Originally published as "Violent Video Games May Alter Brain Function: Study," www.healthfinder.gov, 28 Nov.

Many studies have often correlated video games with aggression, and in a recent research study, German psychologists created a new experiment on the effects of video game violence on the brain. A recent report on a video game website interpreted the results of the experiment and attempted to convince readers that video games have no negative effects. However, due to lack of bias and inadequate additional research the report was ultimately ineffective and not creditable.

In today’s society, the concerns for the effects of video games have acquired quite a terrible reputation. Worried parents around the world assume video games make their children do poorly in school, and create violent, desensitized, antisocial children. The increase in violent games, usually get the blame for aggressive behavior, shootings and violence in schools and young individuals. Most beliefs about video games effect on the brain and emotions are very common misconceptions. I strongly believe that video games are an essential tool to learning and gaining much-needed skills. When people look at the studies that have been done on video games and the brain, it will be apparent that some myths about video games have been blown out of proportion. It has come to my attention that there are studies that prove the negative effects of video games may only last the duration of game play. Kids can improve in general knowledge with educational video games like Leap Frog. Video games can train specific areas of the brain as well as increase brain flexibility and memory. Gaming actually has more beneficial effects than negative effects. Video games are excellent educational implement used in elementary schools. It is extremely helpful in brain development and helping kids with trouble reading improve. Memory retention can be improved and increased with the use of strategic, thinking games. Video games, as funny as it might sound, even promote

Risky behavior by children and young adults can include violence against others or lack of remorse for consequences. The type of faulty thinking creates stressors in children which can lead to the onset of many symptoms. Children who partake in video game violence are more likely to have increased feelings of hostility, decreased emotional response to the portrayal of violence, and injury that lead to violent behavior through imitation. A new study employing state-of-the-art brain-scanning technology says that violent video games can cause an individual to become violent. Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine say that brain scans of kids who played a violent video game showed an increase in emotional arousal and a corresponding decrease of activity in brain areas involved in self-control, inhibition, and attention. In short, when playing a violent game, an individual’s brain processes the game playing as “fictional”, but later can project some of the unknown effects as violence or aggression.

Although the first video games appeared in the 1950s,[1] they were played on massive computers connected to vector displays, not analog televisions. Ralph H. Baer conceived the idea of a home video game in 1951. In the late 1960s while working for Sanders Associates he created a series of video game console designs. One of these designs, which gained the nickname of the "Brown Box", featured changeable game modes and was demonstrated to several TV manufactures ultimately leading to an agreement between Sanders Associates and Magnavox.[2]

“Life is a video game. No matter how good you get, you are always zapped in the end” (“Video Game Quotes” 1). Over time researchers, psychiatrists, and parents have often wondered how damaging violent video games can be to the youth in society. This is an important matter to people with children in their personal lives or work environment. These games have become a large risk factor for aggressive behavior in children. Researchers have been saying that video games do affect adults as well; however, they have even more effect on younger brains in early development. Video games have negative effects on childrens’ behavior. Some effects that video games have are reduced academic performance, aggression, obesity, and emotional disorder.

In several New York City schools, there is a trending ruthless role-playing game called Killer, the last-man-standing game of water-pistol ambush. In St. Ann’s, which is a private school in Brooklyn Heights, it is very popular throughout the school. When active it lasts for around two and a half weeks and is very intense. This game is very controversial and is different in everyone's eyes. Also, there is a big fan/player base around violent video games. These videos can have material in it ranging from bank robberies, mass shootings, heists, gun violence, etc.. People spend days playing these games and get to into it. These role-playing games with simulated violence and video games are perilous for teens

An aspect of video games which allows them to be so time consuming and stimulating is their replayability factor. Certain video games have no replayability, but all of the most popular and competitive video games have enough replayability to spend thousands of hours playing them and never get bored. Games such as Dota2 and League of Legends only have one primary map, but they still present the opportunity to play them for limitless amounts of time because of the variance in characters. The number of different team combinations in League of Legends is over 1.16 with 21 zeros behind it. Every game of League takes around half an hour, which means that if you never played with the same champions twice it would take around 6,621,000,000,000,000,000 years of non-stop playing in order to play in a game with the same combination of champions again. Multiplayer capabilities also extend this replayability value by allowing one to play with a variety of different players from many different nationalities. In addition, the developers of games frequently modify existing gameplay elements in what are referred to as balance patches. Balance patches are eagerly awaited by the game’s community because of their potential to change the game and make it more interesting than it previously was. Balance patches also introduce new elements into games, creating even more diversity and interesting interactions between gameplay elements. Being able to spend hours on end playing the same game without

Video Gaming has played a major factor for video gamers worldwide, this brings the expertise of video game developers to develop the next generation of video games. Video gamers(?) in Japan and the United States share the enjoyment in playing video games. What is the history behind video games? What are the prices of video games in Japanese? What are the prices of video games in the United States? How are American and Japanese video games are different? There are similarities and differences in both cultures in video games.