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Mind Games

Ever since video games have been made, video games have been a part of many people's

lives. From the classic old games like Pong to the newer ones that have virtual reality features,,

many games have caught the hearts and minds of millions of people from all around the world.

While others might think that video games are a waste of time and money, I think they are a

great way to provide pride and joy. Video games provide a means of amusement and escaping

reality. You get home from a long day of work or school and hop on the game to have some fun

and just relax, and they can also improve people’s lives.

To continue, let me explain what brought me to this topic. I have played video games

ever since I was a young boy. Experiencing video games at a young age was such a nostalgic

memory. Coming home from school and immediately starting up the Wii to play some Mario or

Wii Sports with my brother. This was only the beginning when online video games, where you

could play with people from everywhere, were not in my knowledge. Eventually, friends started

getting the more popular consoles like the Playstation or Xbox.

When I got my playstation everything changed. In the fourth grade, my friends and I

would start to play this one game called Destiny. This is the game that made us play nonstop. All

we would think about during school was playing the game. Everybody would go home, sit on

their most comfortable couch in their house and start up the console. It even got up to the point

where I would not do homework.

Before school, I would watch short videos while sitting down on a cold chair in the cool

morning munching on my breakfast, during school, non stop thinking about the game. Whatever

the teacher was talking about It would not matter because none of that information would

process into my tiny little sixth grade brain. After the bell rang, the loud sounds of my feet

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hitting the cement floor would echo through the hallway as I made my way to the car. It was all I

would think about. Never really thought about it in a negative way. I would absorb so much

information. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds like. I made a lot of friends online that I never would

have thought I would. The community was so incredibly kind.

It only took four years to make me start questioning and thinking more about video

games. Freshman year was when it really made me question the topic more and be more

thoughtful. I find myself debating whether the amount of countless time spent playing video

games has benefited or worsened my general condition. I am left to discover if they really did

benefit not just me, but others as well. I feel it is necessary to go deeper into this topic and

research the various factors that may correlate to video games and how they affect people. This

leads to my research question : How do video games affect the brain and how do they improve or

worsen people?

Can video games be bad for people? Video games can affect people differently because

not everybody is the same. Some kids can act differently than others if they are playing video

games when others are not. So videogames can really vary from person to person. “In some

cases, children yell, throw tantrums or slam doors.” (Jargon). Now when you think of kids and

video games, you would think that they can’t stop playing and that they would get mad if you

took away their game. But as mentioned earlier not everyone behaves the same. “Gets home

from school and the rule is to do homework first, but as soon as he’s done, he wants to play

video games.” (Jargon). There is nothing wrong with the desire of a kid wanting to play video

games. People should recognize that playing video games fits in with children’s natural

preferences toward specific activities. Especially at a young age where they should be exploring

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and discovering new things. As long as that kid got their homework done and doesn’t throw any

tantrums then there should be no problem with that.

Let’s look into the side where in the instance that the children are not behaving properly

due to video games. “He and his wife stopped allowing their son to play videogames … resulted

in better-quality homework and an improvement in grades.” (Jargon). After the child was told

that they could not play video games anymore, their homework assignments improved

significantly. This noticeable improvement is proof that taking away some distractions can

occasionally have a beneficial influence on a person’s ability. “He would plow through his

homework so he could play … homework quality and grades began to slip.” (Jargon). Since the

kid started prioritizing video games over their academic duties, the quality of their homework

assignments began to degrade. It became clear the child’s desire for video games was too strong

for them which resulted in them rushing through homework to have more time for gaming.

Another thing that people speculate about is that violent video games are bad for kids.

Are violent video games bad for people? “Young men who are habitually aggressive may be

especially vulnerable to the aggression-enhancing effects of repeated exposure to violent video

games”. (Conner). Researchers suggest that repetitive exposure to violent video games may

increase the chance of aggressive tendencies increasing in young males who indicate frequent

aggression. When people grow less sensitive to the violent material in video games may even

start to consider aggressiveness as an appropriate response in certain situations or scenarios. This

can be problematic for people that already display aggressive tendencies since it can aggravate

these traits and make it harder for them to control their emotions in a healthy way. “One

possibility could be simply that an aggressive child likes to work off his or her aggression

playing a violent video game.” (Conner). Studies on this topic have found that children have a

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tendency to show more aggression through violent video games as opposed into throwing that

aggressiveness into other people.

Although studies show that violent video games show more aggressive behavior, it is

important to keep in mind that not all video games have the same impact on individuals.

Additionally, studies have shown that some game genres can improve social engagement, and

creativity. “70% of respondents said they see casual games as providing valuable educational

benefits.” (Anonymous, 2007). A surprisingly high percentage of 70% of respondents in a

thorough study of a wide group of 7,487 people said that they had benefited from playing casual

video games. The survey results showed that the majority of the respondents said that they had

improved their capability for problem solving. “The casual games seem to promote more of a

cooperative ‘let’s work on this together’ type of atmosphere, as opposed to an aggressive,

interpersonal competitive environment,” (Anonymous, 2007). Found in the same article,

competitive games seem to implement more aggressiveness, as opposed to casual games which

promote a more cooperative play style. Although it is said that one has one thing and another one

has another thing, in a different perspective, both seem to have a mixture of both. You can’t be

competitive without cooperation, and playing casual games can’t be fun without even a little bit

of competition.

While it is often believed by many people that playing video games can result in a decline

in your vision, studies have shown that speculation is generally false. “People that don’t play a

lot of action games have normal vision … what happens with these guys that indulge into

playing video games like 5 hours a week, ten hours a week, 15 hours a week, by that statement

their vision should be bad right? It’s better than those that don’t play.” (Bavelier). The presenter

of this Ted talk, Bavelier, talks about the impact of video games on eyesight. She did an

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experiment in which she had multiple people that both do not play video games and also play

video games. While the people that did not play video games had normal eyesight, the

individuals who did play video games actually had superior vision. So one pro about video

games is that they can improve one's eyesight and not make it worse. There is another concern

among many people that excessive video game play can lead to attention problems. To properly

address this issue, an experiment is going to have to be conducted. Yet again Bavelier does this.

“Clearly playing those action games doesn’t lead to attention problems” (Bavalier). Bavalier says

this right after she had conducted an in person experiment with the audience examining the

potential correlation between video games and attention problems. She starts the experiment by

showing many words that are typed in different colors. She would have the audience say what

the color of the word is but the problem is that the word would trick your brain into thinking it

was a different color. For example the word “red” popped up but the font color was in blue. The

younger audience who played video games would answer these faster than other people. So this

experiment would indicate that video games can improve attention and not make it worse.

Playing video games can affect the brain in many ways. In the same Ted talk, spoken of

before, showed brain scans. “Parietal lobe is known to control orientation of attention, frontal

lobe which controls how we sustain attention, anterior cingulate controls how we allocate and

regulate attention and resolve conflict.” (Bavelier). Bavelier goes on to show how using brain

imaging we could look at the impact of video games on the human brain. The parietal lobe.

Frontal lobe, and anterior cingulate were the three major parts of the brain that were affected.

These three areas were actually more efficient than people who did not play video games. Action

game players tend to have better efficiency ratings in these areas of the brain. This suggests that

playing action games might potentially help improve cognitive function and brain performance.

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One noteworthy observation is that people who play video games posses the significant

capability to switch in between tasks very quickly and easily. “We can measure, to millisecond

accuracy, how good they are at switching from one task to another. When we do that we actually

found that people that play a lot of action games are really, really good.” (Bavelier) According to

the results found by the experiment conducted by Bavelier, those who played video games more

than others could transition from task to task with ease. The study also showed that the amount

of time spent on playing video games could play a significant role in the development of

cognitive abilities.

Since young children are at a critical stage where they develop and are actively learning

different skill sets, such as cognitive, social, emotional, physical abilities, video games can be a

helpful and beneficial tool for them. “Video games also develop reflexive and critical thinking,

attention and memory skills, collaborative work capacities” (Diaz and Martin). The results in this

study show that playing video games help develop and strengthen their reflexive and critical

thinking abilities. The interactive features of video games can help improve reflexive thinking,

which is an important cognitive ability to be able to respond quickly and effectively in different

circumstances. “Enhance students’ visual and spatial skills, as well as their hand-eye

coordination” (Diaz and Martin). Not only do video games help develop a variety of skills such

as hand-eye coordination, problem solving, and decision making, but they can also help improve

and hone skills that you already have. This makes video games an incredibly valuable tool for

personal growth and development. That kid could hone their hand-eye coordination skill and

have it be useful later in life when they need a job. For example hand-eye coordination is an

important skill to have for production jobs because they need to be able to visually read and

interpret blueprints. They need to be able to use the tools and machines to produce parts.

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While it is known that engaging in video games can continue improving a variety

of abilities like spatial awareness, multitasking, teamwork, etc, it is also important to

keep in mind that participating in video games also provides an alternative form of

entertainment, relaxation, and escapism that can help people unwind, reduce anxiety or

stress, and find a pleasurable experience. Also online multiplayer features in video

games could create a feeling of community by giving players a place to meet and

interact with other people that have the same interests as you. According to an interview

with twitch streamer, Percy Tion, a husband and father, Tion said that “Gaming has

allowed me to build a community with others so that we can all just have a great time

together.”. Tion expressed that not only did video games make him happy but it also

made him be able to connect with others who share the same interests and passion for

gaming. Tion had been able to build a small but strong supportive community that

brought him a sense of belonging allowing him to share his experiences and thoughts to

people who value perspective. “I think that video games can 100% be used as a

learning tool to improve social skills and communication. Especially in a game like

Destiny because it requires you to communicate with others in order to progress.”

(Tion). Tion wholeheartedly believes that video games can help people communicate

more and have better social skills. It also “doesn’t have to be in video games, you can

apply the same communication skills into real life.” (Tion). This is especially true

because communication is a very important aspect in life. It is known as a fundamental

element to success in professional and personal interactions with people, as well as

larger social settings like clubs and such. “Video games affected me in many different

ways. The most important and notable one for me is that it allowed me to bond with my

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daughter more.” (Tion). On a more personal level, Tion was able to create a bond with

his daughter because of the opportunity that video games gave him. As they played

together, tried beating each other in a competitive fashion, helped each other, it grew

their important bond. Everybody needs to have a bond. Everybody has different bonds

with different people.

From the results of the previous studies of how video games can affect people

shown, it is safe to say that the answer to that question can vary from person to person

due to different factors. One person might just have naturally aggressive behavior while

another person might be less aggressive. It is too debatable to claim that video games

are good or bad for you. There are just way too many factors that come into play. But

from a personal perspective, the benefits of video games outweigh the negatives. It has

been proven that video games enhance spatial awareness, problem solving, and

creativity. All of these skills have a significant long-term benefit for both personal and

professional development for people of all ages. In conclusion, the benefits from video

games outweigh the potential drawbacks.

Works Cited

Anonymous. "Survey: 'Casual' Video Game Play Encouraged by Parents, Grandparents: Over 50

Million Adults Play Family-Friendly Video Games with Their Children, Grandchildren;

92% View The Games as Bonding Source, ALL Agree Casual Games Offer Benefits for

Kids Beyond Entertainment." ProQuest 5000, PR Newswire; Association LLC, 28 Aug.

2007, www.proquest.com/docview/453342904/EA30AC66FF494514PQ/1. Accessed 22

Mar. 2023.

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Connor, Steve. "Lethal recreations: how violent computer games can affect the teenage brain ;

ANALYSIS COMPUTER GAMES; A series of recent scientific studies suggests

repeated playing of explicit video games might desensitise young people to violence:

[FOREIGN Edition]." ProQuest 5000, 8 Jan. 2003,

www.proquest.com/docview/312149857/ACCC488E12F94C6APQ/1. Accessed 22 Mar.

2023.

Diaz, Veronica Marin, and Javier Marin Parraga. "Can videogmaes be used to develop the infant

stage educational curriculum?" New Approaches in Educational Research, vol. 3, no. 1,

15 Jan. 2014. ProQuest 5000,

www.proquest.com/docview/1509203195/A63F2859A34A484CPQ/1. Accessed 22 Mar.

2023.

Julie, Jargon. "Your Child's Brain on Videogames--Why the Games Trigger the Nightly."

ProQuest 5000, 7 Oct. 2019, https;//www.proquest.com/newspapers/your-childs-brain-

on-videogames-why-games-trigger/docview/2266058699/se-2?accountid=41498.

Accessed 22 Mar. 2023.

Tion, Percy. Videoconference interview with the author. 19 Mar. 2023.

"Your brain on video games." Ted.com, uploaded by Daphne Bavelier, 12 Mar. 2014,

www.ted.com/talks/daphne_bavelier_your_brain_on_video_games?

language=en&subtitle=en. Accessed 22 Mar. 2023.

Works Consulted

"Are Video Games Good for You and Your Brain?" ClevelandClinic, 15 Nov. 2022,

health.clevelandclinic.org/are-video-games-good-for-you/. Accessed 21 Mar. 2023.

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Springer. 5 Mar. 2013, link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13414-013-0440-2#:~:text=Playing

%20action%20videogames%20is%20known,aspects%20of%20an%20action

%20videogame. Accessed 21 Mar. 2023.

Tyler, Dustin. "Are Video Games Good for You? A Look at the Benefits of Video Games."

GameDesigning, 27 Feb. 2023, www.gamedesigning.org/why-video-games-are-good/.

Accessed 21 Mar. 2023.

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