In our modern age there is a constant need to point fingers and call something evil that was only made to better people’s lives. It happened with the television, it happened with the internet, and now this epidemic has set its sights on videogames. This media has been unfairly criticized, mainly by parents, since its release. They claim it causes violence and isolation but more over, in their arrogance, claim it is nothing more than a blatant waste of time. What these people don’t see is the true nature and potential for videogames and those who partake in the experiences they have to offer. Videogames provide a person with not only the opportunity to enhance their social and analytical skills, but also offer them the potential for tangential learning. If you’re a gamer you already know how videogames build a person’s social skills. You go home turn on your council of choice for a relaxing game of Call of Duty, Halo, or Star Craft if you’re in to that sort of game. Most likely the next step is to plug in and put on your head set, immersing yourself in a social experience unlike anything you can find in real life. Most of videogame play is socially interactive. “Almost 60 percent of frequent gamers play with friends. Thirty-three percent play with siblings and 25 percent play with spouses or parents.” (Jenkins) And it’s not just cooperative game play that provides social growth, but competitive game play as well. “Two players may be fighting to death on screen and growing closer as friends off screen.” (Jenkins) The large misconception here is that videogames are socially isolating, a kid sits in his room and tunes out the rest of the world, while in fact they are connecting to more people than they could po... ... middle of paper ... ... Lives. Penny Arcade. Web. 29 Mar. 2012. Jenkins, Henry. "Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked." PBS. PBS. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. Meyers, Katy. "Lessons from Assassin's Creed for Constructing Educational Games." Play The Past. 25 Oct. 2011. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. Olivia Bruner and Kurt Bruner. "Video Gaming Is a Waste of Time," Video Games. Laurie Willis, Ed. Opposing Viewpoints® Series. Greenhaven Press, 2010. Olivia and Kurt Bruner, Playstation Nation: Protect Your Child from Video Game Addiction. New York: Center Street, 2006, Copyright © 2006 Olivia and Kurt Bruner. Quinn, Sean. "Historical Accuracy of Video Games: Assassin’s Creed’s Masyaf." Historical Accuracy of Video Games: Assassin’s Creed’s Masyaf, HalfBeard's HUD. HalfBeard's HUD. Web. 13 Mar. 2012. “Tangential Learning.” - Extra Credits Tangential Learning. Web. 13 Mar. 2012.
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Show MoreAn examination of videogames in popular culture is a complicated one. There is a large debate as to what is the very first video game. The supposed earliest known video game was created by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann on a cathode ray tube in 1947. The game was a missile simulator similar to radar displays from World War II, and overlaid sheets of paper were used for targets since graphics were unknown at this time. On May 5, 1951, the NIMROD computer was presented in Britain. It used a panel of lights for its display and was used to play a game called “NIM”. Later, in 1952, Alexander S. Douglas made the first compu...
As technology advances, new and creative forms of entertainment immerge from these advancements. One form that has grown immensely in popularity over the past dozen years has been video games. Taking form nearly four decades ago, video games have been one of the major embodiments of the growth of entertainment technology. Today, video games have taken many shapes, from the general PC and console games to special applications that can be found on social networks and even millions of cell phones around the world.
Video games have become a hot topic recently. There have been a lot of controversy over whether to play or not to play. The controversy is due to them being arguably more captivating than all other forms of entertainment. Video games narrate an epic tale like no other form of entertainment can. You can become immersed in video games, because of this they are both a highly entertaining escape from the real world and a complete waste of time.
This essay will attempt to prove, that statements made regarding the inappropriateness of video games are untrue. The advantage of playing video games can be proven in their ability to enhance learning, hand-eye coordination, and this in turn can enable children and teenagers to do better in school. Violent video games can help overcome anxiety by providing entertainment without leaving the house, taking everyday stresses out on the characters in the game instead of real life, takes the adolescent’s minds off worries and stress of the outside world, and encourages children to stay out of trouble. Video games c...
In the 21st century, society is noticing a drastic change in the new generation. Going outside has become a thing of the past for some and many parents struggle to get their children to stop playing video games. Submersed in the world of violent video games, society has started to scorn the idea of them. Though video games seem to have a lot of drawbacks, other parts of society encourage the development of video games. While many believe that video games are detrimental to society they actually hold many benefits for all age ranges.
Games have long been besmirched by the idea that playing them makes a person socially undesirable, nerdy, fat, and lazy. The number of negative adjectives conjured up by gamings detractors to describe gamers is staggering. Even in the wake of the Columbine Massacre the media went to great lengths to correlate the gunmen’s horrible actions with the game Doom.(cite needed) When games are not being linked to violent actions they have generally been regarded as an “escapist waste of time” by those who don’t really enjoy playing them.(McGonigal) Indeed a prevalent and sweeping assessment amongst closed minded individuals is that games offer nothing to the individuals playing them. This negative assessment that paints games and the individuals that play them in a negative light could not be further from the truth.
Video games have positive and negative aspects. Acording to a study, those who spend hours and hours in playing ‘civic games’ were found to take more part in different community services like social work, politics or protests, as compared to those who never took interest in vidoe games. Hence video games are proved to increase one’s social interaction skills. The kind of friendship and ethics that are learnt by the young gamers while playing video games provide evidence that they are not completely harmful to our society. (Heins, 62)
One of the first noticeable negative effects of video games is that it promotes social ineptitude. A socially inept/awkward person are often shy, lack common verbal and nonverbal skills, and are very anti-social. Meanwhile, a social person includes interacting with other people physically in a...
Since the industry of video games has been around, people have been skeptical about video games and their effects to our society. People are so used criticizing video games, claiming that they only corrupt our families, ruin our social lives, and make us and our children more violent. People that are against video games also claim that spending your time reading books is a better and more beneficial alternative. But to blindly claim these things while there are so many benefits for playing video games is really absurd. In the essay “Games” written by Steven Johnson he talks about multiple advantages that there are to playing video games over reading books. Shigeru Miyamoto, a renowned video game designer, once said in response to critics “Video games are bad for you? That’s what they said about rock-n-roll.” Video games are an important developmental tool for young people because they enhance hand-eye coordination, teach problem-solving skills and strategy, relieve stress, and build team work, things which you would usually not find in reading books. Video games can be proved just as useful as reading books by statistics and studies, as well personal experiences from people who read, or play video games, or both. One doesn’t simply restrict themselves to one or the other and receive the qualities of both.
Currently, video games are a part of the lives of nearly all children. Video games are an element of modern life and have a lasting impact. There are various opinions regarding the impact that video games have on young children. For example there are those who believe that video games cause nothing but harm to children. On the other hand, there are others who believe that video games effectively support children’s learning. Educational video games offer children endless options and change the way students are learning.
Video games have made an impact my generation by making gamers more social because in the article Elite Gaming, states that in past most the video games where single player now they’re mostly all multiplayer. Now they can play together. When they play together they can develop social skills with other people. They can also use the social skills in the real world. Now that they’re so social, they can partner up and compete in challenges. Now that electronics are more accessible
Kent, S. (2001). The Ultimate History of Video Games. New York City, New York: Three Rivers Press.
The use of computer based games as learning tools in the classroom has steadily increased over the past several years and is a trend that David Martz, sales VP of education software company Muzzy Lane, believes will continue in the future. Among the games developed by Muzzy Lane is Making History, in which the player leads a European nation in the years preceding World War II (Electronic Education Report 2). Playing a game such as this one allows the learner to immerse himself or herself in the period they are learning about rather than...
At this day in age we bask in the luxury of having easy access to advanced technology at our disposal. From the World Wide Web, to cell phones, music, movies and video games the human race has thought of any and everything to keep us entertained. Over the years studies have shown reasonable concerns regarding the long-term effects of video games. These games can desensitize gamers to real life violence, which is usually seen in the younger crowd. The studies especially hit on the games containing player-on-player violence. Though these games are extremely entertaining and can get kids to settle down for a while, if not properly supervised, they can produce adverse effects. Other studies have shown that video games can be used as way to yield positive outcomes such as, good problem solving skills, cooperation in a group and the ability to flow. Although there has been psychological research on children learning through the actions of others some believe that children are automatically able to distinguish between what is just a game and what is reality. The longer they are allowed on their game system the more they become convinced that their games are real. Some researchers believe violent video games can channel the aggression of the child but the parents are to blame for what happens to the child after playing an excessive amount over a period of time. Children can become preoccupied with these violent video games which have been proven to be the cause of poor social skills, uncontrollable aggression and a false reality.
American educational philosopher John Dewey once said, “ Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” Education is the foundation of a permanent lifestyle. Parents should desire for their children to have educational stability to build upon. Any concerned parent should want nothing but the best for their child as they are well aware of the new forms of child entertainment. Since the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, children in the United States have become subject to a new type of entertainment: video gaming (Nickson, 2010). Video games have become a big part of the average American household. Parents have begun to wonder how video games are affecting their children’s lifestyles.