Video Games Are Good For You Analysis

The first video game was a simplistic game that involved bouncing a ball between two bricks. This game was called Pong and it came out in 1972. A lot has changed since 1972 in the video game community. Games have become much more complex where guides are needed to just learn the controls of a game. Steven Johnson, author of “Why Games Are Good For You”, questions why gamers find games so addicting, even though they cause some to act violently. He figures that people play videogames so much because they get rewards for everything they do. Katherine Bessiere, A. Fleming Seay and Sara Kiesler try to answer why people make the avatars they do in their article “The Ideal Elf: Identity Exploration in World of Warcraft.” Furthermore, Bessiere concludes people make their avatars they way they do, in order to create their ideal self. Johnson believes humans feel the need to be rewarded in the form of virtual money or a level up, in order to find pleasure in video games, while

The gamer can become anybody he or she wants to in any universe imaginable, just by turning on a console. In the popular franchise Grand Theft Auto, it “allows players to drive aimlessly through a vast urban environment” (492). Gamers in this game chose to pursue their own objectives, not ones set in games. The gamer can also play the objectives in this game, but it’s not necessary. This game is highly popular because it allows the player to do what he or she wants. Bessiere claims “the ability to create characters who embody aspects of players’ ideal selves may have implications for players physiological wellbeing” (503). Being able to create the perfect version of a person tells the person that they are imperfect. If the gamer thinks that they are more perfect in the game, chances are they will play the game more. Bessiere helps reveal Johnson’s point of why certain games have more players by demonstrating how gamers make a