She examined the screen carefully, looking for entrance ways and strategical places to set her portals to leave the testing room.Her hands gripped the mouse, running it back and forth on the desk. Deciding on a place, she clicked to set a portal and made her character leap through, completing the level and moving onto the next, and realized she had been able to clear this room much more quickly than the last. She had found success and problem solving skills through playing a video game. Although highly debated, video games have been shown time and time again to be beneficial. Video games are excellent because they improve coordination and problem solving skills, help with mental disabilities, and make people more creative.
Video games are known to help with problem solving skills and coordination. According to Isabela Granic, “The more adolescents reported playing strategic video games, such as role-playing games, the more they improved in problem solving and school grades the following year” (www.apa.org). Granic is stating that, through video games, students increase their ability to solve problems which, in turn, allows them to be able to receive better grades in school. In addition to higher problem solving, studies have shown that people who play first or third person shooter games such as Halo, Grand Theft Auto, and Call of Duty are better than non-gamers at processing three-dimensional objects (www.apa.org). Video games like League of Legends and other games that require strategies increase brain flexibility, meaning they are able to help one adapt quickly to changing situations and questions with a higher level of thinking (www.huffingtonpost.com) . In my opinion, after playing League of Legends and other shooter/strat...
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...me, or will you stand up and show that video games are in fact good?
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“Most reported effects of videogames – particularly in the popular press – appear to centre upon the alleged negative consequences… Research has consistently shown that playing computer games (irrespective of genre) produces reductions in reaction times, improved hand-eye co-ordination and raises players’ self-esteem,” (Griffiths p. 47), states Mark Griffiths in his article, “The educational benefits of videogames”. When people think of video games, they often tend to think about the negative side effects that video games can have on a person. Will Wright in his article, “Dream Machines” also defends video games by providing positive effects that video games have on those who play them. Wright presents
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Despite criticisms of video games in the media and among much of the general population, video games have many positive aspects. Walton points out that much of mainstream press tries to put forth the opinion that video games are a plague upon young people (and sometimes even adults) today—blaming such diseases as diabetes and mental issues like sociopathic behavior on video games. Rarely are the positive aspects of games shown—increased hand-eye coordination, development of social problem solving skills, increased attention levels, better collaboration with other students and better grades. (2012)
There are several negative stereotypes associated with video games and those who play them; some of these may often hold true. However, there are plenty of learning opportunities in video games. While the direct purpose of some games is to educate or train, other games that do not directly have this purpose can still become a learning experience for the player. As Ntiedo Etuk, president of the educational video game company Tabula Digital said, “The traditional view of video games has been that they are distractions from the task of learning” (Electronic Education Report 1). Video games are an effective tool for learning and retaining skills both inside and outside the classroom environment. The basic cycle of game play--the introduction to the game, game play, collaboration, improvement of these between each round, and evaluation at the end of the game (Klievink and Janssen 159)--are nearly parallel to the traditional classroom learning cycle of reading a textbook or listening to a lecture, taking a quiz, studying, focusing on items missed on the quiz, and taking a test or exam. Within this cycle, there are many opportunities to develop and perfect both educational, life, and occupational skills.
Video games have been connected to raising a range of skills. within the article “Video Games lead to faster decisions that are no Less Accurate” a study created by the University of Rochester, tested a variety of eighteen to twenty five year olds that aren't video gamers, one group competed in a quick paced action game, whereas the opposite group contended with a slow moving strategic game, they then had to accurately answer questions about the action that was happening on the screen. The result found that the action gamers were twenty five percent quicker at creating choices than the individuals who were strategic gamers. This shows that gamers who played action games were ready to create decisions quicker and more accurately than non-gamers. This may additionally facilitate with daily activities like multitasking, driving, reading tiny print, keeping a look out of friends during a crowd, and traveling around places.
The video gaming industry is a huge successful business and very popular around the world. Parks stated that “In 2006 worldwide spending on video games was more than 31 billion. In the United States more than 7.4 billion was spent on video games almost triple the sales of 1996.” Many different gaming consoles have been created as technology has advanced. Today's games can be very realistic and appeal to a variety of people. Video games allure to almost anyone and are available to play for most people around the world. People who regularly engage in video games are called gamers. Children as young as two years old can play some sorts of games such as Leapfrog gaming systems. These kinds of systems encourage hand eye coordination, memory and other activities aimed to increase brain activity. School age children to adults have many different games they can play such as educational games, strategy g...
There have been several studies conducted on learning and serious games, for example, a recent study by the Office of Naval Research found that video game players performed ten to twenty percent better in perceptual and cognitive ability than non-game players, and that video games helped adults process information faster(Steinberg,2012). Another study by the Federation of American Scientists found that students re...
We should develop games that people want to spend time on that are also educational, increasing the attention span of people, visual acuity, and multitasking abilities of all generations. The author very effectively portrays her message of by connecting with her audience charismatically, visually, personally, and logically. In the age of technology we must come to terms with the changing hobbies and daily activities around us. Rather than passing them off as bad campaigning for them to be cut back, censored, we should be focusing on the good that is already done by video games and how we could continue to improve
Since the Early 70’s video games have been giving a bad name. Parents state that video games rot the minds of children and are influencing them do be violent. These accusations are far from the truth. In my research I found that there are many positive effects of gaming. Some of these effects are increased skills, creativity, general knowledge, and also help those in need. Parents can also take proper precautions and look into a game before buying it to see if it meets the criteria discussed in this paper.
Nowadays, video games are frequently accused of having detrimental effects on children and adolescents. The main arguments against video games are that they lead to addiction, that they provoke violence, and that they impair social development. Whether or not such claims are true has not been determined with certainty as scientific studies have produced contradictory results. Nevertheless, video games also have beneficial effects, which tend to be underrated, as they do not receive the same level of media coverage that adverse ones do, and are thus unknown to the general public. Some of the positive effects of playing video games on mental development include: stimulating analytical thinking, improving concentration, and encouraging planning and anticipation (“Video game controversies”).
Video Games have been accused of making youth violent and aggressive, making people isolate themselves from society, and for lowering the attention span and the ability to concentrate in youth. These claims have yet to be supported by several well organized studies and have never been more than a correlation to any of these claims, and in fact have been disproven on several occasions. Adam Eichenbaum (2014), author contributing to the American Journal of Play, concluded a discussion on the research on video games say that “Today’s video games are much more than entertainment. They are also weapons in the fight against declining mental capacities in old age. They promote job-related skills. And they are a model of how to teach children complex and difficult tasks and abilities. As with any technology, video games are neither intrinsically good nor intrinsically bad.” (pg. 67) Video games are not the waste of time that they are accused of being, nor are they damping the development of today’s youth. If anything is to be said about video games is that in them lays a great potential for good; that video games serve as tools for people who want to make a change in society, whether the changes are positive or negative lie in the hands of those that choose to use video games as tools. These are not unrealistic or histrionic claims; video games, after all, are more than just
One way in which video games can be beneficial is by supporting individuals’ intellectual development in the areas of problem solving and logic. Games like Cut the Rope, Angry Birds and The Incredible Machine require players to solve a puzzle under time limited conditions. When people are playing these games, they practice their critical thinking skills and creativity, which are both important components of intelligence.
Gaming provides more advantages than it does disadvantages. Playing video games is good for you. There are many game genres out there in the world, you just have to choose the right ones to benefit you. For example, if you pick a strategy game, it would help you in critical thinking and benefit you by helping to make good decisions. A great strategy game called Starcraft was inspected in an experiment. It was found that Starcraft helped increased brain flexibility. Brain flexibility is the ability to switch between tasks and look at things from a different point of view. Higher brain flexibility allows you to comprehend multiple concepts at the same time. Brain flexibility allows you to switch between thoughts based on certain conditions and helps you adjust to your situation. For example if I were thinking about playing a video game and end up seeing the word “homework” I would instantly think about whether I have homework or not, and if I do, I would stop thinking about playing gam...
"Video game play may provide learning, health, social benefits." American Psychological Association. February 2014, Vol 45, No. 2