Video Games Case Study

Video games have become a common source of entertainment for all ages. Video game culture has expanded to included all demographics and has become one of largest industry in the world today. Video games have become so popular that they have branched out to several common electronics such as phones, tablets and, laptops. Video games have become integrated into the technology people utilize everyday. Constant, repetitive exposure to the games has raised concern to the correlation between video games and violent behaviour especially in children and vulnerable populations. Rising along side research against video games, studies suggesting video games are therapeutic have also gained attention.

The correlation between video games and violent behaviour

Prosocial video games, ones which promote philanthropic behaviours, have been shown to reduce the overall levels of aggression (Greitemeyer, Agthe, Turner,& Gschwendtner, 2012). The study suggests that playing prosocial behaviour not only decreases the aggressive cognitive and aggressive affect, but also decreases aggressive behaviour altogether (Greitemeyer et al., 2012). Video games may have an influence on children behaviour, but the article suggests that video games can often be used a therapeutic tool. Video games serves as a safe environment for individuals to express themselves. While many studies focus on violent video games, there are countless other genres and options available to consumers that are often neglected when conducting research (Greitemeyer et al., 2012). Within the experiment, subjects played two games, the first game was considered neutral, where the goal of the game did not have any underlying influences or morals, and the second game consisted of the subject guiding a small tribe of “Lemmings” to safety (Greitemeyer et al., 2012). Results suggest that video games can be used as a positive learning tool when designed properly (Greitemeyer et al.,