Philip Vadakara

English 1102
Hughes
3 March 2016

Videogames and I
In March there was a recent massacre shooting in Ohio that caused numerous children to be
injured and killed at Madison Jr/Sr. High school. The Sheriff specifically believed that one of the
causes was the overuse of playing violent video games (Baker).The issue of video games being useful
to people has been a long heated debate for a very long time to the point where there have been
controversies in banning there use in general. There are already many countries around the world that
have already banned the use of video games such as Australia, Germany, and Venezuela (Aune). They
are mentioned on numerous occasion for there real life experiences and constant bloodshed. It is well
known that people in congress do not support the allegations that current video games should be
banned for sale. I believe that video games have numerous values towards society but it also suffers
from many drawbacks when creators have so many dark ideas.
It has been proven that video games have increased hand eye coordination if they are constantly
used. When playing video games a person is more focused on the screen rather than looking at the
controllers they already have a mental image of the controller in there mind so they do not constantly
have to look down to be able to see what is going on around them. Or what the scientist say,
Sensorimotor skills include tasks like riding a bicycle or typing, which rely on using what you see
with your eyes and coordinating your muscles so that they operate accordingly (Burke). They are
developing skills that will help them function a lot more properly and awaken numerous neurons at
once. It helps a person grow at a mental rate because they are already trying to memorize something in
there head as fast as they can. They also do this with pilots and other simulation machines for people in

general. There was a recent experiment that scientist used to compare gamers with average people in it
they say, However, over time, the gamers improved faster, becoming better at the game than the nongamers. This suggests that gamers have an advantage in learning patterns that require sensorimotor
skills (Burks). It helps them to gain better focus of their surroundings since they can only focus at one
thing at a time. It makes a very valuable tool a lot more enjoyable to develop and become more useful
when driving a car or writing with a pencil. It is an essential skill that people need to develop at an
early age and video games help with that situation.
There are still numerous issues that come with the introduction of these games such as the issue
of vision. One of the major issues is blurry vision for playing these video games for so long many
doctors call this Computer Vision Syndrome which is caused by excessively staring at a screen for long
periods of time without a break (Sorensen). It is a common issue with playing video games since they
spend 6.5 hours per week playing with others online and five hours playing with others in person
(Campbell). It is a major issue with playing video games and many people do start to wear glasses just
from this excessive use of video games. It not only causes pain but there are issue of vitamin deficiency
that affect people such as vitamin A, Lutein, and Selenium which help maintain the vision in a persons
eye (Sorensen). It helps to show the side effect in the over use of video games that many hardcore
gamers seem to suffer from at this time.
Another, useful thing that video games have been proven to do is help in the issues of
psychology and fear. In the use of these two they have been proven to help ease psychological stress
that humans accumulate during there daily lives. It is helpful to know that when human beings are
stressed there are video games to help them out in there need of stress they help a human being to
manage there stress on a day to day basis. It helps them to grow as people when they are able to
conquer their fears. As one experiment mentions numerous students played one of two games a social
game and a violent game and in they discovered, After playing, the students completed a task in
which they could either help or hurt another student. Those who had played the violent games were

more hurtful to other students, whereas those who had played the pro-social games were more
helpful(Gentile). It shows that video games can have a positive affect on society depending on the
type of games that a person is willing to play and mesmerize themselves with. It helps them to develop
new social skills that will help them survive in the future. There are also moments that help show that
video games can help with the neural parts of the brain to help them perform even better. As a
researcher had said, Studies show, for example, playing action video games enhances visual
capabilities, such as tracking multiple objects, mentally rotating objects, and storing and manipulating
them in the memory centers of the brain (Paturel). It proves that video games have a lot of benefits to
society and continue to help them as individuals to grow and become even more useful to society. In
the matter the psychology behind video games prove that it offers many beneficial things that help
individuals become even smarter then they were in the past.
There are still many issues when it comes to video games especially the use of violence in the
game and its affect on society. There has been a study done which states 60% of middle school boys
and 40% of middle school girls who played at least one Mature-rated (M-rated) game hit or beat up
someone, compared with 39% of boys and 14% of girls who did not play M-rated game (ProCon). It
proves the fact that the violence in video games can affect young adults and it tends to show permanent
affects to there attitude which tends to affect their daily social lives which could cause violent
tendencies as the statistic mentioned. It does not help the fact that soon numerous people across the
country will have their own console as mentioned, An estimated four out of five US households with a
male child own a video game system and worldwide sales of video games are predicted to reach $102.9
billion in 2017 (ProCon). It only develops further in the fact that violence is a major selling point in
most video games as proven through games such as Call of Duty. It is a predicament that continues to
grow at this time.
There are numerous values as to why video games should still be around and a major is a cure
to mental health. In numerous ways video games have been a break through for psychologist in the fact

that they offer the potential to help with most forms of mental illness. It has been mentioned, If these
types of brain games are approved by the FDA, they could also help address the stigma often attached
to seeking therapy or other methods of mental illness treatment (Holmes). It helps to say that mental
illness is not something that will go away in an instant but it can help people that suffer through
situations such as Post traumatic stress disorder find comfort in there own homes by playing these
games. They continue to try to improve there lives and the games also do there work piece by piece in
helping in their everyday places. It has even been said that tetris also has had an effect on people's
lives, In other words, it is possible that simple visual-spatial exercises, as exemplified by Tetris, could
have a significant impact on some psychological disorders and that someday, when the mechanism is
known, the current research will be recognized in hindsight as obvious (Nixon). They talk about the
idea that Tetris can be used to block away bad memories just by playing the game for long periods of
time. It truly proves the idea that video games have a greater affect on society then people honestly
realize for themselves.
The government also use video games to help train soldiers and it is shown to be proven
effective. They used mainly to help promote the army itself such as in 2002, when the US army
released a video game that is based off of real life moments in the U.S. Army (ProCon). Its main
attempt was to help promote people to join the army be showing its day to day lifestyle. It is moments
like these that video games tend to increase in violence.
Altogether, there are many issues regarding video games but if people are willing to look also
on the positive of there abilities then new possibilities can be created as the research has proven. It can
used for the greater good of society so long as people are willing to try to make games a little less
violent and strategical. If they are able to accomplish this then more effort can be put into publishing
these games.

Works Cited
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Paturel, Amy M.S. "Game Theory: How do video games affect the developing brains of children and
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