The home video gaming industry is more than 30 years old now. During this period, a great deal of improvement has been witnessed in computer technology as it has improved at a geometric rate. Video games have in the same sense increased in the lives of children and taken up most of their time. The games have been consequently seen as becoming more graphically violent over time. Parents and educators have questioned over and over again the impact of these changes to the lives of the children. Many researches have also been conducted on the same. Many recommendations have been put across and different hypothesis proved beyond questionable doubt. However, the main question still lingers in the minds of the parents and educators; what is the way forward? These games, for your information, are in continuous production and cessation is not expected in the near future. This is partly because the games are made with new targets every time (Gentile 1). Even adults have been in the recent past engrossed in the gaming world. Adolescents, however, top the list with 13 hours/week for boys and 5.5 hours/week for girls as the average play time.
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Get Help Now!The worrying question is nonetheless related to the impact of the games on the players. Is there any effect on the behavior? Is there a psychological connection between delinquency and gaming? Are there any anti-social behaviors acquired from these video games? With numerous studies being conducted all over the world to refute or support purported claims, there leaves little room for people to independently judge the effects of the games on the minds of the children. Parents are most targeted since they witness the changes that their children undergo and relate them to the video games they play. However, it is not fair to propagate different points of view that have unfounded facts. Video games have been found to be very educative and helpful to the children from different perspectives. Children are able to learn distinct values that would rather seem boring if taught in class or at home. This implies the benefits accrued could help save children from making dubious decisions that could be harmful to them.
Considering video games as a problem associated with violent behaviors is actually wrong. As has been proved by various researches, violence is as a recipe of life situations and not media exposure. The problem actually lies with the policy makers who try to incriminate the videos played and bring out negative aspects that are non-existent. Actually, many benefits have been observed over the years increasing the need to change the outlook on games (Gentile 1). These games have at some time been shown to teach children healthy skills for the self-care of diabetes and asthma. They were also reported as being successful in imparting attitudes, skills and behaviors which have been detrimental in the growth of the children. Visual attention skills have been enhanced through video games with a large group of people perfecting the art of criticality especially in looking for clues. As much as there are negative aspects related to gaming, it is important to note that restriction will increase the benefits and reduce the demerits. Thus, a critical approach to the issue need be adopted in viewing this issue.
Jenkins tries to demystify the concept of computer games by outlining eight myths that have been popularized by people against the video game industry (451). He cites the fact that violence is not propagated by video games but rather by unstable mental conditions. For instance, there was a case where a fourteen-year-old kid was charged with murdering his parents and stepbrother and sister and the GTA: vice city video game was blamed for this. The kid from Alabama was said to have committed the act after long-term effects of abuse and neglect from the family. Actually, the intended lawsuit was not legit as the game was by no means active in the motive of the intended murders. This is where Jenkins looks at it from a different point of view (449). The fact that the children punish their opponents aggressively does not imply direct transfer of aggression to real life. In fact, the video games are seen as teachers in their own rights. They have been found to act as high motivators due to the rewards accorded for skillful play. As Jenkins puts it across, not a single study has shown that video games are the primary factor for violence in the youth. Consequently, violent video game playing has not been proved to turn an otherwise normal person into a killer. In fact, most studies only find correlations and not casual relationships between violence and video games. Anderson and Gentile still maintain that the intention to harm their opponent increases immediate aggression rather than the graphic nature of the game. That not withstanding, they are still of the opinion that exposure to violent video games led to pro-violent attitudes, hostile personalities and believed more on violence as a typical way of problem solving. However, it has been proved that video games become influential in decision making when they are cupped with other immediate real-world influences like family history. Thus, video games cannot solely change the behavior of an individual.
Anderson and Gentile bring out the idea of pro-social behavior that makes the children rejected by their peers (450). They argue that lack of immunity leads to violent behavior easily noticed within a short period of time. This sudden change causes rejection by peers increasing the aggressive nature of the individual. However, as can be depicted, most researchers have come out to refute these claims. Gladwell is of the idea that these video games increase the complex ability of an individual to decipher meaning and come up with detailed solutions to various problems. This implies that they are exposed to situations that require one to look for clues from the most unlikely of quarters and choose the best for the particular situation. This increases their critical ability and their creation of hypotheses to crack facts (456). Thus, the change of behavior is mainly in the positive direction. This is so as the games provide several ways of befriending the enemy and turning them into better allies than foes. Jenkins is of the idea that cooperative play increases the social behavior rather than the direct opposite (453). Almost 60% of games played are with friends and even games designed for one player are done socially with different outputs from those around. This is an important skill that increases attention skills and enables an individual to make proper decisions on what is best at the moment and what to discard. These skills are very essential to the individual in later life.
Multi-tasking abilities are associated with video games since a great deal of work is done by the teens while still gaming. For instance, as Gladwell depicts in her caption, the teens simultaneously email their friends, listen to music, surf the internet while they talk on the phone. It their goes without saying that video games are a major contributing factor in the exercise of constructing proper hierarchy of tasks and moving through the sequence in order of priority. Thus, teens can be active only if the right instructions and methods are used to tap their enormous potential and creativity (456). Thus, the most important part is to look for order and its meaning and then creatively make decisions to help create the desired order. Video games are thus increasing the right balance between collateral and explicit forms of learning. This implies that learning is also a part of the skills attributed to the video games.
From the above arguments, the most outstanding forms of argument are the evaluation and proposal types of arguments. There is basic evaluation of the gaming industry and its effects as well as the proposed effects of using facts as opposed to generalizations. This increases the outlook and proper evaluation of the problem. It leaves no room for uncertainty and increases the prospects of coming up with the correct thesis. Thus, as can be seen, the problems are as large as we want them to be. However, we can turn problems into opportunities of learning by looking at the brighter side and influencing the realization of these merits.
Works cited:
- Anderson, Craig and Gentile Douglas, ‘ISU Psychologists Publish Three New Studies on Violent Video Game Effects on Youths’ march 2007. In a rhetoric with reading: writing arguments, p.449-450
- Douglas A. Gentile “The effects of video games on children: what parents need to know”. Pediatrics for Parents. 2004. FindArticles.com. 27th Oct, 2010. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0816/is_6_21/ai_n9772319/
- Gladwell, Malcom, rev. of everything bad is good for you by Steven Johnson, 2005. in rhetoric with reading: writing arguments, , p.454-456
- Jenkins, Henry. ‘Eight myths about video games debunked: reality bytes.’ 2007. In a rhetoric with reading: writing arguments, , p.450-454
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