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Hussain Alamer Kresion Forster Co150 12/oct/2013 Are Video Games Creating Positive or Negative Effects on Their Players? It is common knowledge that media use in our daily lives has gone up greatly over the last 30 years or so. In particular, the rise in the use of video games, an interactive media form, which has become a multi-billion dollar enterprise almost overnight. I caught myself asking this question: How is this media affecting those of us who play? Was it possible that my use of video games was damaging my future, rotting my brain, or turning me into a violent person? In an attempt to find answers I uncovered a strong debate. Concerned parents were trying to describe the dangers of playing video games for their children while other adults were simply trying to justify their use of them. But what was the real answer to this debate? Was there a truly positive or negative effect to playing video games? I needed proof one way or another. Initially, I found many articles related to video game playing as basically positive. The first of which was the scholarly article, "Video Games and Crime", by Michael R. Ward which took a scientific approach and interpreted data from other studies to prove that violence in an area goes down according to how many stores in that area sell video games. This was interesting because it would stand to reason that if video games were a root cause of violence, more stores would result in a higher violence rate. And yet, this was not the case. I respected the accuracy of the source because not only was the author a respected member of the scientific community, but

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he also had performed much analysis of many previous studies. Another important point he made was that although other studies showed there to be an increase in violent thoughts amongst people playing video games such as first-person shooters, there was no link to actual acts of violence in the real world. (Ward 269) This helped to prove my own hopes for the effects of video games on their players. But I did not think this was the end of the argument. What else could video games do in a positive, lasting way? Dina Specter's article "11 Ways Video Games Make You Smarter And Healthier gave me just what I needed. The author states different experiments to prove that playing video games help people by improving mental health. One example Specter gives, A driving game improved memory and focus in older adults demonstrates this effect. This was outstanding because people can relax and get positive mental effects at the same time by playing video games rather than do other less stimulating activities. This source is respected not only because was the article was published in Business Insider, but the data the author examined was also accurate and reliable. Another significant point the author made was that physical health, such as vision, could be improved by playing video games (Specter). Specter also mentioned a study that found childrens basic motor skills like catching, throwing, and bouncing a ball would be amended by playing video games. As the author states, children ages three to six who played interactive games, like Wii, had better object motor skills than those who played non-interactive games.(Specter). This was just more proof of the positive effects of video games. The information provided in the article reinforced my research question, that there are positives to playing video games. In my search for more material about video games I found the article "What Science Knows about Video Games and Violence" by Brandon Keim. This article was very reliable and

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valuable to my essay because he had analyzed studies outlining the consequences of playing violent video games. His argument taught me how science "has a conflicting understating about aggression in people who play video games."(Keim) He explained that, although many studies have shown violent video games cause negative effects, these research studies have some mistakes. Furthermore, with such different results and opinions as the author mentioned, Some researchers argue that video games like first-person shooters indeed influence violent behavior not causing it in some simple, linear way, but making it more likely to occur. Other researchers say this link doesnt exist.(Keim) I learned further about studies which say video games have negative effects on mental health. Finally, the studies about the consequences of playing violent video games are hard to complete and get results that make sense. The author reinforces this as, By taking several tens of thousands of people, from children on up to adults, dividing them into groups with comparable socioeconomic, genomic, and behavioral profiles, setting them to play first-person shooters with varying amounts of regularity, then following them for years, routinely conducting psychological tests and tracking their real-world behaviors.(Keim) Therefore, the argument that parents should not keep their children from playing violent video games is simply not true. The current studies are not accurate enough and need time to be fully understood (Keim). This helped me measure the lack of helpful studies concerning violent video games. Although this article was valuable for my research, the author's theories about the inaccuracy of studies made me question how I could trust many of my sources.

Following this was Dennis M. Levi, a professor of Vision Science and Optometry, and other authors, in peer reviewed article Video-Game Play Induces Plasticity in the Visual System of Adults With Amblyopia.". This is very important and credible article about a positive effect of

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video games. The significant part was that people with lazy eyes, or amblyopia could lessen the effect of their condition if they played video games as the research has shown. However, as the authors explain from conducted research, people with amblyopia will only improve by playing video games in a long term setting (Levi). In depth, the authors stated, Our experiments show that playing video games (both action and non-action games) for a short period of time (4080 h, 2 h/d) using the amblyopic eye results in a substantial improvement in a wide range of fundamental visual functions, from low-level to high-level, including visual acuity (33%), positional acuity (16%), spatial attention (37%), and stereopsis (54%) (Levi, et Al.) This explains how playing video games in general helps patients to see better, improve focus , and identify objects more easily. This article also helps me answer the question: are there any real benefits from playing video games? However, I still need to know the harms of playing video games. This article was a great help because it was academic journal and provides scientific evidence to support my first thoughts about video game playing and its effects.

After discussing articles either talking negatively or positively about playing video games, Douglas A. Gentile wrote an academic piece that provided significant both pros and cons of video games in detail. For example some video games help physical activities as seen Another study, which appeared in Nature Neuroscience, demonstrated that action games can improve adults abilities to make fine discriminations among different shades of gray (called contrast sensitivity), which is important for activities such as driving at night.4 Other research suggests that games requiring teamwork help people develop collaboration skills. I addition I learned for this article that the effects of video games depend on the type of the game. Some features include amount, structure, mechanics and context. One dimension, context, is where some games might not be suitable for children. Seen as, Studies of games

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with violent content also tend to demonstrate transfer of learning to real-world situations. Studies in several countries, including one consisting of 1,595 children in Japan and the United States, suggest that children who play violent games become more aggressive in their daily lives (as reported by their peers or teachers, for example) (Gentile). Another feature is structure, which he explains through graphs that help children improve imagination skills. Obviously this article answered a big part of my research question talking about both the pros and cons of playing video games.

As previously mentioned, not all of my research was positive in its view of video games and their effects. Another article by Douglas A. Gentile, The Effects of Video Games on Children: What Parents Need to Know was a great example of this. In the article, Gentile, a renowned doctor in pediatrics, explains how there are correlations to amount of time spent playing games and certain other behaviors. "the data about children's video game habits are correlated with risk factors for health and with poorer academic performance. When video game play is analyzed for violent content, additional risk factors are observed for aggressive behavior and desensitization to violence." (Gentile) This direct correlation to video games and these behaviors was definitely a set-back for my original view point. If there was a link between the amount of time played, and potentially detrimental effects, was it all positive after all? Gentile goes on to say those video games are "natural teachers" and allow children to learn both positive things, such as how to correctly administer insulin, to those less positive things such as promoting violence. Gentile also cites previous studies showing the detriments of long-time video game use including, bad posture,

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muscle weakness, and even video-stimulated seizures. He also states, " Playing violent games leads to increased physiological arousal, increased aggressive thoughts, increased aggressive feelings, increased aggressive behaviors, and decreased pro-social helping." (Gentile) This argument pointed opposite to my original understanding of the effects of video games, but through the last few paragraphs, I learned a few important things. Gentile ends his essay with a twist, saying that parents' involvement matters. Seen as, "The research also seems to show that parents have an important role to play." (Gentile) The author goes on to say that by limiting usage parents can avoid much of the negative behavioral, psychological, and physical effects of video games. The last point to make is that for studies involving children, such as those cited by Gentile, the effects may be different than my age group of 20 to 30 year-olds, who are by far less likely to be changed by video games. Overall I appreciated the qualification of the topic given by the author. Gentile gave adequate information in the form of studies and left me with enough knowledge to feel more comfortable my views on video games and violence. With the end of my journey so far, what can I say about video games and their influence on players? Is there a connection? I believe I can say that there were positive and negative effects. Video games help enhance fine and gross motor skills, potentially helping people with amblyopia, and can even teach children how to do things correctly. On the other side, negative things about video games are that they increase violence and aggression in those who play them and may lead to physical problems like obesity and poor posture. However, I think the positives outweigh the negatives for two reasons: the only connection that can be made between video games and actual violence is in studies that do not involve anything out of lab settings, and what a person is thinking. Many authors agreed that although violent tendencies were reported inside participants brains, nothing happened outside, meaning, no one acted out aggressively in real

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life. The second point, age mattered too. Although children might be prone to negative behaviors, adults seemed less likely to act out. The struggle, as I learned, is that true answers about the negative connections between the two are hard to come by. Perhaps with more research and study we may uncover more negative psychological and physical effects video games have on their users. But truthfully, it is just like anything: taken in moderation, there are no real risks beyond perhaps wasting a few hours a week of otherwise useful time, and many benefits that can actually help a person in the real world.

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Works Cited: Gentile, Douglas A. The Effects of Video Games on Children: What Parents Need to Know Pediatrics for Parents, Pediatrics for Parents, Inc., 2012. Web. 24 Oct. 2013. Keim, Brandon. "What Science Knows About Video Games and Violence." PBS. PBS, 28 Feb. 2013. Web. 16 Oct.2013.

Levi, Dennis M., et al. "Video-Game Play Induces Plasticity In The Visual System Of Adults With Amblyopia." Plos Biology 9.8 (2011): 1-11. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 Oct. 2012.

Maillot, Pauline, Alexandra Perrot, and Alan Hartley. "Effects of Physical Activity, Video Game Training on Physical and Cognitive Function in Older Adults". Psychology and Aging 27.3 (2012): 589-600. Academic Research Premier. Web. 25 Oct. 2013

Specter, Dina. "11 Ways Video Games Make You Smarter And Healthier." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc., 11 Sept. 2013. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.

Ward, Michael R. "Video Games and Crime."Contemporary Economic Policy 29.2 (2011):26173.Print.