Video games are often discussed and debated as “violent” or “unhealthy” for children. However this isn’t taking the positive effect of video games into play, the same way people believe that action movies place ideas into children’s minds. I’m not discrediting the idea that children can be effect by things like these being brought into their environment but there is more than just hostility. In school children read books that can be more scarring than “killing” an enemy on screen. While book banning is a thing, stories such as “The Little Match Girl” and “Of Mice and Men” teach children about death, illness(both mental and physical), and the consequences of their actions. Books like “1984” and “Fahrenheit 451” teach us about being oppressed by things we can rarely fight back against. Video games do the exact same thing, however, there is a twist.
When a player engages a game they are often the hero and end up fighting against something bigger than themselves. Similar to how books teach us that the little guy can win and that no battle is too big, video games allow this idea to turn into immersion. The player is the hero and experiencing the problem rather than just reading about it. This allows a feeling of control, the idea comes from what is often called a “risk vs reward” system. Systems like these teach people about the their own lives affect others.
Video games provide learning outlets for children that do not like reading or have trouble reading. As a learning disabled person I remember being miserable having to read something for school, but when I would play I would read the subtitles along with listening to what the characters was saying. This idea is the exact same thing as an audio book but more stimulating for those that do not do well in traditional classroom settings. By stimulating the brain in unorthodox ways children can learn easier than in a classroom, by using audio along with visual you can apply parts of the brain that are often not used during school hours. This is often called multi sensory learning, a style that takes more than one sense to teach a lesson. Video games incorporate more than just visual and audio to show how to play the game. During certain games the controller will vibrated or make a noise when something goes wrong, an often unpleasant sensation. By taking the negative effect into account the muscle memory beginnings to kick in, you use your hands to improve your skill in the game just by associating the unpleasant feeling or visual with what you should or should not do. By having your muscle memory in play you can spend most of your game play strategizing how to beat the enemy or level.
Once you break video games down they are computers and codes, because of this there is a limited number of options of what both you and your enemies can do. Because of this preset limitations you can figure out the patterns and structure in the game the way one might analyze science, math, or poetry. By having these subtle patterns children that often have trouble analyzing structures seen in educational settings are able to use parts of their brains that maybe unseen by their instructors, everyone has a unique brain and a learning system that video games are able to strengthen the people that could need a little extra push in figuring out how they learn best.
The opposite side of this states that the over stimulation of video games will affect how brains develop and handle things poorly because they cannot pay attention long enough. For me and from what I’ve witnessed from other people who claim to “have gotten terrible grades in school” video games provide a calming effect and a way to distract their already over stimulated minds.
I often have trouble sleeping at night because my brain refuses to be quiet but if I spend a few hours playing a game before bed my brain tires itself out and I can quickly fall asleep. Stimulation like this is not a bad thing when used correctly, for me they help me sleep. But for others perhaps it kick starts their brains so they can focus on something later in the day. By creating distractions that combine multiple senses people that have trouble paying attention can have peace of mind because they are extremely busy when playing a game. The world stops, their brains stop, and the bad things can be taken control of.
Another spin on way video games are important is that they can be educational. Aside from strategy people can find interests they didn’t know were possibilities. These games often incorporate things such as mythology, design, photography, rhetoric, history, etc. By bringing information on these topics new areas of study can be found. Certain games have ties to true events and topics creating a sense of understanding something that could bring the player joy in the real world. It is often stated that Star Trek sparked the interest of people that invented great objects that are still used today, why would a different form of fiction be any different? Maybe someone is following the sciences because of Portal or someone is studying the classics because God of War, the possibilities are endless.
Video games bring people from all over the world together, sure there are problems in the culture but there are issues in every group of people. While video games often have sexist undertones, gate keepers, and just general rude people, they still create families. Video games can open so many doors for people that need them. Video games can be a stable home for those that need something in their life that they haven’t found yet.
When a player engages a game they are often the hero and end up fighting against something bigger than themselves. Similar to how books teach us that the little guy can win and that no battle is too big, video games allow this idea to turn into immersion. The player is the hero and experiencing the problem rather than just reading about it. This allows a feeling of control, the idea comes from what is often called a “risk vs reward” system. Systems like these teach people about the their own lives affect others.
Video games provide learning outlets for children that do not like reading or have trouble reading. As a learning disabled person I remember being miserable having to read something for school, but when I would play I would read the subtitles along with listening to what the characters was saying. This idea is the exact same thing as an audio book but more stimulating for those that do not do well in traditional classroom settings. By stimulating the brain in unorthodox ways children can learn easier than in a classroom, by using audio along with visual you can apply parts of the brain that are often not used during school hours. This is often called multi sensory learning, a style that takes more than one sense to teach a lesson. Video games incorporate more than just visual and audio to show how to play the game. During certain games the controller will vibrated or make a noise when something goes wrong, an often unpleasant sensation. By taking the negative effect into account the muscle memory beginnings to kick in, you use your hands to improve your skill in the game just by associating the unpleasant feeling or visual with what you should or should not do. By having your muscle memory in play you can spend most of your game play strategizing how to beat the enemy or level.
Once you break video games down they are computers and codes, because of this there is a limited number of options of what both you and your enemies can do. Because of this preset limitations you can figure out the patterns and structure in the game the way one might analyze science, math, or poetry. By having these subtle patterns children that often have trouble analyzing structures seen in educational settings are able to use parts of their brains that maybe unseen by their instructors, everyone has a unique brain and a learning system that video games are able to strengthen the people that could need a little extra push in figuring out how they learn best.
The opposite side of this states that the over stimulation of video games will affect how brains develop and handle things poorly because they cannot pay attention long enough. For me and from what I’ve witnessed from other people who claim to “have gotten terrible grades in school” video games provide a calming effect and a way to distract their already over stimulated minds.
I often have trouble sleeping at night because my brain refuses to be quiet but if I spend a few hours playing a game before bed my brain tires itself out and I can quickly fall asleep. Stimulation like this is not a bad thing when used correctly, for me they help me sleep. But for others perhaps it kick starts their brains so they can focus on something later in the day. By creating distractions that combine multiple senses people that have trouble paying attention can have peace of mind because they are extremely busy when playing a game. The world stops, their brains stop, and the bad things can be taken control of.
Another spin on way video games are important is that they can be educational. Aside from strategy people can find interests they didn’t know were possibilities. These games often incorporate things such as mythology, design, photography, rhetoric, history, etc. By bringing information on these topics new areas of study can be found. Certain games have ties to true events and topics creating a sense of understanding something that could bring the player joy in the real world. It is often stated that Star Trek sparked the interest of people that invented great objects that are still used today, why would a different form of fiction be any different? Maybe someone is following the sciences because of Portal or someone is studying the classics because God of War, the possibilities are endless.
Video games bring people from all over the world together, sure there are problems in the culture but there are issues in every group of people. While video games often have sexist undertones, gate keepers, and just general rude people, they still create families. Video games can open so many doors for people that need them. Video games can be a stable home for those that need something in their life that they haven’t found yet.
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