Effects of Video Games

As we approach new times, there come many different advancements within different areas of technology. Throughout recent years there has been an increase in the development of video games, which comes with many opposing or supporting views. Many people think that video games are detrimental to a person’s mentality and health because of how they can alter their personality, but what they fail to realize is that video games can actually help relieve stress and bring joy to the players. Video games actually have many positive effects on those who play them. Not only can they express themselves as they wish, but can also socially interact with others and help themselves and others to reach their personal goals all while relieving stress.

According to many people, the majority believe that “games are a waste of time that we will come to regret” (McGonigal, Jane). However, this perception of video games is actually false. Video games actually have many effects on a person, many of which are positive. Not only can they help relieve stress from a person’s shoulders, but can also bring a certain happiness that is only felt from video games. “Trials recently conducted at East Carolina University that showed that online games can outperform pharmaceuticals for treating clinical anxiety and depression” (McGonigal). Using the to our benefit of helping those overcome conditions like stress and PTSD shows that they can be used as a benefit to society. Being able to outperform pharmaceuticals shows just how far we have come in using video games to our advantage. The tremendous power that these games have on influencing our minds is something that should not be taken lightly. “Just 30 minutes of online game play a day was enough to create dramatic boosts in mood and long-term increases in happiness” (McGonigal, Jane). Creating more happiness in our life should already be one reason that video games have quite a positive impact on the people who use them. Having a healthy mind is something that we should strive for because it helps us live a healthier lifestyle. “When you change your mind about stress, you can change your body’s response to stress” (McGonigal, Kelly). When we are fully able to control how we let things affect us, things that are negative can have less of an effect as they regularly would.

While in today’s society, it is very normal for friends and family to move away from each other. Whether they be across the state, or even across the nation, distance is something that can be nullified through communication. Video games are used as a means to stay connected with others when there is either distance or little to no staying in touch with others.“Hundreds of millions of people use social games like FarmVille or Words With Friends to stay in daily contact with real-life friends and family” (McGonigal, Jane). Not only can we use video games for closing distances with friends and family that live distant from us, they can be used as a way to fortify relations at home. “A recent study from Brigham Young University School of Family Life reported that parents who spend more time playing video games with their kids have much stronger real-life relationships with them” (McGonigal, Jane). Not only has it successfully been shown that “games are incredibly powerful relationship-management tools” but are a method to “help us stay connected with people in our social network that we would otherwise grow distant from” (McGonigal, Jane). Closing these distances with video games is a means to strengthen ties with family and friends, which is another positive outcome of using them.

Not only do video games help players escape from the real world where they may face hardships, but can also help them escape lives where they believe there is little to no excitement. Using video games to express how we can truly visualize ourselves can allow us to show courage we have been shy to portray. “Avatars are a way to express our true selves, our most heroic, idealized version of who we might become” (McGonigal, Jane). Allowing us to portray ourselves in the way we want to, lifts a burden we have on our shoulders. Always feeling like you are never courageous, strong, or intelligent enough can all be solved by avatars. They give us a different kind of hope and courage, because in the online world, no one cares what you look like or what kind of personality you have. This gives us the peace of mind that there can be others just like you, with the same dilemmas as you, yet when you play the game, personal life does not matter.

Also, with the advancements of technology, there have been improvements to video games that have not been possible in previous years. With these improvements also come new ways to use video games as a stress reliever or a means to help someone achieve a piece of mind. Skip Rizzo, who works at the Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California, has developed a means for helping soldiers who have come back with PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is something that should not be taken lightly, and Skip has come up with a way to help those who suffer from it. With the technology he had at his disposal, he created a game where they can simulate, through virtual reality, the exact moments soldier recalls from when they were deployed, to help overcome their problems and take control of their situation. For example, Jody Mitic, who lost both of his legs to an IED bomb in Afghanistan, was one person who agreed with the way they were using video games as a treatment method. Being able to recreate his tragedy and relive it is one method used to help treat his PTSD because he uses it to overcome his fears and sadness caused from the accident. Using virtual reality as an immersive way to overcome fears is a huge breakthrough not only in video games but in real life too. This was only possible through the time and money spent on the advancement of gaming and technology.

While gaming may have few to little negatives, the positives of video games are weighted more. Not only are video games used as means for enjoyment, but also used as a way to heal those who have fragmentally broken minds. Not only are they bringing joy to those who play them, but are also a way for people to escape hardships faced in real life. Using these games as a serious form of treatment towards stress and PTSD are major positives of the outcomes of gaming. Instead of being so critical and quick to state that video are bad influences to those who play them, because there are many different reasons as to why they are such an important piece of social and individual development. In conclusion, there are many effects that video games have on the individual and on society as a whole, yet what we should focus on is the outcomes that are positive, because they have great benefits in helping us overcome some of the troubles we face in life.