Postive Impact of Playing Video Games - 1296 Words

In the past few decades there has been debate over the positive and negative affects of video games with a good deal of focus on more violent games. Prior to and concurrently with this debate, there have also been similar debates over radio, television, and movies but, as should be obvious from the current breadth of media, no studies have definitively proven any negative affects. The detractors of video games claim, based on media effects research, that people who play video games with any sort of violence in them have heightened antisocial and decreased prosocial tendencies afterwards; this is the assumed cause of certain acts of violence including the majority of school shootings. The supporters of video games claim that there is an†¦show more content†¦Moreover, in its normal context (with a running narrative), a video game is split from reality so the player is more conscious of what is and isn’t acceptable†¦in studies, subjects play the game with no idea of what is supposed to be happening. This grounding effect has been intensified in recent years by a change both in video games and in the way people play. Games began to approach cinematic experiences and that has led to people watching a game being played and occasionally giving tips to the player. Such advice has brought the player further back from the game world diminishing the effect of the narrative slightly but turning it into a social event much like the media that games have begun to emulate (Jenkins). More importantly, a large number of games have begun to include cooperative modes (e.g. Little Big Planet, Ratchet Clank: All 4 One) that require multiple players to work together to achieve a common goal; a cooperative mode allows both the social aspect of playing a game with people watching and the engrossing cinematic experience that games have always sought to provide. This social aspect is nothing new. Gamers have always communicated with one another about how to get past tough parts of games, and to gener ally improve, they have always strived to play along side or against one another to test themselves and to in order toShow MoreRelatedThe Postive and Negative Social, Educational and Health Effects of Cell Phones on Teenagers3132 Words   |  13 PagesTHE POSTIVE AND NEGATIVE SOCIAL, EDUCATIONAL AND HEALTH EFFECTS OF CELL PHONES ON TEENAGERS By Agshin Alizada For the course HSB 4MI Presented to Miss Dahl BLUEVALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE Table of Contents Page 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0 Discussion ` 4 2.1 Positive and Negative Social Effects of Cell Phones on Teenagers 4 2.2 Positive and Negative Educational Effects