Video Games and How They Affect Child Development Positively

Video Games and How They Affect Child Development Positively

For years, people have argued that there are no positive effects of video games, for they induce violence in people. Nevertheless, if supervised, playing video games can actually help in a child's development, giving to the child enormous potentials in various aspects such as psychological, health and social.

Learning happens constantly, for whenever one plays a game, and whatever game one plays, whether the players want it to, and are aware of it, or not. ‘The players are learning “about life” which is one of the greatest positive effects of all game playing’ points out MIT Professor of Comparative Media Henry Jenkins. This learning takes place, gradually, and at the same time in every game, whenever one plays. Indeed, it is highly likely that video games help develop logic and critical thinking, as today they are not the simple-minded games of the 80's where the only thing you had to do was shoot and win. Now you will need to use humor and logic to come up with a successful strategy in order to conquer the game. Many detective and mystery games are based on such an idea as are a strategy and multitude of simulation games. Even various horror games involve a lot of thinking before acting since when you make a wrong decision when navigating a video game you may end up losing so when you make a decision you must make it wisely. Thus, critical thinking skills may be also advanced if playing video games can be carried out on a regular basis. Also, video games can stimulate imagination and creativity. Usually, video games show in the eyes of the person who plays the game, fantasy worlds and optimistic images which can greatly boost creativity in the same way as a book can activate creative images in a person's mind. Creativity and imagination can be created from the simplest source in order to raise the obtainable inspiration that a video game can provide. This brings us to our next point. Video games can give rise to ‘declarative knowledge’ which is the knowledge of the data and facts needed for the perfect performance of tasks. For this type of learning result, the learner is usually required to identify or reproduce some item of information. For example, in a 1984 research, it was demonstrated that students who played a game focusing on Newtonian principles were able to answer questions on force and motion problems more accurately than those who did not play the games.

Furthermore, video games can greatly improve children's health, as they were found to have a positive effect on the ones suffering from either injuries or diseases. Psychologists, today, tell us that games help keep them busy thus distract their mind from discomfort and pain. ‘Actually, there are many hospitals around the world that are encouraging children suffering from painful treatments to spend their time playing video games in order to be able to endure the pain more easily’ says one observer in the New York Times. Similarly, whether you want to believe it or not, video games help in the improvement of better hand-eye skills. A research done at the University of Rochester at New York found out that "video gamers tend to be more attune to their surroundings while performing tasks, like driving down a residential street, where they may be more likely to pick out a child running after a ball, than a non-video gamer". If you think about it, especially in action games you must pay very close attention as in most games. The environment in the game will involve many activities going on at once and the player must pay attention to just about everything going on visually. Likewise, video games like ‘Donkey Kong’ and ‘Pac-Man’ got you to make your hands interact faster with your brain. You couldn't be slow or you would lose the game. Of course, if you lost your ‘imaginary life bar’ or an entire game, you would probably want to continue. In the 80’s, probably the most common phrase in the arcades was "just one more time". Moreover, many video games rely on what is known as "twitch" skills. These twitch skills are carefully trained reflexes built up over days, weeks or even months spent playing video games. Whether it is a first-person sniper or a sports game player where the players compete against each other, the ability to react rapidly leads to victory. Over time, these reflex skills are improves based upon constant use in much the same way a martial artist will eventually have his moves firmly established into his reflexive memory through repetitive use.

Moreover, video games can also affect positively child development socially as there are many video games in which a person is required to play with someone else. By getting involved with another player, as a part of the playing team for the game, children boost their social skills for they learn how to react to other people and how to treat them. In fact, it has been researched by Nottingham Trent University professor Mark Griffiths that playing these games could help children with attention deficit disorders, especially in developing social skills. In the same way, Psychologists at the University of Rochester, in collaboration with Immersive, Inc., studied 1,000 gamers who were later on motivated in various fields thus the research  have come to the conclusion that playing video games or online game, especially the ones in which other players are also involved, helps the player gain self confidence. As a player gains a win over the other participants, especially over a long period of time, it boosts his confidence level, in dealing with the outside world as well. Furthermore, recent studies discovered that when people were playing a video game that involved helping other characters, over 55% of them chose to help the woman. When people were playing the neutral game, fewer than 25% helped the woman. The researchers report on this ‘move’ that children are more likely to be helpful when playing video games that promote positive behaviors than when playing either games that are neutral or violent. To examine why people might be more helpful when playing positive video games, one study asked people to list all the thoughts they had while playing the games. People playing the positive video game wrote more thoughts related to helping than people who played neutral games. So, this research suggests that playing video games that involve being helpful can promote helpful behaviors beyond the video games. These findings challenged the work of future researchers like the ones in CESA, the Japanese Computer Entertainment Suppliers Association, who shed new light from an academic point of view. In short, there have been many studies indicating that playing video games proves to be beneficial from academic viewpoint as well. For instance, video games help language and math skills of players. Along with that, the majority of the games are based on history, governance, city building, and so on. Playing them helps the player know more about the world in general.

Spending spare time in another realm being a ‘hero’ can surely be an escape from the real world when at the same time open a window to it. As a result, nowadays, video games are fulfilling actual human needs that the real world is currently unable to satisfy and also allow us to see the world around us in a way that we normally can't in real life. In many ways parents should be happy that their kids are playing because the quantity of learning the kids are getting is huge and a significant size of it is positive. CESA, the Japanese Computer Entertainment Suppliers Association came into the conclusion that ‘most of today’s kids learn far more from their 30 to 100 hour video games than they do in school, usually without even realizing it’. If we can invest the effort and money to create games that do have specific curricular elements and at the same time remain fun enough so that kids still want to play them, then the children can and will learn incredibly more.

There have been numerous studies conducted that show the adverse effects of ‘hypnotizing’ video games on children. These studies have shown that video games played for an extended period, especially violent ones, have increased aggressive behavior. Additionally, video games have been found to foster social isolation as they are often played alone.

Of course, there is another side to this coin, not every video game involves violence. Many video games are appropriate for children of all ages. It is possible to create games that have action, but in which the object is to help characters accomplish goals. Video games are now an everyday part of a child’s life as an endless opportunity to learn, interact, teach, feel and just have fun.

In conclusion, debating whether there are positive effects of video games can go on until the end of time. But at least there is research to suggest that if children do play video games, it does have a positive effect on their behavior later. If we are successful in developing good instructional games, we may be able to produce a combination that is both fun and helpful; for let’s face it, video games are a unique educational environment that is here to stay.