Are Video Games Bad for You? - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 19 September 2010 / 19,094 Views
A Meta-Walkthrough of the Research
‘- It’s thankless to be sensible in the face of someone’s primitive distrust.’
Don Delillo Underworld
I believe it’s human nature to think that something which makes us feel good must be bad for us. After several weeks of research, I still can’t definitively say whether video games are ‘bad’ or ‘good.’ The truth is a slippery thing; anybody who tries to tell you different is selling you something. What I -can- do is throw some numbers at you and tell you what I think.
Are video games bad for your eyes? Not exactly, say doctors. Follow the 20/20/20 rule. After 20 minutes of gaming look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. In fact, some video games are helping to prevent blindness in children. Specialized video game VisionQuest 20/20 uses computers in schools to screen for vision problems in primary education aged children.
Video games make you fat? Research published by the Rochester Democrat and & Chronicle: 35 states have embraced video game systems like the Wii Fit and Konami's Dance, Dance, Revolution as part of their school's physical education program. In fact, the USDA offered a reward of $60,000 in prizes:
"To create innovative, fun and engaging software tools and games that encourage children directly or through their parents to make more nutritious food choices and be more physically active."
Experts are also looking at the video game format to develop brains as well as bodies. Many studies conclude that the video game format offers a more interactive ‘observe and demonstrate’ style of education, opposed to the traditional ‘memorize and regurgitate.’ ElectronicArt’s Sim- series (SimCity, SimLife, SimAnt) offers practice with kids’ analytical and problem solving skills. Each year primary school kids participate in National Engineering Week, which challenges students to create the best future metropolis using SimCity. I loved SimAnt, SimLife and especially SimCity. To this day most of what I know about ants, eco systems and running a metropolis comes from those games.
Video games are increasingly ubiquitous among families. 67 percent of people identifying themselves as ‘head of household’ play computer and video games. Half the parents in America play some form of video games with their children at least one time per week. The average gamer is 34 years old and has been playing for 12 years. 35 percent of parents play video games and 93 percent of those parent’s children play video games on average about 9 hours per month. 49% of parents say they play video games with their kids at least one time per month. 47% of these parents are women and 37% of that group plays video games with their kids at least once a week. When asked why, 87% said ‘because it’s fun for the entire family.‘ 83% said, ‘because their children asked them to.‘ 75% said it’s a good opportunity to socialize with the child.‘ 60% said it was a good opportunity to monitor game content. Family Entertainment games are big money makers for the game industry as well. PricewaterhouseCoopers says that 48.8 billion dollars in expected revenue by 2011 resulting from “Family Entertainment” portable software sales. 60.3% of 273.5 million video games sold in 2009, were rated “Early Childhood” or “Everyone” or “Everyone 10+” In fact, 15% of every game sold in 2009 was a ‘family game.’
97% of parents take an active role in reviewing the video games their children play. 93% are directly involved in the video game purchase process. ‘85% of all parents (non-gamer-specific) who vote say that they, not government, retailers or game developers should take the most responsibility for monitoring children’s exposure to games that may have content inappropriate for minors.’
According to their website, ‘The ESRB is a non-profit, self-regulatory body that independently assigns ratings, enforces advertising guidelines, and helps ensure responsible online privacy practices for the interactive entertainment software industry.’ Over 70% of parents use the system in making buying decisions, according to the federal trade commission. Parental controls already included in consoles are widely used by parents to block games and movies they don’t want their families to view. In the fall of 2007 Microsoft announced a tool for the Xbox360 that allows parents to limit the amount of time kids spend on video games.
Over 300 higher-learning institutions offer degree programs in video game development. Graduate level programs are offered at Carnegie Mellon University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The engaging force of video games has also been used to raise issues of globalization. Darfur is Dying is a narrative-based simulation video game created by University of Southern California students: Susana Ruiz, Ashley York, Mike Stein, Noah Keating and Kellee Santiago to inform players about the ongoing genocide in Sudan. The user, as a displaced Darfurian, fights Janjaweed militias threatening her/his refugee camp.
Older players can play The UVA Bay Game, a large-scale interactive agent-based simulation where the user feels out the roles of local fishermen, farmers, land developers and policy makers. The game uses current scientific data to simulate user input decisions on the Bay over a 20-year period.
Some still argue that video games are dangerous, particularly to minors. This November 2, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument about a 2005 California law that would overly regulate the sale and rental of computer games. This law would treat games, which are First Amendment protected works, differently than movies, books, and music. Many District and Federal Courts agree that games are expressive works of art and are entitled to the same First Amendment protections. New York Times Editorial Board weighed in. Read the article here. Also the LA Times had this to say:
The Ninth Circuit Court:
“The major argument that video games are dangerous to minors is without merit. The Ninth Circuit also ruled that the state “has not produced substantial evidence…that violent video games cause psychological or neurological harm to minors.”
Additionally, the court found fault with the research that tries to link games and violence:
“Dr. [Craig] Anderson’s research has readily admitted flaws that undermine its support of the State’s interest in regulating video games sales and rentals to minors, perhaps most importantly its retreat from the study of the psychological effects of video games as related to the age of the person studied. Although not dispositive of this case, we note that other courts have either rejected Dr. Anderson’s research or found it insufficient to establish a causal link between violence in video games and psychological harm.”
Harvard Medical School psychology professors Lawrence Kutner, Ph.D. and Cheryl K. Olson, M.P.H., Sc.D. wrote:
“The strong link between video game violence and real world violence, and the conclusion that video games lead to social isolation and poor interpersonal skills, are drawn from bad or irrelevant research, muddleheaded thinking and unfounded, simplistic news reports.”
Similarly, in their May 2009 study, “The Public Health Risks of Media Violence: A Meta-Analytic Review,” Drs. Christopher J. Ferguson and John Kilburn of Texas A&M University’s Department of Behavioral, Applied Sciences and Criminal Justice said there was no support:
“for either a causal or co relational link between violent media and subsequent aggression in viewers. Why the belief of media violence effects persists despite inherent weaknesses of research is somewhat of an open question.”
Dr. Ferguson spoke with the author and assisted in some of the research.
“As video games have become more violent and more sophisticated and the sales of video games have skyrocketed in the last few decades, youth violence has plummeted.”
Chris Ferguson Texas A&M University Professor, Psychology - The Los Angeles Times, May 3, 2010
It is sometimes said that the interactivity of video games separates it from books and movies. However, as Federal Appeals Court Judge Richard Posner wrote in a 2001 ruling dismissing an Indianapolis video game ordinance and asserting that children have First Amendment rights:
“All literature (here broadly defined to include movies, television and other photographic media, and popular as well as highbrow literature) is interactive; the better it is, the more interactive. Literature, when it is successful, draws the reader into the story, makes him identify with the characters, invites him to judge them and quarrel with them, to experience their joys and sufferings as the reader’s own.”
Professor Craig Anderson, whose research into video games was mentioned earlier, in a statement to the author:
“Please note that I have never taken a public policy stand on the issue of government regulation of access to violent games, even in the court cases with which I have been involved, despite what many journalists, gamers and gamer sites claim. I do think that education about what the research literature shows, and doesn't show, is important. Informed, educated people make better choices than the uniformed.”
I would unerringly agree, Professor.
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Actually, I agree with the basic concept that video games can have a cloud effect of increasing skills in logic, decision making, crisis management, resource management, and so forth - but like everything in life, variety is also a part of it.
In other words, I suspect people who obsessively play one type of game to the exclusion of all others aren't benefiting that much - because even if the game has a particular intellectual challenge involved, playing only games that are nearly identical do it introduces rote behavior. No new learning or expansion of skill is taking place.
So, in a strict sense, I think it probably isn't good as such for kids to just play Call of Duty all day long and never do anything else. It's not necessarily about how much time you spend in one activity - a big red herring is "don't let your kids spend too much time playing video games". It's about variety.
Also, I do agree with the hypothosis that games can curb violent behavior by giving aggression and frustration a release valve. A lot of violence is an expression of frustration and pent-up anger, especially in a society where we're told we can't mis-behave - can't get angry, can't rock the boat. No matter what genuinely unfair thing is done to us or what truly poor circumstances we find ourselves in. The virtual worlds of computer games are some of the most comprehensive diversionary systems people have yet devised.
Amen RaptorGTA fistbump and the rest of your thoughtful comments. :)
Nice article, i strongly believe video games have a good effect in logic ant the hability to make decisions and im 100% sure that kids that played videogames are smarter than those that dont (lol) nothing against them, but gamers tend to be slightly more clever
meanwhile a parent doesnt give their child proper medical treatment because they believe God will do the work for them..and yet I dont see a massive outcry to ban the bible...instead i hear we need more of it in our government.
Depends how you use it.
for some peoples yeah... but for the majority nope!
Sid Meier, Shigeru Miyamoto, Yuji Naka, Yuji Horii, and Will Wright (and Hironobu Sakaguchi, and Akitoshi Kawazu) are game developers I really admire, and feel their games are very beneficial to children and the gaming community overall. I know I missed a lot of names (like the Pokemon guys), but these are good healthy games.
I don't think it can be rationally argued that FPS addiction is a healthy lifestyle - unfortunately, the current FPS style of game tends to turn off most of those who don't play them a lot; I don't respect that genre.
I love how all the media focus is on the effect video games have on children.
What I don't hear in this debate are the couple of stories where parents have neglected their children up to the point of death because they were addicted to the World of Warcraft, Sims, Everquest, or some other MMOG.
I think having no history of playing video games then becoming addicted to a MMOG is more harmful to oneself and one's loved ones than the effect of ultraviolent video games such as Grand Theft Auto on kids.
If the media is going to report this, then include adults in it, not just children.
nopes games r not bad
I'd still say rape simulators are objectively bad. The kind of person who is attracted to playing that sort of game has some mental or emotional deficiency which needs to be corrected through counselling / therapy / medication. Not be sated through playing at virtual rape instead of real rape.
I also say it should be illegal for minors to buy adult (and even teen for the youn'uns) rated video games without the parent being there at the time of purchase. If parents want to be the arbiter of what their kids are exposed to then the law should facilitate that by not allowing kids to go buy video games behind their parents backs.
Studying makes you fat
If someone becomes antisocial then gaming is bad for him/her.
