effect of video games essay

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15.9 Cause-and-Effect Essay

Learning objective.

• Read an example of the cause-and-effect rhetorical mode.

Effects of Video Game Addiction

Video game addition is a serious problem in many parts of the world today and deserves more attention. It is no secret that children and adults in many countries throughout the world, including Japan, China, and the United States, play video games every day. Most players are able to limit their usage in ways that do not interfere with their daily lives, but many others have developed an addiction to playing video games and suffer detrimental effects.

An addiction can be described in several ways, but generally speaking, addictions involve unhealthy attractions to substances or activities that ultimately disrupt the ability of a person to keep up with regular daily responsibilities. Video game addiction typically involves playing games uncontrollably for many hours at a time—some people will play only four hours at a time while others cannot stop for over twenty-four hours. Regardless of the severity of the addiction, many of the same effects will be experienced by all.

One common effect of video game addiction is isolation and withdrawal from social experiences. Video game players often hide in their homes or in Internet cafés for days at a time—only reemerging for the most pressing tasks and necessities. The effect of this isolation can lead to a breakdown of communication skills and often a loss in socialization. While it is true that many games, especially massive multiplayer online games, involve a very real form of e-based communication and coordination with others, and these virtual interactions often result in real communities that can be healthy for the players, these communities and forms of communication rarely translate to the types of valuable social interaction that humans need to maintain typical social functioning. As a result, the social networking in these online games often gives the users the impression that they are interacting socially, while their true social lives and personal relations may suffer.

Another unfortunate product of the isolation that often accompanies video game addiction is the disruption of the user’s career. While many players manage to enjoy video games and still hold their jobs without problems, others experience challenges at their workplace. Some may only experience warnings or demerits as a result of poorer performance, or others may end up losing their jobs altogether. Playing video games for extended periods of time often involves sleep deprivation, and this tends to carry over to the workplace, reducing production and causing habitual tardiness.

Video game addiction may result in a decline in overall health and hygiene. Players who interact with video games for such significant amounts of time can go an entire day without eating and even longer without basic hygiene tasks, such as using the restroom or bathing. The effects of this behavior pose significant danger to their overall health.

The causes of video game addiction are complex and can vary greatly, but the effects have the potential to be severe. Playing video games can and should be a fun activity for all to enjoy. But just like everything else, the amount of time one spends playing video games needs to be balanced with personal and social responsibilities.

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Chapter 6: 21st-century media and issues

6.5.4 Video games in the world of education (research essay)

Anonymous English 102 Writer

The relationship between education and new technologies, more specifically video games, has long been debated about and judged without a full understanding of the actual potential of the combination of the two. New methods such as using video games as an education tool are almost always overlooked by educators even though they may be missing out on a niche form of education that can keep students far more engaged in the subject they are learning while also encouraging them to continue learning because they are also having fun. It is also often overlooked that playing video games can potentially in some way increase the players’ skills in communication through the usage and improvement of communication required in some games. I share the belief that video games have great potential to be used as a tool for education if more educators would give them a shot and test them out. I also believe that video games have very high potential to improve the communication skills of those who play them. There are also many researchers and educators who share these beliefs and would like to see the use of video games as an education tool more widespread in the future. Many of these researchers and educators that believe in the use of video games as an education tool are of this opinion because they have tested this on students and found results that sway them to see the potential of this form of teaching. Though obviously video games could never become a primary education tool or mainstream form of communication, I think that video games could be utilized well as a form of education and that they could be used by many as a way to improve their communication skills.

Personally, I think video games have a good positive effect on the communication skills of those who play them. I have been playing video games for a large portion of my life and I think the form of communication within some of the more competitive games can have an effect on my communication skills. I think they do this by forcing the player to communicate in the typical form of the game which then have an effect on real world communication skills. In my experience, this increase in communication skill comes from the specific form of communication that happens in competitive video games. This includes games such as one of my personal favorites, Call of Duty Warzone. In order to communicate effectively, the players must communicate through quick and effective bursts of information. In Warzone, my teammates and I must communicate quickly to tell each other important information such as the location of enemies, or where to find valuable resources such as weapons, ammunition and armor. I can do this by either talking to the teammates through a microphone, or using a system called pinging. Pinging is an in game system where you look at an item or location you want to show to your teammates, then hit a button to place a ping there that is displayed to the rest of your team. The most effective way to communicate in Warzone is a combination of both pinging and rapid verbal communication. This way a player can verbally tell their teammates exactly what they are talking about while simultaneously pinging it to show their teammates visually. With the visual indicator on the screen from the ping, and the verbal description from teammates, it should be the most efficient way to tell a teammates something quickly. While some other games also have a pinging system, most force the players to be most reliant on communicating verbally with quick and information packed sentences. This is because while playing these games, the players do not have time to communicate with each other in long detailed sentences. They need to cut down the time it takes to relay information to teammates or often it will be too late for that information to be important anymore. In the time I have played video games I find most of this to be accurate and I believe it has had at least some effect on my communication skills in high stress situations. I also have personal experience with the use of video games education. When I was in elementary school, I frequently used a computer game to help me practice my speed of completing math equations. Even though I was learning the same thing that the teacher was teaching at school, I was much more engaged and interested because a game was more fun that simply doing equations on a sheet of paper. I think that this kind of education can be used much more often to keep students engaged with the subject they are learning. Overall, I have a good connection to this subject and feel confident in the positive relationship between video games and education as well as communication skills.

First, I will explore the research on the topic of the relationship between playing video games and communication skills. A question that I think is important to answer about this topic is how does video game communication effect real world communication skills. Many researchers have studied this relationship to examine video games effects on communication. One such researcher is Kenneth Horowitz in his article “Video Games and English as a Second Language: The Effect of Massive Multiplayer Online Video Games on The Willingness to Communicate and Communicative Anxiety of College Students in Puerto Rico”. In this article Horowitz studies a group of students from Puerto Rico who are attempting to learn English while using video games as one of their forms of learning. As they play these games it works on their English communication skills furthering their knowledge of the language. Horowitz regards new technology and the internet as a whole as a fascinating new potential form of education and more specifically a form of improving the communication skills in those who are learning a new language (Horowitz 379). Because this study revolves around students who are learning English rather than improving on the English skills they already have it is a slightly different situation than the research question asks but still mostly related enough to be relevant. The research was gathered through two questionaries given through the internet to the research participants further relating the connection to the internet and technology to education (Horowitz 391). This means there was a variety of ways for the participants of the study to express the affect the study had on them to diversify the results. While the participants played a wide variety of video game titles and genres, the results and levels of communication between the players did not change but stayed at a similar level relative to each other (Horowitz 398). While the messages players communicate to each other in these different games titles and genres may be different it still requires the same kind of communicative skill to get the message across to teammates effectively. Overall, the relationship between the time of video games played and the skill in communication is a positive correlation (Horowitz 398). When applied to the research question about Video Games correlation to real world communication skills, Horowitz’s research would seem to suggest that Video games do in fact have a positive effect on a person’s real life communication skills in a significant way. Another article that deals with this research question is “Games at Work: Examining a Model of Team Effectiveness in an Interdependent Gaming Task” by Sylvia Luu and Anupama Narayan. This article is another one that deals with how video games and gamification can help people work better as a team in other aspects of life other than video games. The term gamification is used frequently throughout the article, and I think this term is a great term to relate to this essay and the research questions within it as a whole. As stated in the article, gamification could be described as a way of applying skills and aspects of video game behavior into real life situations and circumstances as a way to more efficiently handle them when the need arises (Luu and Narayan 110). The gamification of everyday tasks or especially tasks that have to do with communication and education relates directly to the research question of video games having an effect on real world communication skills. In this article’s experiment a wide range of students volunteered to take part by working together in a video game designed to specifically bring out the teamwork and communication skills of those who played it (Luu and Narayan 114). In contrast to Horowitz’s study, this experiment uses its own game in contrast with Horowitz allowing the participants in the study to play whatever game they chose by themselves. This provides a different point of view and wider range of research data to support this main concept of improvement in communication skill. In the end of the study, it was shown that more communication between the players in the game lead to better performance overall and satisfaction between teammates (Luu and Narayan 116). When the players who participated in the study communicated more it led to a higher rate of success and level of approving between teammates which could be translated to communication in real life scenarios and demonstrates how the communication in video games is not all that different from communication in real life. Yet another article that deals with the ways video games have an effect on a person’s communication skills is “Using video game to enhance English communication skills” by Alex Roach and Yeski Utami. Once again, this article similarly dives into the gamification of education and communication and how video games can incentivize and reward the improvement of communication skills. The article goes over several types of games that can benefit from good communication skills including co-operative games which are directly related to the players working together and communicating as well as they can in order to accomplish their tasks effectively (Roach and Utami 202). Multiple different genres and types of video games have varying degrees of connection to communication and how it can be improved. The research done in this article was based on two different games played by several groups of students in order to diversify and expand the range of results possible to be shown in the data of the experiment (Roach and Utami 203). With multiple different games to play it becomes easier to show and more apparent that the results of one game are not an outlier to the hypothesis. In the results of the experiment, it is believed that the communication between players had a very positive effect on the success in playing the games and that good communication was very important and incentivized for a good performance (Roach and Utami 204). When the students in the experiment communicated better, they performed better in the experiment which shows the strong connection between playing video games and communication skills. Another, more specific article on this topic is “Can game-based learning enhance engineering communication skills?” by Cheyrl Bondar and Renee Clark. Obviously, this article is of a similar topic as the last few but is more specifically relegated to the topic of engineering students using video games in a similar way as the others. This article is based on a study on several hundred engineering students who were asked to write and deliver a presentation on a subject while first using video games as a way to see how the effect the skill in communication among these engineering students (Bondar and Clark 25-26). Though the final presentation these students are composing is not about video games or communication skills, the way video games are implemented into the study still creates an effective situation for the research to show how video games can affect communication skills in these students. The way the video games were used in this study was the students developed their own games specifically designed around different types of communication such as verbal, nonverbal and written communication. These games were meant to test each student in how well they can properly use these different types of communication to complete their assigned final presentations (Bondar and Clark 35). As the students play these several different games with varying objectives, they are also working together closely much like how they will need to for their presentations at the end of the year. In the final results of this study, it was discovered that the positive correlation in communication skills was only found in the level of out loud verbal communication skills (Bondar and Clark 39). This finding shows how playing video games improves the communication each of the players have with and between each other. It seems to show that as the players proceed through the games, they mainly communicate out loud with each other even when playing the games designed around other forms of communication therefor having a much greater effect on their verbal communication skills rather than non-verbal communication skills. Overall, this article and its research show that even when working towards an unrelated goal, video game players who are effectively communicating with each other will see a great improvement in their level of skill in that same kind of verbal communication. My second to last piece of writing on this particular research question is a CNN article titled “Video Games Help Children Improve Literacy, Communication and Mental Well-Being, Survey Finds” by Alaa Elassar. This article and its message are based on a survey administered to several thousand teenagers in a small range of different ages on how they believe playing video games effects their lives. They are asked about how they think playing video games has an effect on multiple different aspects including their skill in reading as well as their writing ability (Elassar). Many people including those in the age range of this survey know that playing video games and reading and writing skills are much more closely related than most would think. These teenagers who participated in the survey also report that the video games they play are a major topic of discussion between them and their friends when they talk (Elassar). While this particular finding may not show direct increase in communication skill related to video games, it does show that playing video games can increase the amount of communicating a person does throughout their day both while playing and when they are not. Many of these teens think playing their video games are a fun and entertaining way for them to build connections and friendships both with people they know in real life and with new people they meet online through the games (Elassar). This shows that playing video games creates and strengthens connections between those who play them together. In a somewhat unrelated note, the participants of the survey also report that playing video games helps reduce their stress and other negative feelings (Elassar). Overall, the playing of video games has a positive effect on most children who play them both in their ability to communicate and on their mental well being. Finally, I have one more online article titled “Video Games Level up Life Skills” by Kathryn Hulick. This article is a simple online piece of writing that conveys the message of how video games can build their valuable life skills such as communication and improvisation or resourcefulness (Hulick). As players play video games, they work on these skills by stimulating their minds in a casual and entertaining way. The article references a study conducted in Scotland about students who played video games during their school week to see if it had any effect on their school performance (Hulick). In comparison to the control group that played no video games during the study did not show as big of an improvement in the traits they were asked to report on, resourcefulness, adaptability and communication skills, as the group of students who did play video games consistently throughout the two months the study was conducted over (Hulick). All of these articles display a very strong connection between communication skills and the amount of video games the players play.

The second part of this essay will be focused around a different connection to video games. The research question for this portion is can video games be used as an effective education tool. The first source I would like to use for this topic is “Video Games Can Develop Graduate Skills in Higher Education Students: A Randomized Trial” by Matthew Barr. This article is based on a trail to show how video games can be used as an education tool. The study is about a group of subjects who were asked to play video games and report how they were affected in a cognitive and social context (Barr 86). The participants play a wide variety of games that have the potential to have educational value to explore many different methods of teaching from a video game. By the end of the research, it was shown that the students involved in the study did show good results for a test administered by the researchers possibly indicating a link between video games and effective communication skills (Barr 90). This shows what my research question aims to ask that video games while not a main source of education can be used as a tool for educating in some instances where it applies and for specific skills. The next source for this research question is titled quite simply “Gaming as a Teaching Tool” written by Brandon Baker. This source is another website article that aims to point out a positive connection between video game playing and engaging education for students. The article discusses many ways video games are being used in various different environments including the military, fitness, and of course schools themselves (Baker). With such a diverse range of games and genres it is possible for video games to be used in hundreds of different contexts and environments as an educational tool in one way or another. Professor Yasmin Kafai certifies that video games have a long extensive history in education and that their modern surge in use is nothing new as Professor Kafai verifies with the course she created titled Video Games and the Virtual World which deals extensively with how video games can be used for educational purposes in many different scenarios (Baker). As Professor Kafai’s course most likely verifies, video games have had a long history of educational purposes even when it may not seem very obvious or apparent. There are many games that have very specific educational values and themes that were made exclusively for classroom education purposes rather than for entertainment purposes such as a game titled Math Blasters (Baker). Although there are some games that are made specifically for educational purposes and not for entertainment purposes, it is still possible and even likely that more entertainment focused video game titles are capable of having educational value whether it is intended or not. Recent events, especially the COVID-19 pandemic, have shown that video games and other technology based methods can be extremely effective and sometimes vital to a learning environments benefit (Baker). When the world of education suddenly became almost entirely reliant on technology to administer its lessons to students it is possible that many educators became at least somewhat aware that video games have a much higher potential of educational use than many would have previously thought. In summation, Baker’s article is very aware and expressive of how the world of education is already very much connected to video games and that they have a bright future in the educational field now that technology has taken on such a crucial role in the field. Another source that deals with this topic is “A New Venue for Video Games: K-12 Classrooms” written by Carolyn Jones. This article begins by describing a teacher who struggled to keep his students engaged and interested in the subject matter until he instituted video games as a way to make his class more engaging and fun for the students. He began to use Minecraft: Education Edition as a part of his history class and witnessed as it drastically increased his student’s engagement with the course material (Jones). When students are given a more entertaining way to learn the same material as a more traditional classroom experience can offer, the entertaining option will usually be much more appealing and effective at keeping the students interested in the material. Other educational games such as Dragon Box focus around other school subjects such as math to provide a wider range of teaching ability across multiple different possible forms of presentation (Jones). Many games have specialty areas of education just like different teachers are more informed on certain subjects. My last source for this question is “The Benefits of Gaming in Education: the Build A World Case” which has no listed author. The article states that gaming has numerous social and psychological benefits to its players and that these benefits have countless positive effects even in the area of education (The Benefits of Gaming). These benefits are often somewhat overlooked but have a very great impact on students and other young people who play video games. As students play video games they are idly and subconsciously improving their critical thinking and technical skills due to the quick snap decisions and puzzle solving that many games have included within them (The Benefits of Gaming). Video games are not often made purposfully with the goal of education in mind but they very often include puzzles and other stimulating challenges that require the player to think critically. Overall These sources all seem to indicate that there is a strong relationship between video games and the field of education.

Works Cited

Horowitz, Kenneth S. “Video Games and English as a Second Language: The Effect of Massive Multiplayer Online Video Games on The Willingness to Communicate and Communicative Anxiety of College Students in Puerto Rico.”  American Journal of Play , vol. 11, no. 3, Jan. 2019, pp. 379–410.  EBSCOhost , search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1220304&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Luu, Sylvia, and Anupama Narayan. “Games at Work: Examining a Model of Team Effectiveness in an Interdependent Gaming Task.”  Computers in Human Behavior , vol. 77, Dec. 2017, pp. 110–120.  EBSCOhost , doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.08.025.

Barr, Matthew. “Video Games Can Develop Graduate Skills in Higher Education Students: A Randomized Trial.”  Online Submission , vol. 113, Jan. 2017, pp. 86–97.  EBSCOhost , search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED608315&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Roach, Alex, and Yeski Utami. “Using video game to enhance English communication skills.”  Proceedings of ISELT FBS Universitas Negeri Padang  5 (2017): 200-204.

Bodnar, Cheryl A., and Renee M. Clark. “Can game-based learning enhance engineering communication skills?.”  IEEE transactions on professional communication  60.1 (2017): 24-41.

Squire, Kurt. “Video games in education.”  Int. J. Intell. Games & Simulation  2.1 (2003): 49-62.

Baker, Brandon, “Gaming as a Teaching Tool.”  Penn Today , 6 May 2020, penntoday.upenn.edu/news/gaming-teaching-tool.

Jones, Carolyn. “A New Venue for Video Games: K-12 Classrooms  .”  EdSource , EdSource, 7 May 2018, edsource.org/2018/a-new-venue-for-video-games-k-12-classrooms/597100.

“The Benefits of Gaming in Education: the Build A World Case.”  Acer for Education , 27 Jan. 2017, acerforeducation.acer.com/education-trends/gamification/the-benefits-of-gaming-in-education-the-build-a-world-case/.

Elassar, Alaa. “Video Games Help Children Improve Literacy, Communication and Mental Well-Being, Survey Finds.”  CNN , Cable News Network, 5 Sept. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/09/05/health/video-games-literacy-creativity-children-trnd/index.html.

Hulick, Kathryn. “Video Games Level up Life Skills.”  Science News for Students , 3 Dec. 2019, www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/video-games-level-life-skills.

Fishman, Andrew. “Video Games Are Social Spaces: How Video Games Help People Connect.”  Video Games Are Social Spaces: How Video Games Help People Connect | ResponseCenter , www.jcfs.org/response/blog/video-games-are-social-spaces-how-video-games-help-people-connect.

Understanding Literacy in Our Lives by Anonymous English 102 Writer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Does Video Gaming Have Impacts on the Brain: Evidence from a Systematic Review

Denilson brilliant t..

1 Department of Biomedicine, Indonesia International Institute for Life Sciences (i3L), East Jakarta 13210, Indonesia

2 Smart Ageing Research Center (SARC), Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan; pj.ca.ukohot@iur (R.N.); pj.ca.ukohot@atuyr (R.K.)

3 Department of Cognitive Health Science, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan

Ryuta Kawashima

4 Department of Functional Brain Imaging, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer (IDAC), Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan

Video gaming, the experience of playing electronic games, has shown several benefits for human health. Recently, numerous video gaming studies showed beneficial effects on cognition and the brain. A systematic review of video gaming has been published. However, the previous systematic review has several differences to this systematic review. This systematic review evaluates the beneficial effects of video gaming on neuroplasticity specifically on intervention studies. Literature research was conducted from randomized controlled trials in PubMed and Google Scholar published after 2000. A systematic review was written instead of a meta-analytic review because of variations among participants, video games, and outcomes. Nine scientific articles were eligible for the review. Overall, the eligible articles showed fair quality according to Delphi Criteria. Video gaming affects the brain structure and function depending on how the game is played. The game genres examined were 3D adventure, first-person shooting (FPS), puzzle, rhythm dance, and strategy. The total training durations were 16–90 h. Results of this systematic review demonstrated that video gaming can be beneficial to the brain. However, the beneficial effects vary among video game types.

1. Introduction

Video gaming refers to the experience of playing electronic games, which vary from action to passive games, presenting a player with physical and mental challenges. The motivation to play video games might derive from the experience of autonomy or competing with others, which can explain why video gaming is pleasurable and addictive [ 1 ].

Video games can act as “teachers” depending on the game purpose [ 2 ]. Video gaming has varying effects depending on the game genre. For instance, an active video game can improve physical fitness [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ], whereas social video games can improve social behavior [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. The most interesting results show that playing video games can change cognition and the brain [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ].

Earlier studies have demonstrated that playing video games can benefit cognition. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have demonstrated that the experience of video gaming is associated with better cognitive function, specifically in terms of visual attention and short-term memory [ 14 ], reaction time [ 15 ], and working memory [ 16 ]. Additionally, some randomized controlled studies show positive effects of video gaming interventions on cognition [ 17 , 18 ]. Recent meta-analytical studies have also supported the positive effects of video gaming on cognition [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. These studies demonstrate that playing video games does provide cognitive benefits.

The effects of video gaming intervention are ever more widely discussed among scientists [ 13 ]. A review of the results and methodological quality of recently published intervention studies must be done. One systematic review of video gaming and neural correlates has been reported [ 19 ]. However, the technique of neuroimaging of the reviewed studies was not specific. This systematic review reviewed only magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies in contrast to the previous systematic review to focus on neuroplasticity effect. Neuroplasticity is capability of the brain that accommodates adaptation for learning, memorizing, and recovery purposes [ 19 ]. In normal adaptation, the brain is adapting to learn, remember, forget, and repair itself. Recent studies using MRI for brain imaging techniques have demonstrated neuroplasticity effects after an intervention, which include cognitive, exercise, and music training on the grey matter [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ] and white matter [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. However, the molecular mechanisms of the grey and white matter change remain inconclusive. The proposed mechanisms for the grey matter change are neurogenesis, gliogenesis, synaptogenesis, and angiogenesis, whereas those for white matter change are myelin modeling and formation, fiber organization, and angiogenesis [ 30 ]. Recent studies using MRI technique for brain imaging have demonstrated video gaming effects on neuroplasticity. Earlier imaging studies using cross-sectional and longitudinal methods have shown that playing video games affects the brain structure by changing the grey matter [ 31 , 32 , 33 ], white matter [ 34 , 35 ], and functional connectivity [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ]. Additionally, a few intervention studies have demonstrated that playing video games changed brain structure and functions [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ].

The earlier review also found a link between neural correlates of video gaming and cognitive function [ 19 ]. However, that review used both experimental and correlational studies and included non-healthy participants, which contrasts to this review. The differences between this and the previous review are presented in Table 1 . This review assesses only experimental studies conducted of healthy participants. Additionally, the cross-sectional and longitudinal studies merely showed an association between video gaming experiences and the brain, showing direct effects of playing video games in the brain is difficult. Therefore, this systematic review specifically examined intervention studies. This review is more specific as it reviews intervention and MRI studies on healthy participants. The purposes of this systematic review are therefore to evaluate the beneficial effects of video gaming and to assess the methodological quality of recent video gaming intervention studies.

Differences between previous review and current review.

CT, computed tomography; fMRI, functional magnetic resonance imaging; MEG, magnetoencephalography MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; PET, positron emission tomography; SPECT, single photon emission computed tomography; tDCS, transcranial direct current stimulation; EEG, electroencephalography; NIRS, near-infrared spectroscopy.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. search strategy.

This systematic review was designed in accordance with the PRISMA checklist [ 44 ] shown in Appendix Table A1 . A literature search was conducted using PubMed and Google Scholar to identify relevant studies. The keywords used for the literature search were combinations of “video game”, “video gaming”, “game”, “action video game”, “video game training”, “training”, “play”, “playing”, “MRI”, “cognitive”, “cognition”, “executive function”, and “randomized control trial”.

2.2. Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

The primary inclusion criteria were randomized controlled trial study, video game interaction, and MRI/fMRI analysis. Studies that qualified with only one or two primary inclusions were not included. Review papers and experimental protocols were also not included. The secondary inclusion criteria were publishing after 2000 and published in English. Excluded were duration of less than 4 weeks or unspecified length intervention or combination intervention. Also excluded were studies of cognition-based games, and studies of participants with psychiatric, cognitive, neurological, and medical disorders.

2.3. Quality Assessment

Each of the quality studies was assessed using Delphi criteria [ 45 ] with several additional elements [ 46 ]: details of allocation methods, adequate descriptions of control and training groups, statistical comparisons between control and training groups, and dropout reports. The respective total scores (max = 12) are shown in Table 3. The quality assessment also includes assessment for risk of bias, which is shown in criteria numbers 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 12.

2.4. Statistical Analysis

Instead of a meta-analysis study, a systematic review of the video game training/video gaming and the effects was conducted because of the variation in ranges of participant age, video game genre, control type, MRI and statistical analysis, and training outcomes. Therefore, the quality, inclusion and exclusion, control, treatment, game title, participants, training period, and MRI analysis and specification of the studies were recorded for the respective games.

The literature search made of the databases yielded 140 scientific articles. All scientific articles were screened based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Of those 140 scientific articles, nine were eligible for the review [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ]. Video gaming effects are listed in Table 2 .

Summary of beneficial effect of video gaming.

Duration was converted into weeks (1 month = 4 weeks); DLPFC, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; GM, grey matter; FPS, first person shooting. * Participants were categorized based on how they played during the video gaming intervention.

We excluded 121 articles: 46 were not MRI studies, 16 were not controlled studies, 38 were not intervention studies, 13 were review articles, and eight were miscellaneous, including study protocols, non-video gaming studies, and non-brain studies. Of 18 included scientific articles, nine were excluded. Of those nine excluded articles, two were cognitive-based game studies, three were shorter than 4 weeks in duration or were without a specified length intervention, two studies used a non-healthy participant treatment, and one was a combination intervention study. A screening flowchart is portrayed in Figure 1 .

Flowchart of literature search.

3.1. Quality Assessment

The assessment methodology based on Delphi criteria [ 45 ] for the quality of eligible studies is presented in Table 3 . The quality scores assigned to the studies were 3–9 (mean = 6.10; S.D. = 1.69). Overall, the studies showed fair methodological quality according to the Delphi criteria. The highest quality score of the nine eligible articles was assigned to “Playing Super Mario 64 increases hippocampal grey matter in older adult” published by West et al. in 2017, which scored 9 of 12. The scores assigned for criteria 6 (blinded care provider) and 7 (blinded patient) were lowest because of unspecified information related to blinding for those criteria. Additionally, criteria 2 (concealed allocation) and 5 (blinding assessor) were low because only two articles specified that information. All articles met criteria 3 and 4 adequately.

Methodological quality of eligible studies.

Q1, Random allocation; Q2, Concealed allocation; Q3, Similar baselines among groups; Q4, Eligibility specified; Q5, Blinded assessor outcome; Q6, Blinded care provider; Q7, Blinded patient; Q8, Intention-to-treat analysis; Q9, Detail of allocation method; Q10, Adequate description of each group; Q11, Statistical comparison between groups; Q12, Dropout report (1, specified; 0, unspecified).

3.2. Inclusion and Exclusion

Most studies included participants with little or no experience with gaming and excluded participants with psychiatric/mental, neurological, and medical illness. Four studies specified handedness of the participants and excluded participants with game training experience. The inclusion and exclusion criteria are presented in Table 4 .

Inclusion and exclusion criteria for eligible studies.

i1, Little/no experience in video gaming; i2, Right-handed; i3, Sex-specific; e1, Psychiatric/mental illness; e2, Neurological illness; e3, Medical illness; e4, MRI contraindication; e5, experience in game training.

3.3. Control Group

Nine eligible studies were categorized as three types based on the control type. Two studies used active control, five studies used passive control, and two studies used both active and passive control. A summary of the control group is presented in Table 5 .

Control group examined eligible studies.

3.4. Game Title and Genre

Of the nine eligible studies, four used the same 3D adventure game with different game platforms, which were “Super Mario 64” original and the DS version. One study used first-person shooting (FPS) shooting games with many different game titles: “Call of Duty” is one title. Two studies used puzzle games: “Tetris” and “Professor Layton and The Pandora’s Box.” One study used a rhythm dance game: Dance Revolution. One study used a strategy game: “Space Fortress.” Game genres are presented in Table 6 .

Genres and game titles of video gaming intervention.

* West et al. used multiple games; other games are Call of Duty 2, 3, Black Ops, and World at War, Killzone 2 and 3, Battlefield 2, 3, and 4, Resistance 2 and Fall of Man, and Medal of Honor.

3.5. Participants and Sample Size

Among the nine studies, one study examined teenage participants, six studies included young adult participants, and two studies assessed older adult participants. Participant information is shown in Table 7 . Numbers of participants were 20–75 participants (mean = 43.67; S.D. = 15.63). Three studies examined female-only participants, whereas six others used male and female participants. Six studies with female and male participants had more female than male participants.

Participant details of eligible studies.

3.6. Training Period and Intensity

The training period was 4–24 weeks (mean = 11.49; S.D. = 6.88). One study by Lee et al. had two length periods and total hours because the study examined video game training of two types. The total training hours were 16–90 h (mean = 40.63; S.D. = 26.22), whereas the training intensity was 1.5–10.68 h/week (mean = 4.96; S.D. = 3.00). One study did not specify total training hours. Two studies did not specify the training intensity. The training periods and intensities are in Table 8 .

Periods and intensities of video gaming intervention.

The training length was converted into weeks (1 month = 4 weeks). ns, not specified; n/a, not available; * exact length is not available.

3.7. MRI Analysis and Specifications

Of nine eligible studies, one study used resting-state MRI analysis, three studies (excluding that by Haier et al. [ 40 ]) used structural MRI analysis, and five studies used task-based MRI analysis. A study by Haier et al. used MRI analyses of two types [ 40 ]. A summary of MRI analyses is presented in Table 9 . The related resting-state, structural, and task-based MRI specifications are presented in Table 10 , Table 11 and Table 12 respectively.

MRI analysis details of eligible studies.

* Haier et al. conducted structural and task analyses. + Compared pre-training and post-training between groups without using contrast. TFCE, Threshold Free Cluster Enhancement; FEW, familywise error rate; FDR, false discovery rate.

Resting-State MRI specifications of eligible studies.

Structural MRI specifications of eligible studies.

Task-Based MRI specifications of eligible studies.

All analyses used 3 Tesla magnetic force; TR = repetition time; TE = echo time, ns = not specified.

4. Discussion

This literature review evaluated the effect of noncognitive-based video game intervention on the cognitive function of healthy people. Comparison of studies is difficult because of the heterogeneities of participant ages, beneficial effects, and durations. Comparisons are limited to studies sharing factors.

4.1. Participant Age

Video gaming intervention affects all age categories except for the children category. The exception derives from a lack of intervention studies using children as participants. The underlying reason for this exception is that the brain is still developing until age 10–12 [ 52 , 53 ]. Among the eligible studies were a study investigating adolescents [ 40 ], six studies investigating young adults [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 47 , 49 , 51 ] and two studies investigating older adults [ 48 , 50 ].

Differences among study purposes underlie the differences in participant age categories. The study by Haier et al. was intended to study adolescents because the category shows the most potential brain changes. The human brain is more sensitive to synaptic reorganization during the adolescent period [ 54 ]. Generally, grey matter decreases whereas white matter increases during the adolescent period [ 55 , 56 ]. By contrast, the cortical surface of the brain increases despite reduction of grey matter [ 55 , 57 ]. Six studies were investigating young adults with the intention of studying brain changes after the brain reaches maturity. The human brain reaches maturity during the young adult period [ 58 ]. Two studies were investigating older adults with the intention of combating difficulties caused by aging. The human brain shrinks as age increases [ 56 , 59 ], which almost invariably leads to declining cognitive function [ 59 , 60 ].

4.2. Beneficial Effects

Three beneficial outcomes were observed using MRI method: grey matter change [ 40 , 42 , 50 ], brain activity change [ 40 , 43 , 47 , 48 , 49 ], and functional connectivity change [ 41 ]. The affected brain area corresponds to how the respective games were played.

Four studies of 3D video gaming showed effects on the structure of hippocampus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), cerebellum [ 42 , 43 , 50 ], and DLPFC [ 43 ] and ventral striatum activity [ 49 ]. In this case, the hippocampus is used for memory [ 61 ] and scene recognition [ 62 ], whereas the DLPFC and cerebellum are used for working memory function for information manipulation and problem-solving processes [ 63 ]. The grey matter of the corresponding brain region has been shown to increase during training [ 20 , 64 ]. The increased grey matter of the hippocampus, DLPFC, and cerebellum are associated with better performance in reference and working memory [ 64 , 65 ].

The reduced activity of DLPFC found in the study by Gleich et al. corresponds to studies that showed reduced brain activity associated with brain training [ 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ]. Decreased activity of the DLPFC after training is associated with efficiency in divergent thinking [ 70 ]. 3D video gaming also preserved reward systems by protecting the activity of the ventral striatum [ 71 ].

Two studies of puzzle gaming showed effects on the structure of the visual–spatial processing area, activity of the frontal area, and functional connectivity change. The increased grey matter of the visual–spatial area and decreased activity of the frontal area are similar to training-associated grey matter increase [ 20 , 64 ] and activity decrease [ 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ]. In this case, visual–spatial processing and frontal area are used constantly for spatial prediction and problem-solving of Tetris. Functional connectivity of the multimodal integration and the higher-order executive system in the puzzle solving-based gaming of Professor Layton game corresponds to studies which demonstrated training-associated functional connectivity change [ 72 , 73 ]. Good functional connectivity implies better performance [ 73 ].

Strategy gaming affects the DLPFC activity, whereas rhythm gaming affects the activity of visuospatial working memory, emotional, and attention area. FPS gaming affects the structure of the hippocampus and amygdala. Decreased DLPFC activity is similar to training-associated activity decrease [ 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ]. A study by Roush demonstrated increased activity of visuospatial working memory, emotion, and attention area, which might occur because of exercise and gaming in the Dance Revolution game. Results suggest that positive activations indicate altered functional areas by complex exercise [ 48 ]. The increased grey matter of the hippocampus and amygdala are similar to the training-associated grey matter increase [ 20 , 64 ]. The hippocampus is used for 3D navigation purposes in the FPS world [ 61 ], whereas the amygdala is used to stay alert during gaming [ 74 ].

4.3. Duration

Change of the brain structure and function was observed after 16 h of video gaming. The total durations of video gaming were 16–90 h. However, the gaming intensity must be noted because the gaming intensity varied: 1.5–10.68 h per week. The different intensities might affect the change of cognitive function. Cognitive intervention studies demonstrated intensity effects on the cortical thickness of the brain [ 75 , 76 ]. A similar effect might be observed in video gaming studies. More studies must be conducted to resolve how the intensity can be expected to affect cognitive function.

4.4. Criteria

Almost all studies used inclusion criteria “little/no experience with video games.” The criterion was used to reduce the factor of gaming-related experience on the effects of video gaming. Some of the studies also used specific handedness and specific sex of participants to reduce the variation of brain effects. Expertise and sex are shown to affect brain activity and structure [ 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 ]. The exclusion criterion of “MRI contraindication” is used for participant safety for the MRI protocol, whereas exclusion criteria of “psychiatric/mental illness”, “neurological illness”, and “medical illness” are used to standardize the participants.

4.5. Limitations and Recommendations

Some concern might be raised about the quality of methodology, assessed using Delphi criteria [ 45 ]. The quality was 3–9 (mean = 6.10; S.D. = 1.69). Low quality in most papers resulted from unspecified information corresponding to the criteria. Quality improvements for the studies must be performed related to the low quality of methodology. Allocation concealment, assessor blinding, care provider blinding, participant blinding, intention-to-treat analysis, and allocation method details must be improved in future studies.

Another concern is blinding and control. This type of study differs from medical studies in which patients can be blinded easily. In studies of these types, the participants were tasked to do either training as an active control group or to do nothing as a passive control group. The participants can expect something from the task. The expectation might affect the outcomes of the studies [ 81 , 82 , 83 ]. Additionally, the waiting-list control group might overestimate the outcome of training [ 84 ].

Considering the sample size, which was 20–75 (mean = 43.67; S.D. = 15.63), the studies must be upscaled to emphasize video gaming effects. There are four phases of clinical trials that start from the early stage and small-scale phase 1 to late stage and large-scale phase 3 and end in post-marketing observation phase 4. These four phases are used for drug clinical trials, according to the food and drug administration (FDA) [ 85 ]. Phase 1 has the purpose of revealing the safety of treatment with around 20–100 participants. Phase 2 has the purpose of elucidating the efficacy of the treatment with up to several hundred participants. Phase 3 has the purpose of revealing both efficacy and safety among 300–3000 participants. The final phase 4 has the purpose of finding unprecedented adverse effects of treatment after marketing. However, because medical studies and video gaming intervention studies differ in terms of experimental methods, slight modifications can be done for adaptation to video gaming studies.

Several unresolved issues persist in relation to video gaming intervention. First, no studies assessed chronic/long-term video gaming. The participants might lose their motivation to play the same game over a long time, which might affect the study outcomes [ 86 ]. Second, meta-analyses could not be done because the game genres are heterogeneous. To ensure homogeneity of the study, stricter criteria must be set. However, this step would engender a third limitation. Third, randomized controlled trial video gaming studies that use MRI analysis are few. More studies must be conducted to assess the effects of video gaming. Fourth, the eligible studies lacked cognitive tests to validate the cognitive change effects for training. Studies of video gaming intervention should also include a cognitive test to ascertain the relation between cognitive function and brain change.

5. Conclusions

The systematic review has several conclusions related to beneficial effects of noncognitive-based video games. First, noncognitive-based video gaming can be used in all age categories as a means to improve the brain. However, effects on children remain unclear. Second, noncognitive-based video gaming affects both structural and functional aspects of the brain. Third, video gaming effects were observed after a minimum of 16 h of training. Fourth, some methodology criteria must be improved for better methodological quality. In conclusion, acute video gaming of a minimum of 16 h is beneficial for brain function and structure. However, video gaming effects on the brain area vary depending on the video game type.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all our other colleagues in IDAC, Tohoku University for their support.

PRISMA Checklist of the literature review.

For more information, visit: www.prisma-statement.org .

Author Contributions

D.B.T., R.N., and R.K. designed the systematic review. D.B.T. and R.N. searched and selected the papers. D.B.T. and R.N. wrote the manuscript with R.K. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. D.B.T. and R.N. contributed equally to this work.

Study is supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 17H06046 (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas) and 16KT0002 (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)).

Conflicts of Interest

None of the other authors has any conflict of interest to declare. Funding sources are not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, or writing of the study report.

Essays About Video Games: Top 12 Examples and Prompts

Video games have revolutionized the way we have fun today. If you are writing essays about video games, check out our guide to inspire your writing.  

Few can contest the fact that video games have taken over the world. From the basic, almost “primitive” games of the 1970s like Pong to the mind-bending virtual reality games of the 2020s, they have been a source of entertainment for all. Moreover, they have proven quite profitable; countries like Japan and the United States have made tens of billions of dollars solely from the video game market.

Despite their popularity, much has been debated over the potentially harmful side effects that video games may have, particularly on children. One side argues that playing certain video games can lead to people exhibiting violence in the future, while others believe that video games teach players essential life skills. Regardless, they will continue to be a part of our lives for the foreseeable future. 

For engaging essays about video games, read the essay examples featured below for inspiration.

1. What electronic games can teach us by Kendall Powell

2. designers are imagining video games without guns by keith stuart, 3. playing video games all summer won’t make you feel worse by nicole wetsman, 4.  violent video games bad by andrea newman.

• 5. ​​The health effects of too much gaming by Peter Grinspoon

Writing Prompts For Essays About Video Games

1. video games: good or bad, 2. the benefits of video games, 3. what is your favorite video game, 4. do video games cause people to become violent, 5. video games in your life, 6. video games vs. traditional games, 7. is the video game rating system enough.

“In other studies, researchers found that gamers who trained on Tetris were better at mentally rotating two-dimensional shapes than those who played a control game. Students who played two hours of All You Can E.T., an educational game designed to enhance the executive function of switching between tasks, improved their focus-shifting skills compared with students who played a word search game.”

Powell explains a few possibilities of applying video games to education. As it turns out, certain video games can improve players’ skills, depending on the mechanics. Researchers are inspired by this and hope to take advantage of the competitive, motivational nature of gaming to encourage children to learn. New games are designed to help kids improve their focus, coordination, and resilience, and game designers hope they will succeed. 

“Imagine a game where you’re a war reporter seeking to capture the most iconic, representative images in a battle environment: You’d still get the sense of peril that audiences expect from action adventures, but your relationship with the environment would be more profound. It would be Call of Duty from the perspective of a creative participant rather than a violent interloper.”

The graphic nature of some video games is said to make kids violent, so it is only natural that some creators try to change this. Stuart writes that it is possible to maintain the fun that shooter-type games induce without using guns. He gives examples of games where you do not kill your enemy, simply stunning or capturing them instead. He also suggests photography as an alternative to killing in a “shooting” game. Finally, he suggests basing video games around helping others, making friends, and doing more peaceful, creative tasks.

“Any role video games play in skewing well-being that did pop up in the study was too small to have a real-world impact on how people feel, the authors said. People would have to play games for 10 more hours per day than their baseline to notice changes in their well-being, the study found.”

Wetsman counters the widespread belief that video games “destroy your brain.” Research done with a sample of 39,000 players over six weeks has shown that whether one plays video games for long or short periods, their mental health is not impacted much. There are some exceptions; however, there are not enough to conclude that video games are, in fact, harmful.

“Some people believe that the connection between violent games, and real violence is also fairly intuitive. In playing the games kids are likely to become desensitized to gory images;which could make them less disturbing, and perhaps easier to deal with in real life. While video games aren’t about violence their capacity to teach can be a good thing.”

In her essay, Newman writes about the supposed promotion of violence in some video games. However, she believes this violence does not cause people to be more aggressive later. Instead, she believes these games expose children to certain atrocities so they will not be traumatized if they see them in real life. In addition, these games supposedly promote connections and friendships. Finally, Newman believes that these “harmful” can make you a better person.

5. ​​ The health effects of too much gaming by Peter Grinspoon

“Gamers need to be educated on how to protect their thumbs, wrists, and elbows, their waistlines, their emotional state, their sleep, and their eyes. Simple education around taking breaks, stretching, eating healthy snacks, and resting and icing your thumb, wrist, or elbow when it starts hurting can address injuries early, before they become significant. For the eyes, gamers can try the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, try to look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.”

Grinspoon discusses both the benefits and the health risks of gaming. Video games allow people to interact with each other remotely and bond over specific missions or tasks, and some research shows that they have cognitive benefits. However, some gamers may develop vision problems and hand and wrist injuries. Gaming and “staring in front of a screen the whole day” is also associated with obesity. Overall, Grinspoon believes that gaming is best done in moderation.

Looking for more? Check out these essays about hobbies .

Many parents believe that their children’s “bad behavior” is because of video games. Based on your experience and others, decide: are video games good or bad for you? Make sure to read viewpoints from both sides and write an essay based on your position. Would you encourage others to play video games? Discuss these pros and cons for an interesting argumentative essay.

Like anything else, video games have both positive and negative aspects. Explain the good that video games can do for you: the skills they can equip you with, the lessons they can teach, and anything else. Also, include whether you believe their benefits outweigh the disadvantages they may pose. 

For your essay, write about your favorite video game and why you chose it. What is its meaning to you, and how has it affected your life? Describe the gameplay mechanics, characters, storyline, and general impact on the gaming community or society. You can write about any game you want, even if you have not played it; just ensure the content is sufficient.

Many claim that playing violent video games can make you violent in the future. Research this phenomenon and conclude whether it is true or not. Is the evidence sufficient? There are many resources on this topic; support your argument by citing credible sources, such as news articles, statistics, and scientific research.

Video games have been a part of almost all our lives. Recall a treasured experience with video games and explain why it is significant. How old were you? Why do you remember it fondly? How did this experience make you feel? Answer these questions in your own words for an exciting essay.

There are stark differences between video and traditional games, such as board games and card games. For an engaging essay, compare and contrast them and write about which is more entertaining, in your opinion. Be creative; this should be based on your own opinions and ideas.

The video game content rating system is used to classify video games based on their appropriateness for specific ages. However, parents complain that they are not strict enough and allow the display of violent content to children. Explore the criteria behind the rating system, decide whether it needs to be changed or not, and give examples to support your argument.

If you are interested in learning more, check out our essay writing tips !

Tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead.

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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Effects of Video Games on Children Essay

Introduction, negative effects of video games, video games as a neutral factor, future studies.

Most of the popular video games in the market are characterized by their ability to allow players to role-play in various situations, unfortunately, most of these situations normally involve violence. There has been unease at the effect that this exposure could have on children, considering that video games are fast becoming a favorite past time for most children in the developed world. Studies have suggested the existence of a relationship between youth violence and video games and this could apply to children too.

The evidence that video games increase violence among children is overwhelming. For example, a study in 2001 found that a high number of violence cases in high schools and universities were orchestrated by persons who confessed to playing violent games regularly. An explanation for this is that aggression is mainly based on the learning function of the brain and as such, each violent episode is in essence one more learning opportunity, hence violence is increased with increased exposure to video games.

One of the factors that make video games prone to leading to violence is the high level of engagement and concentration required of gamers. Studies show that children who were exposed to violent video games engage in fantasy plays in which they emulate the actions of the violent characters. This effectively demonstrates that the high involvement of video games results in youths desiring to play out the violent actions in real life.

A logical consequence of exposure to violence is desensitization, a process whereby the cognitive, emotional, and even behavioral response to violence is eliminated in a gradual process. Therefore, engaging in violent video games results in an increase for tolerance of violent behavior in real life.

While advocates for video games argue that video games represent violence as ‘cool and fashionable’, it should be noted that video games are no the only media through which such notions arise from. Violence is an aspect of the mainstream media and hence violence in children should take into consideration these various media platforms.

Opponents of media violence point to the rise in crime wave during the 1970s and 1980s, which was largely attributed to violence in television. They say that the same could happen due to video game violence. This is a fallacy as statistics indicate that violent crimes in the US fell in the 1990s, a time when violent video games became popular.

While video games are meant to be educational or entertaining, content analysis shows that 89% of these contain some violent content. Since video games are so common among children, the effect of video games would be significant. It has been said that a relation exists between video game violence and real life violence, however, this is no absolute reality.

Proponents argue that violent children prefer to play violent video games. Research suggests otherwise, therefore we can conclude that while violent games are played by violent children, the aggression levels increase due to the exposure.

This paper examined the effects of violent video games on children and their inclination to violent behavior. From the study, it is evident that video games have an effect on the behavior of children.

Future studies should look at other forms of violence, not necessarily physical as children are likely to engage on these on a regular basis.

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Video Games and Their Impact on Teens’ Mental Health

• First Online: 02 March 2018

Cite this chapter

• Melissa E. DeRosier Ph.D. 3 &
• James M. Thomas Ph.D. 3  

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The role that video games play in the lives of teenagers has grown dramatically and without pause for the past generation or two. Between computers, smart phones, and dedicated game consoles, not only are individual adolescents spending more of their days playing video games, but the percentage of teens whose daily lives include video games is quickly approaching universality. In this chapter, we first review recent trends in video gaming and explore the various and myriad video games that teens tend to play as well as their motivations to play video games. Then, we review the literature regarding the influence of playing different types of commercial video games on mental health. And last, we explore recent innovations in game development whereby video games are specifically developed to improve mental health symptoms or psychosocial adjustment, including a review of the research supporting use of these “impactful video games.” It is hoped that the information presented in this chapter will provide practitioners with greater understanding of the diversity and breadth of experiences that fall under the umbrella term “video gaming” in order to help foster more open and productive conversations with teens about their video gaming behavior. We also hope the research evidence presented in this chapter will encourage practitioners to integrate the use of video games into their treatment of teen patients, both as a means of fostering the therapeutic alliance and as an innovative accompaniment to traditional therapeutic methods to enhance teens’ mental and behavioral health.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank their three sons—Jefferson Thomas, Benjamin Thomas, and Lincoln Thomas—who provided considerable input (and fact-checking) for this chapter regarding popular commercial video games, video game genres, and video gaming experiences. Their feedback and sharing were integral in helping the authors conceptualize teens’ gameplay experiences when writing the first section of this chapter. The authors would also like to thank Mary Whatley who aided considerably in conducting a literature search and compiling the citations included in this chapter.

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DeRosier, M.E., Thomas, J.M. (2018). Video Games and Their Impact on Teens’ Mental Health. In: Moreno, M., Radovic, A. (eds) Technology and Adolescent Mental Health . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69638-6_17

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Positive Effects of Video Gaming

This “positive effects of video games” essay explores the benefits of games on education, cognitive skills, social side of gaming, and other aspects. Get some ideas for your “positive effects of gaming” essay with the help of our sample.

Introduction

Gaming and cognitive skills, social side of online gaming, the matrix has you: gaming and self-perception, the major danger, works cited.

The influence of video gaming on an individual’s physical and psychological health is a rarely debated issue in psychology and psychiatry. The majority of the research focuses on the adverse effects of video gaming such as insomnia, depression, social isolation, and even heart failure (Sublette and Mullan 4). Nevertheless, primary targets of such research are obsessive video gamers who sometimes play video games for thirty hours straight or more (Sublette and Mullan 4). While excessive video gaming can be harmful to an individual’s physical and psychological health, moderate gaming can positively influence players by developing their cognitive and social skills, as well as improving the satisfaction with life and motivation.

First-person shooters (FPS) are frequently blamed for violent gameplay and excessive exposure to blood and other disturbing imagery. The influence of FPS on the cognitive skills of players remains a peripheral topic among psychiatrists and psychologists. However, Colzato et al. point out that playing FPS improves one’s ability to react faster, as well as monitor and update working memory (238). The violence of battles in FPS can indeed be disturbing to some, but approximately the same level of violence can be seen in average action movies about wars or city gangs.

The benefit of games is that they allow the player to interact with the environment, encouraging him or her to react to situations faster, conduct complex decision-making, and refer to the collected information to ensure accurate navigation. My experience has shown me that gaming can significantly improve personal ability to navigate in an unknown place by implementing the same set of skills necessary for video gaming: attention to details, analysis of the environment, and logical reasoning.

Puzzles and quests are other types of games that also require the player to use logic and attention to complete a task. It should be noted that early childhood programs also can include puzzle games where children need to match geometry figures and shapes or find a way in (or out of) a maze. Despite their seeming simplicity, such puzzles help children think symbolically and establish cause-effect relationships. One can also pay attention to eSports professionals to understand how computer games influence our cognition. The majority of them display an incredibly fast reaction to what is happening during the game and notice any changes before other viewers are aware of them.

Their experience in games that require full attention and rapid thinking allows them to evaluate a situation much faster, and, based on this evaluation, suggest one or several decisions. The importance of decision-making in college and career is discussed extensively, but there are few suggestions on how such a skill can be improved. My suggestion is that we should play puzzle and quest games more often to evaluate our own ability to think logically and make decisions based on the limited information we have. While a game is a more or less notional situation, we have to provide multiple choices each day, and not all of them are right. I believe that games can improve this ability.

Shooter video games are perfect training bases for those who want to improve their spatial resolution and attention. As Granic et al. notice, those participants who played FPS showed “faster and more accurate attention allocation, higher spatial resolution in visual processing, and enhanced mental rotation abilities” (68). Furthermore, the improvement in spatial skills from playing FPS was equal to the effects of university-based courses that help attendants work on the same skills. Spatial skills, in return, can predict achievements in technology, science, engineering, and mathematics (Granic et al. 68).

Another fact that can support my opinion about the importance of games is the extensive use of gaming in education and healthcare facilities. Students learn to understand complex concepts such as magnetic fields or Earth rotation by playing specifically designed video games, and young patients learn new information about diseases and vaccines with the help of applications and interactive games. At the same time, future health care professionals use serious games for training and medical education (Wang et al. 45). If games begin to enter education and healthcare, it is unreasonable to argue that their main aim is still entertainment. As we can see, they become another advanced learning tool that helps users improve their target skills or knowledge.

The social side of gaming is addressed more often but with a negative attitude as well: researchers pay attention to the development of addiction in online gamers, isolation from peers, and lack of social contact with family and friends. This stereotype is based on an excessive type of gamers and not on moderate or naive (with little experience) gamers who typically use online games as a means to entertain or communicate. Trepte et al. argue that online gaming and gamers’ interaction with their clan results in better interactions offline as well; if gamers are willing to engage in team management, “they seem to gain more social support in both settings, online as well as offline” (837).

Technology and gaming are often seen as negative influences on the development of social bonds among adolescents and young adults. It happens due to the common stereotype about gamers in particular and millennials in general that portrays them as persons who prefer to spend their time on their phone or PC/laptop and write thousands of messages per day.

However, before such technologies as the Internet and instant messaging emerged, personal contacts were limited to a more or less narrow circle of family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and other acquaintances mostly from the same city or country. Today, adolescents and adults use the Internet, including online gaming, to find friends from other continents and countries, discuss their interests, and share important aspects of their life via social media and gaming as well. Bonding in online games is also successful because it attracts people with similar interests who are more likely to become friends exactly due to their corresponding perceptions of entertainment and hobbies.

Online gaming in teams also helps gamers develop leadership and management skills by providing them an opportunity to form and rule a clan or a team, where the leader will help others achieve the team’s goals and gain some benefits. In-game terms, these benefits usually include gold or artifacts (weapons, spells, etc.). In real life, the knowledge about group management can come in handy during collective work on a project at the gamer’s place of employment. I would not say that the gamer will become a leader instantly, but, instead, he or she will use the acquired skills in a real-life setting, thus gaining real benefits from them. Online games “reward effective cooperation, support, and helping behaviors”, thus teaching players to build relationships offline efficiently (Granic et al. 73).

Such findings sometimes can lead to expected, but false conclusions: only nonviolent cooperative games lead to increased prosocial behavior in players, whereas violent video games’ influence is still more or less negative because they lead to increased aggression and competitiveness. In a way, this is true, but one should pay attention to the context in which violent games are defined as negative influences. If players choose a violent game that encourages (or requires) cooperation, they are more likely to display prosocial and helping behavior after the game is over (Granic et al. 73). What is more, cooperative gaming decreased the feelings of hostility in individuals compared to those players who preferred to play alone.

The research also found that adolescents who preferred playing cooperative games were more likely to be engaged in different civic movements such as charity or volunteering (Granic et al. 73). The potential of games in encouraging cooperation among citizens is often overseen due to their status as common, even “dumb” ways of entertainment that are more associated with adolescents and children than adults. However, the ability to cooperate is one of the major tools that human beings use to conduct research, invent, discover, and share. Therefore, I cannot agree with opinions that view gaming as a degrading experience. In its core, it targets unique human abilities such as the utilization of language and motion to achieve a goal, analysis, and decoding of abstract concepts and situations to choose the right time to take action, and desire to share positive and negative emotions with other human beings.

More than half of all Americans play video games (59%: 52% male and 48% female Americans) (Grooten and Kowert 70). Despite the frequent use of the word “gamer” in everyday lives, people often have a different understanding of gamers as persons. Some believe that gamers are those individuals who merely like to play from time to time. Others tend to view gamers as persons significantly immersed in the gaming world, i.e. interested in gaming news and fashion. According to Grooten and Kowert, “a player” is a temporary status that a person acquires when he or she plays any game (73). “A gamer”, however, is a more complex concept that relates to the cultural and social capital of a person. A gamer is not simply interested in playing games; he or she also finds a specific value in them and views him/herself through the prism of what he/she understands as “being a gamer”. For example, if a person has other social contacts interested in discussing games, he or she can perceive him/herself as a “gamer” during such conversations.

The concept of a “gamer” as a social identity becomes a part of the individual’s self-concept (how they see themselves), and this self-concept includes parts or characteristics associated with the social group “gamers” that further define person’s preferences and interests. The stigmatization of gamers as a social group is possible due to the existing stereotypes about this community. Gamers are often portrayed in the media as isolated, pale, overweight or malnourished individuals (more often male than female) who display an apparent obsession with games and gaming culture (Grooten and Kowert 75).

I frequently notice such stereotypes; they make me wonder whether the marginalization of the gaming community happens precisely due to negative associations (Internet addiction, mental illnesses, violent behaviors) related to gamers and gaming experience in psychological research. My decision to reference “The Matrix” in this section was due to my belief that social identities (including gamers) and self-perception often merge, creating a desired or partly illusionary self-concept, which incorporates both social and individual beliefs and stereotypes about “gamers” as a social group. For example, despite having a rich social life and harmonious relationships with peers, some gamers that I have met confessed that their primary interest in life was gaming and nothing else.

Such self-perception is the result of external labels created by pop-culture and internal desire to see oneself as a part of a social group that is famous for its obsession with a particular form of entertainment (gaming). I believe that gamers purposefully choose these labels to feel like a legitimate part of the cultural/social group they appreciate. Another problem of gamers’ self-perception emerges due to the lack of any clear consensus about the definition “gamer” in the gamers’ community as well (Grooten and Kowert 76).

More experienced or “hardcore” gamers (as they call themselves) might not accept a “newbie” who recently joined the community and is familiar only with a majority of recent mainstream games. At the same time, the “newbie” gamer would be seen as an experienced gamer by his peers who are completely unfamiliar with the gaming culture. Thus, the definition of a “gamer” changes depending on the perspective of the beholder.

It should also be noted that the uniqueness of a gamer identity is in its duality: when logging in a game, the gamer acquires a new personality (or an avatar) that she or he will be associated with. The importance of the avatar should not be underestimated. For example, recent complaints of female gamers about the lack of strong female protagonists in games led to the emergence of games with such avatars (“Syberia”, “Life Is Strange”, “Horizon Zero Dawn”, “The Last of Us”). Furthermore, some developers decided to allow the player to choose a female or male protagonist (“The Elder Scrolls”, “Prey”, “Dishonored 2”, “Mass Effect”, various massively multiplayer online role-playing games).

However, the gamer’s identity can experience even more radical transformations in games, where they can play as animals and supernatural or divine beings (“Ori and The Blind Forest”, “Divinity: Dragon Commander”, “The Elder Scrolls”, “Vampyr”, “Spore”, “Black and White”). The opportunity to perceive oneself as a supernatural deity or animal is yet another factor that, in my opinion, attracts gamers because they acquire a chance to become someone (or something) else. This is the reason why gamers are perceived as escapists who prefer imaginary life to the real one (such perception is also one of the major stereotypes about gamers).

Life in a virtual community has its established values, beliefs, cultures even that encourage gamers to identify with their guilds (e.g. by wearing a particular type of coat of arms, weapons, or having an identifiable nickname such as “Tom_Team_Raven”, etc.). In the offline world, gamers can also use such markers to show other members of the community their values or allegiance to a certain clan. Various merchandise sold by the biggest online retailers also helps gamers translate their adherence to a game via key chains, T-Shirts, backpacks, badges, etc. Thus, the virtual life goes beyond its digital frames and integrates with the gamer’s real life, affecting and changing it.

The line between the real and the digital life is clear to some gamers but extremely blurred to others. Addiction to video games (including online ones) is the currently debated topic among psychologists and psychiatrists; the reasons behind this addiction can be different, from increased stress levels to depression and compulsiveness (Whang et al. 146). As intriguing and attractive as the digital world might be, an extensive immersion in it can significantly worsen one’s quality of life and well-being.

If an interest in gaming transforms into an addiction, there is little chance that the discussed cognitive and social benefits will be derived. Instead, the person will find that she or he is unable to control her /his life, think about anything else, or find other hobbies interesting. Moreover, since the human body is not designed for a sedentary lifestyle evolutionally, addicted gamers can experience back pains, fatigue, severe headaches, and insomnia. Their social ties often crumble as well: frequent conflicts with parents about the addiction, reluctance to meet with offline friends, and a reduced interest in other activities are common among excessive gamers (Liu and Peng 1306).

Like any other addict, excessive gamers show signs of psychological dependency, which eventually results in loss of control over one’s time and life. Digital life becomes more valued by gamers because they believe that they are more loved or respected there. For some, the opportunity to experience fantasy adventures (slay dragons, shoot zombies, create spells, etc.) becomes more attractive than the real-life itself. The distortion in the self-perception is also typical because gamers see their digital self as more important than the real one. The adverse impact of gaming is evident, but it only emerges when the gamer loses control over his/her hobby and prefers it to the offline life.

However, I believe that individuals can protect themselves from these consequences by paying attention to their behavior. If any negative effects of gaming outweigh its positive ones, it is advisable to stop playing any games immediately and restrain from them for several days or even weeks. If a person is interested in deriving positive benefits from gaming, he or she should play moderately, i.e. devote a limited amount of time to gaming per week (a couple of regular gaming sessions will provide the necessary benefits). Only a reasonable approach to gaming will allow one to reap the rewards.

Interest in digital games and gaming should not be perceived as a sign of possible addiction or negative quality of life. Moderate gaming can improve one’s social and cognitive skills, build new online and offline relationships with other like-minded persons, and make one’s free hours more adventurous and exciting. Despite the violence that repels some, brutal games can encourage a person to display helping behavior more often, thus strengthening their offline social ties.

Games exist not only as a form of entertainment. Simulators, also known as “serious games”, are developed to help different professionals acquire necessary skills via completing digital tasks and trying out their future role in a virtual environment. Games teach individuals how to react to events faster, solve puzzles and problems in a limited amount of time, and employ decision-making skills for a better situational outcome. Thus, gaming has significant potential in developing our cognition and making us more aware of our unique personality.

Colzato, Lorenza S., et al. “Action Video Gaming and Cognitive Control: Playing First Person Shooter Games Is Associated with Improvement in Working Memory but Not Action Inhibition.” Psychological Research , vol. 77, no. 2, 2013, pp. 234-239.

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Grooten, Jan, and Rachel Kowert. “Going beyond the Game: Development of Gamer Identities within Societal Discourse and Virtual Spaces.” Loading… The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association , vol. 9, no. 14, 2015, pp. 70-87.

Liu, Ming, and Wei Peng. “Cognitive and Psychological Predictors of the Negative Outcomes Associated with Playing MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Games).” Computers in Human Behavior , vol. 25, no. 6, 2009, pp. 1306-1311.

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Trepte, Sabine, et al. “The Social Side of Gaming: How Playing Online Computer Games Creates Online and Offline Social Support.” Computers in Human Behavior , vol. 28, no. 3, 2012, pp. 832-839.

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Whang, Leo Sang-Min, et al. “Internet Over-Users’ Psychological Profiles: A Behavior Sampling Analysis on Internet Addiction.” Cyberpsychology & Behavior , vol. 6, no. 2, 2003, pp. 143-150.

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Teen gamers say games have two positive impacts & two negative ones

There’s been much debate on whether playing video games has a positive or negative impact on kids – and now teen gamers themselves have weighed-in.

A new large-scale survey of US teens found that around 40% of them played every day – with smartphones almost as popular a gaming device as consoles – and reported a mixed impact on their life …

85% of US teens play video games

Pew Research Center surveyed 1,423 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17, and found that 85% of them played video games.

Some 41% of them said that they did so daily, an almost perfect correlation with those who identified as gamers.

Unsurprisingly, there was a clear gender split here: 62% of teen boys describe themselves as gamers, while only 17% of teen girls do.

Smartphones almost as popular as games consoles

Almost as many teens play games on smartphones as on games consoles like PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch. Consoles were most popular, with 73% using them, while 70% play video games on smartphones (there’s obviously a lot of overlap between the two).

Two positive impacts described by teen gamers

Teen gamers reported two main positive impacts on their lives. More than two-thirds of them describe it as a social experience, and almost half say they’ve made at least one new friend through gaming.

The majority also say that playing games has improved their problem-solving skills.

Two negative effects too

But gamers also agree that there can be negative impacts, with 41% saying that it has led to sleep deprivation.

Additionally, online bullying is common with multiplayer games, with 80% describing it as a problem, and 41% saying they have experienced it personally.

You can read the full results at Pew Research .

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