Blessen 1

Cade Blessen
Professor Diana Watkins
English II MW 1:30
1 March 2014
Video Games a Worlds Relationship
Video games play a very large role in todays society. Many people focus on
the negative affects of video games and I am not saying that video games are always
good for you; like most things moderation can be the difference between video
games being helpful or harmful. Video games positively affect gamers by improving
problem solving skills, three-dimensional thinking, vision, social skills, and decision-
making speed.
Problem solving has always been a needed quality in the human race; video
games can improve this skill in many ways. When one sets a child in front of a video
game his mind does not go blank or dead. On the contrary, it is stimulated. The child
becomes concentrated on the task at hand. He has to use logic and strategy to
improve his skill and level in the game just as an architect has to use these same
skills in designing a building. I play a video game on my computer and can say that
is has improved my problem solving skills. Over the past year I have played on
average about two hours a day and I can tell that I am able to think more critically
and more clearly on a subject than I use to be able to; not only have my skills
increased, but the time it takes me to process information has been significantly
shortened.
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In the one study, participants aged 18 to 25 were split into two groups. One
group played 50 hours of the action video games "Call of Duty 2" and "Unreal
Tournament," and the other group played 50 hours of the strategy game "The Sims 2."
The action game players made decisions 25% faster in a task unrelated to playing video
games, without sacrificing accuracy(Spector). In the game League of Legends strategy
is a huge factor and if ones reaction time is even one second slower than the opposing
players reaction time he will die every time. I do not find this hard to believe because
people who play high intensity action video games are normally very competitive people
and competitive people hate to lose. I think that the drive to win pushes them to focus
their skills and sharpen them to the finest they can be. Focusing this hard on the task at
hand can also provide other benefits, such as an increase in ones vision.
I have always been told that video games will make ones eyesight worse and I
believed it until I researched the topic for myself. Another study led by Daphne Bavelier
of the University of Rochester, showed that video games improve vision by making
players more sensitive to slightly different shades of color, known as contrast sensitivity.
People who played action-based video games particularly first-person-shooter games
were 58% better at perceiving fine differences in contrast(Spector). After reading this
statement I started to really think about what my eyes were doing while I played video
games; I found that my eyes are rapidly moving and focusing on even the slightest
movement on the computer screen. This is a very beneficial skill to hone because it can
improve driving ability. If someone is able to accurately focus on the big picture and still
be able to pick out movement in a split second that could mean the difference between
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life and death if a child was to run out in front of a car. Video games also improve ones
three-dimensional thinking.
Thee-dimensional thinking is the ability to adapt to a situation by thinking outside
the box or finding new ways to solve the task at hand. Video games improve this skill in
many ways; for instance in the game Call of Duty the maps at which the game is played
are very large and have many different types of terrain. Because the maps are so large it
gives the player freedom to think of new ways to get the upper hand on the other players;
for instance on one of the maps if the player jumps in the right spots he can position
himself on the top of a building. This gives the player a great vantage point for sniping
other players all over the map. Without the ability to think outside the box all the players
would just run around on the streets shooting each other. Call of duty, like most games
today, is played online bringing people from all over the world to a single location in the
virtual world.
A common misconception about video gamers is that we are antisocial and this
could not be farther from the truth. More than 70 percent of gamers play with a friend
and millions of people worldwide participate in massive virtual worlds through video
games such as Farmville and World of Warcraft. Multiplayer games become virtual
social communities, where decisions need to be made quickly about whom to trust or
reject and how to lead a group(Bowen). I can personally say that I have found this to be
true; not only do I play video games with my friends, but also I have made many friends
because of playing video games. The game League of Legends is a team based strategy
game. I am on a team with people that I have never met in person and I have a closer
relationship with them then I do with some of the friends that I have here in Stillwater.
Blessen 4
Location is not a factor in this kind of relationship which has its pros and cons. On one
hand I have become very close with a fellow gamer who lives in Canada. I have had
many conversations with him via Skype while we play video games together. On the
other hand I cannot just hang out with him or grab a beer with him.
I feel that video games have not only had a huge impact on my life but also on the
world. I feel that video games have brought people from all over the world and gave them
a common interest. They encourage cooperation with other players making people from
different countries work together to achieve their goal. As long as video games are not
misused or abused I think that they have a bright future in shaping the relationship of the
world.













Blessen 5


Works Cited

Bowen, Lisa. "Video Games Play May Provide Learning, Health, Social Benefits,
Review Finds." Http://www.apa.org. N.p., 25 Nov. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.

Relch, Justin. "Psychologists Prove That Video Games Are Good For You." Education
Week. N.p., 1 Dec. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.

Spector, Dina. "11 Ways Video Games Make You Smarter And Healthier." Business
Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 11 Sept. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.