Like many other people, I grew up playing video games and it was only after life happened that I have had to stop and I have been missing them ever since.
It doesn’t matter if you are a kid or a grown up, it is always a lot of fun to be able to escape into that virtual world for a bit and experience all the things that the game designer has planned so meticulously.
Video games have changed a lot since I first got my hands on one as a kid. Today, they are more immersive, adventurous, time-taking and well made with life like graphics. All these make for a really addictive experience.
Add to that the increasing violence that is heavily featured in today’s video games and people start questioning whether they can affect us on a psychological level. In fact many debates have been had on this matter.
Different people have different opinions about this. Some say it is true and some think that, that is just ridiculous. Even studies have been conducted to find out for sure but nothing has be concluded definitely.
The problem is that this question concerns human behaviour which is so uncertain and so different from one person to the other that one single yes or no simply cannot be true for everyone.
The general consensus however, is that though playing a lot of violent games may have some really short term effects like increased aggression, they are not going to have long term impact on a person’s behaviour. There are simply too many factors in play for a game to be able to change someone permanently like that.
I like playing Assassin’s Creed a lot but you won’t expect me to start wearing a badass assassin’s costume and go around killing people now, would you?
No, I’m not just saying that to justify my love for them. Many studies have showed positive health benefits of playing video games. (Only if my mom knew about it when I was a kid).
Regular video game playing can help you improve your memory and some cognitive abilities like easier pattern recognition, making faster decisions, improved spatial attention and can even help overcome dyslexia.
They can also help you reduce stress in life by helping you kill virtual enemies over and over again. There are many games specifically aimed at this. Go check them out, they are real fun!
And believe it or not, video games can actually help you make new social connections through multiplayer games, especially at a time where a game is not just a game anymore but a phenomenon.
So, what do you think about the matter? Can something as virtual as a video game affect someone so much that they become more aggressive, more violent in their real life and that too permanently?
Video games have been around for quite a while now and if they had such an effect on people, how come we are only now talking about it in recent times?
Have you played any violent games and felt that it has started affecting you on a psychological level or has made you act in an aggressive way in places and time that you normally wouldn’t?
I think these are the questions we would need to ask ourselves if we ever want to determine if we are really being affected by a video game in our lives. I doubt the answer would be yes to any of these questions, but you never know. Humans are very unpredictable!
