The traditional psychological approach to researching video game violence has been to ask “What do games do to young people?” rather than “How do young people use video games?”
The traditional approach seeks to substantiate the harmful effects of games on individuals who are considered to lack the knowledge and strategies to make sense of them. It not only considers young people’s own opinions and experiences to be irrelevant or unreliable, but it also fails to take account of the interactive properties of the games and the medium itself, the social dimension of play, and the inherently productive cultural practices of gaming. Above all it fails to ask why young people choose to play video games and what their opinion is about the content.
Teens and video games go hand-in-hand today. In fact, 97% of teens and kids in the US play video games at least for one hour every day.
To understand and analyse the attraction of video game violence, University of Waikato senior lecturer in Screen and Media Studies, Dr Gareth Schott, turns to a new genre in academic research, Game Studies, to examine video game violence in context with the culture of gaming, and the experiences and ideas of the players.
Dr Schott draws together the two separate research approaches to the subject by assessing the nature of violent content within video games via the experiences and articulations of young people themselves. He uses a combination of methods to give young people a voice that is all too often absent in what, to date, has been a one-way debate.
Positive Effects Of Video Games On Teenagers:
Yes, video games can be good for your child. Don’t be shocked, we’ll tell you why. Here are the reasons why virtual gaming can be good.
1. Improves cognitive functions:
Contrary to popular belief, video gaming can enhance multiple cognitive skills such as better allocation of attention, visual processing, memory, reasoning, and perception, according to a research published by the American Psychological Association.
Researchers have studied a meta-analysis of video games and concluded that the positive effects of violent games included improvement in a player’s capability of thinking in different dimensions, just the way some academic courses do.
2. Hand and eye coordination:
Research has shown that teens can learn spatial, visual and eye-hand coordination skills from video games, especially from shooter games. Some games require a great deal of these skills to be successful. For example, players need to keep track of positions, speed, aim, directions and more. The brain processes all these data and coordinates with the hands since all the actions are performed with the keyboard or game controller.
Lead author of the research Isabela Granic from the Radboud University Nijmegen in The Netherlands, says, “This has critical implications for education and career development, as previous research has established the power of spatial skills for achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.”
3. Quick thinking and accuracy:
The action in video games prepares the gamers to make smart decisions in split seconds. Also, they need acute attention to cope with unexpected changes in the game.
4. Work on dexterity:
Online gaming improves the movement of hands with the mouse and keyboard. They learn to use the shortcut functions on the keyboard and give quick responses.
5. Problem-solving abilities
Researchers suggest that video games can aid teens in developing problem-solving skills because while playing strategic video games like role-plays, young adolescents get better at solving problems.
6. Some games can improve moods and ward off anxiety
Games such as Angry Birds and Bejewelled II are straightforward and bring instant happiness or relaxation and improve moods. Researcher Granic calls it a “fundamental emotional benefit” kids can derive from video games. The games can also teach young people how to cope with failures.
