With nearly a thousand hours in the popular video game League of Legends, and much more than three thousand hours spent in total on gaming, I believe I have a critical point of view when it comes to this argument. Gaming has been a critical part of my life ever since I was six years old. I played against my brother, played with my dad, and I played in my own free time. Yet throughout all my time devoted to playing games, I never quite considered it a problem. I just thought I was spending my time on something that I enjoyed. Yet in recent years, with the media slaughtering the reputation of gaming, I have become more fearful of the subject. So I decided to get to the bottom of the subject, because I truly wanted to know if what I considered a hobby was actually a stepping stone to me turning into a murderous psychopath as the media portrays it. I firmly believe that as all things in life, Video Games in moderation can have nothing but a good effect in someone’s life.
my first step was obviously to look for something that supports my argument, in which I did. Jeffry went through with an experiment, to analyze the effect that the popular video game series “World of Warcraft” and his results were exactly what I expected. In the experiment, he found that players who spent a moderate amount of time living their lives through the eyes of their virtual characters, acquired many benefits. The game would calm them down, let them escape from the troubles of the world, effects extremely similar to meditation.
On the other hand, the study found that if people spend too much time game, they start to lose themselves in it. Losing control over their real life, and suffering effects such as exhaustion, and generally being unprepared for the day.
Now the study that I found most interesting when traveling down the gaming rabbit hole is the one conducted by Dr. Mario Vance, and psychological researcher. He found that over the course of nine years, and through the study of over a thousand different groups, there was a direct correlation with the media’s portrayal of Gaming, and the aggression that gamers showed. His theory is that people’s aggression, matches the poor portrayal of their hobbies on the media. Although accuracy can be doubted because of the large amount of variables needing to be analyzed, it still brings up a necessary point. What if the aggression “caused” by video games, is in reality a reaction to how the media portrays some people’s hobbies.
Studies have proven excessive amounts of Video Games can have a disastrous effect on someone’s life, yet this applies to most things in life. In moderation, video games in most cases have nothing but a positive effect on people’s lives. Acting as a source of stress relief, and serving to improve certain skills, Gaming is not nearly as dangerous as the media portrays it. In all, do not trust the media, and do all things in moderation.
I liked how you took a look at studies from both sides, and how you come to a very middling claim by the end. Like many things, I agree that video games need to be taken in moderation. I was wondering if you think that the current amount of gaming that is going on should be considered a problem. I know it is a case by case basis, but in general I feel like multiple hour long “gaming sessions” are pretty common now a days, so I feel as if it is just a little too much. I’m interested in hearing back and love your blog!