The Pros of Playing Video Games

Most gamers play games for one reason because they are fun. The things that makes us happy in life are always worth indulging in, we only get one life and we should enjoy it as much as we can. But there are those who claim that gaming is bad for us though. Whether they claim games are making us anti-social, violent or just plain fat, the mainstream media loves to demonize games and make us feel guilty about playing. The truth though is that there are many legitimate health benefits to our hobby. For those suffering from depression or another mental disorder, video games offer a way for them to relax and cope with the pain during the wee hours of the night when it is hard to turn off their brains. Video games are also reported to help those suffering from chronic pain because it distracts them and reportedly builds up their pain tolerance.

 Of particular interest is the recent work done with Virtual Reality games. For those that do not remember the early 90’s, virtual reality was a stupid pair of googles you put on your head that we all thought would make you enter a game world like in The Matrix, but actually made you feel sick and bump into things. Nonetheless Jeffrey I. Gold, Ph.D. said "Virtual reality produces a modulating effect that is endogenous, so the analgesic influence is not simply a result of distraction but may also impact how the brain responds to painful stimuli,".

While formerly a purely sedentary pastime, video games have recently become the equivalent of the angry drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket. They bark instructions at us like: "Jump", "run on the spot", "sing, "dance", "do press ups", "play drums", "stretch" and "throw a controller into a flat screen tv". And how do we react to these instructions? We obey them of course! The benefit of this unthinking obedience is that it can make us engage in positive activities. We follow instructions so well that we will even leave the comfortable womb of our sofa ass-groove and physically sweat. We will do exercise, real exercise, if incentivised to do it by a game.

Decades of TV documentaries have warned us about the dangers of heart disease, but its games like Dance Central, Warioware Smooth Moves and Wii Fit that have actually make us use our atrophied limbs for something other than shovelling food and lifting a remote. Sure, we do not all play these games, but the people who do see real world benefits. You know, little benefits like living ten years longer. Did you think all that time you spent getting incredibly frustrated with Trauma Centre on the Wii or DS was wasted?

Well it turns out that surgery games could be more beneficial than you think. For surgeons, video game play allows them to opportunity to improve their dexterity which means less mistakes in the operating room. A study conducted with laparascopic surgeons found that those who played video games to improve dexterity were 27 percent faster and made 37 percent less errors than those who do not partake in a little video game action. So while playing a few hours on the Wii certainly does not qualify you to remove your cousins appendix, you should still appreciate how games may be the difference between a successful operation and well a dead dude. If you have a surgeon who makes 37 percent less errors that’s a lot less dead dudes, and if you’re one of the non-dead ones, then you could say a video game saved your life. So next time you have got a choice between two surgeons to open you up and mess with your innards, check which one has the highest gamer score first! The best thing is that there is no limit to what games can teach us. Just as a book can be written on any subject, a game can teach us about anything too. Whether it is what type of cars they drove on the 40’s (LA Noire), how Japanese armies mobilised for war (Shogun) or what is the most dangerous modern automatic shotgun (Black Ops), there is no limit to the domains of knowledge that games can cover. It is not just knowledge that we can acquire either.

According to Professor James Gee of the University of Wisconsin, video games are an excellent choice for the cognitive development in children and adults. He explains that we get better at navigating mazes in games, we are actually getting better at the act of navigating mazes, not just better at the game. In conclusion, playing video games really brings benefits to us as long as we use it wisely. We surely can maximum the advantages and minimize the disadvantages of playing video games.

Low Sumyn,
Methodist Boys' School