Should Video Games be Banned?

In today’s world, video games have become part of modern day life and a source of entertainment for people of all generations. Both adults and children spend hours each day participating in this form of indoor activity. Video games came about as a product in the new age of computers whereby computer scientists designed simple games as part of their entertainment and research. Continues evolution and development of better technology have seen this technology immensely improve. The development of captivating video games has seen the emergence of negative implications to both individual participants and society in general. The association of video games to violence increased aggressive behavior, emulation of negative action character behaviour, addiction and time wastage, negative attitude toward women, health complications, personality disorder as well as lack of productivity among young adults, has been a concern to the government and policymakers. The following paper analyzes why video games should be banned and the opposing views of people with a different perspective.

Video games have been associated with violence and increased violent behaviours among children. The participation of children in adult-rated games has resulted in children becoming cyber bullies as well as bullies to their peers, becoming hostile and involving themselves in physical fights. Such violent behaviours are highly associated with the violent nature of the video games they participate in. Lack of parental control on the content or nature of the video games children participates in has also magnified the problem. Journal of the American Medical Association published in 2014 depicted the high likelihood of young adults who play video games to get involved in violent behaviours (Anderson, 2016). A good example is whereby young adults participate in boxing and fighting video games; such games educate them on the different fighting tactics which are applicable in real life. Such techniques may appear to be harmless but are dangerous if applied in real life.

Increased aggressive behaviour has also been noted among young adults who participate in these video games. Research also indicates that paediatricians and parents have also been in agreement that children portray increased aggressive behaviours once they continuously participate in video games. At an early age, most children cannot differentiate right and wrong behaviours. A continued explorer to violent, aggressive video games results to children viewing violence and aggressive behaviours as acceptable which encourages them to participate in such aggressive tendencies. In this regard, the aggressive nature of video games has been associated with a significant psychological impact on children and young adults who may turn out to be violent individuals.

The participants of these video games tend to emulate the negative behaviour of the characters in these games. Video games have been known to contain vulgar language which some of the participants adapt in real life. The active participation of adults and children enables them to learn more and adopt the character traits which are most aggressive and violent (Gentile & Anderson, 2003). The players of violent video games are known to have decreased pro-social behaviours’ which are highly associated by the close association of these players to the characters in the video games. Additionally, many games enable users to create characters and make certain choices to make the game more interesting. Most of these choices are fictional and cannot apply in real life such fictional experiences make it difficult for the participants to make ethical decisions in the real world.

Video games are addictive and result in time wastage, individuals playing these games tend to be lazy and have little positive participation in positive self-development activities. Most of the participants spend numerous amounts of hours playing these games as opposed to participating in physical activities this has resulted in them being unfit over time. Both adults and children participating in video games for long hours have been known to be more prone to depression and inability to real-life situations due to the enormous amount of time in the fictional gaming world. Some of the adults who spend most of their time playing video games are mostly socially unproductive and provide a social burden since they are mostly unemployed. Children who also spend a significant amount of time gaming have been known to perform poorly in their classes which at times requires intervention from the parents.

Most video games portray woman negatively which significantly affects social judgment and decision making abilities of the participants. Such games have incorporated these negative attitudes and objectify women. Such games have been known to encourage violence towards women which has lead to players who are mostly men to develop a hostile attitude towards women. A good example includes cases where the characters in the games treat women like sex objects and sections of some games which allow the players to kill prostitutes to recover money. This offers great concern over the possibility of the players of such games to pick such altitudes and apply them in real life.

 Additionally, video games have been identified to have health implications such as blood pressure and increased heart rate. Video games have altered the way people spend their free time including adults. In recent days video games have become violent, intensely visual, interactive and some offering financial rewards. This has resulted in increased stress levels among the participants as well as increased blood pressure levels and heart rate. Different games with different rating provide different intensity to the player. In this regard, it is essential to note that extensive participation may have advanced health effects that may be difficult to reverse. Notably, individuals who spend more time playing these games have been known to become obese due to the eating disorders they develop and the resulting lack of excises due to the substitution of these healthy activities with intense video game playing.

Children who play these games from an early age may also develop personality disorder which makes it difficult to interact with the society in later life.  The fact that such children spend less time interacting with society and engaging in social activities such as physical games has resulted in this problem. Most of them isolate themselves in their rooms and use every free time available participating in video games instead of spending time with people and learning the necessary social interaction skills. Young adults who extensively play these games are economically unproductive. This is attributed to the fact that most of them leave with their parents or relatives and see no need to participate productively. The availability of video games has made these young adults opt not to seek any income generating activities and lack the incentives due to the provision of need by their dependents.

On the contrary, some people have a different perspective when it comes to video games; they argue that these games have positive implications on society in general. The benefits mentioned include enhanced memory, a source of learning, improved attention, enhanced multitasking skill and improved coordination. Playing video games requires audio and visual memory. Players are also required to listen and learn the instructions which they mostly do as beginners. Mastering these items helps the players improve their long-term and short-term memories. These games have also been a source of information and learning for the players. Some modern learning institutions incorporate video games as teaching techniques hence helping the learners acquire the required knowledge before interacting with the real world. For example, it is easy for pilots to learn how to fly with the use of video games and similar simulation.

 Video game have enhanced the attention span of the players, most of these games require prolong participation and time, and the players have to be keen and attentive to avoid losing the game. Such a skill can be transferred to real life situation including prolonged educational classes. Some video games require one to multitask either by moving the joystick or pressing certain keys. The ability to multitask ensures players observe and respond to the requirements of the game on time. Moreover, the video games have been known to improve coordination by the players. The various activities on the video game provide mental stimulation, and the player is required to coordinate their audio, visual and physical movement (Eugenio, 2017).

In summary, it is clear that video games have an enormous amount of negative implication to the players and the society in general. In my opinion, the authorities and policymakers should take decisive action against video games and ban their sale and distribution. The failure of the gaming industry to self-regulate and provide more educative content which has positive implications to the society reinforces the need for a complete ban. 

References

Anderson, D. (2016). 10 Reasons Violent Video Games Contribute To Youth Violence. https://www.listland.com/10-reasons-violent-video-games-contribute-youth-violence/

Eugenio, S. (2017). Public Access - 8 Cognitive Benefits of Playing Video Games for Kids.https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/09/8-cognitive-benefits-of-playing-video-games-for-kids/

Gentile, D., & Anderson, C. (2003). Media Violence and Children. http://public.psych.iastate.edu/caa/abstracts/2000-2004/03GA.pdf