The Positive Effects of Video Games
 

What topic is hated by hardcore athletic sports players, has almost no evidence of being a bad influence on humans, and is blamed for various crimes?  Video games!  Everyone has heard people say hateful things about video games.  Some of the comments not backed up with evidence, some of it just to boost self-esteem over video game “nerds”, and some of it is to have something to blame for a violent crime such as murder.  Have you ever thought about the positive effects that video games provide?  Video games actually have positive effects that I have noticed from personal experience and others’ personal experience.  I was born and raised in Florida and in my area video games were pretty popular.  When I first saw the wii, I immediately got one and it changed my life forever.  I was a happy kid besides the bullying which is irrelevant to the topic.  After fifth grade I moved to Colorado to start middle-school.  Now you have to understand that almost everyone who lives here was taught to be biased in hating videogames.  I always get asked on why I play video games.  My classmates think it’s stupid, unhelpful, and a waist of time.  Want to know how video games can positively affect you and other people?  Here’s how.
The first improvement that video games provide to people is that (fast paced) video games such as first-person-shooters can improve general reaction time and skill.  Researchers from the University of Rochester discovered that video gamers develop a heightened awareness to what is going on around them.  I noticed this after a year of playing video games.  Rochester’s scientists stated that video games improved things like multitasking, driving, and reading small print.  To test if video games had the power to affect these skills, they gathered dozens of young adults who had never or rarely played video games and split them up into 2 groups.  One group played Call of Duty 2 while the other group didn’t play anything or played The Sims 2.  Both groups played fifty hours of each game and were then asked to give an answer to a question based on what was happening in the screen in front of them in as little time as possible.  The group who played Call of Duty 2 was 25% faster than the group that played The Sims 2 or didn’t play at all. 
The other effect that video games can provide with people is that it can cause positive structural brain changes in regions responsible for spatial orientation, memory formation, strategic planning, and fine motor skills, with potential implications for psychiatric disorders.  Video gaming provides the gamer with a multitude of complex cognitive and motor demands.  There is a growing body of evidence that video game experts dominate the new players on multiple cognitive measures of attention and perception (Brooks).  I personally notice this whenever I play something like Black Ops 2.  A few years ago I invited a friend to my house to play Black Ops 2 on my PS3.  He and I sat down on the couch and began to play.  We had a “1v1” or duel as it is better known by more people.  (Neither he nor I had played on the map before so it was a fair duel.  But, I still had way more past Call of Duty experience than he did which gave me the advantage.  The first player to 30 points wins.  I beat him 30 to 5.  Every time I killed him, I had used the sound of the his footsteps to my advantage.  I had also done things like; aim down sights around corners, used guns like smgs and shotguns at close range instead of trying to go at him with a disadvantage.  Before I played video games I wasn’t conscious of how to eliminate obstacles, I had just tried my hardest and not used my wits to my advantage.  After a few years of video game experience I decided to play soccer again.  Though I wasn’t as in good of shape as the rest of the kids, I was always able to stop anyone trying to get the ball past me.  I used the same technique I use when I play video games to outsmart my opponent and steal the ball.  Hey remember what I wrote about above about the whole “Action gamers’ brains process visual and auditory information faster than non-gamers”?  Well from experience I can safely say that is 100% true.  I made quick decisions way faster than the rest of the players.  It wasn’t too noticeable because of my lack of exercise back then, but without my witty tactics that I acquired from video games I would have been left in the dust from being out of shape. 
I mainly wrote this to state that there ARE positive affects from video games.  I get so much crap every day about me playing too much video games when in reality they do me more good than harm.  I may write something in the future contradicting the people who believe that murderers are based off of games such as Call of Duty or Destiny.