Although anti-social behavior seems to be a result of video games, there is more pro-social behavior from electronic game play than anti-social behavior. Pro-social behavior is behavior that benefits society and others such as sharing or donating. Pro-social behavior that occurs from video games is civic engagement. Civic engagement is when someone has the “ability to organize a group and lead like-minded people in social causes” (Olson et al.). Civic engagement happens within video games when people have to work as a team to reach a certain goal or are fighting for the same cause. Video games help to promote this behavior through motivational benefits. These benefits come from the incremental theory that intelligence is innate and when people get praise for their efforts in games, their intelligence increases (Granic, Lobel, Engels 71). Using this theory, gamers can improve their behavior by becoming more pro-social. This happens when gamers have a positive attitude towards failure in a game because this action increases their academic performance (Granic, Lobel, Engels 71). The reason is because the gamers are “relentlessly optimistic” therefore they do not give up because they have motivation to win the game (Granic, Lobel, Engels 71). The motivational benefits within video games can be beneficial because the more pro-social games a children plays then “the more likely they are to exhibit helpful behavior later that year” (Granic, Lobel, Engels 73). Also more pro-social behavior happens because “three- quarters of teens play games with others” rather than the “one quarter of teens” who play alone (Lenhart et al). By playing alone, gamers have less interaction with others and less motivation to win which decreases the pro-social behavior from video games. This can lead to problems such as anti-social behavior or bullying. However by playing video games, studies relating to children with pre-mental problems show that trait aggression and electronic game play interact in a way to reduce bullying (Ferguson and Olson 6).
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Emotions players get when playing video games along with the socio-emotional benefits. Out of these emotions, the top ten emotions gamers get when playing are "bliss, relief, naches, surprise, fiero, curiosity, excitement, wonderment, contentment, and amusement" (Bateman).
Emotional benefits that correlate with video games gives gamers a chance to “break the rules that are continually” put on them (Salonius-Pasternak and Gelfond 9). Emotional benefits from games allow society to understand more about the laws and rules that make up reality (Salonius-Pasternak and Gelfond 9). According to the article on “The Next Level of Research on Electronic Game play,” violent electronic games give adolescents a chance to understand in a healthy way the concepts of war, violence, and death, without any consequences (Salonius-Pasternak and Gelfond 11). By understanding these important concepts, acts of violence in adolescents will decrease because they are gaining information on how to start and prevent violence. Also playing games benefits adolescents by allowing them to develop “self-regulation of arousal” (Salonius-Pasternak and Gelfond 10). Developing self-regulation of arousal will allow adolescents to have less random bursts of violence because they can control those emotions. Video games also lead to improvement in moods and more positive emotions (Granic, Lobel, Engels 71). More positive emotions come from the flow or transportation of video games. Flow or transportation is when rewarding activity creates a high sense of control and also causing a loss of self-consciousness. This loss of self-consciousness allows the player to relax and exhibit positive emotions rather than violence or anger towards others. Other reasons games are beneficial to society is adolescent gamers state electronic games play helps them manage emotion by allowing them to relax, forget problems in life, and get out frustration (Olson et al.). By managing all these emotions, people will be less likely to react with violence in situations because they are being taught how to control their anger or frustration in a positive manner.
http://neomam.com/industry/8-awe-inspiring-video-game-infographics/
Visit this site to look at some interesting info-graphics about how video games affect society cognitively and physically! Jane McGonigal explains in this TedTalk how games should be a force of good. Video games provide a lot to people in life because they can benefit others. For instance, the top five regrets of those that are dying are “I wish I hadn’t worked so hard, wish I stayed in touch with my friends, wish I let myself be happier, wish I had courage to express my true self, and wish I lived true to my dreams instead of what others expected of me.” All of these regrets on deathbeds are possible through video games by staying at home to play games with the family, playing online with others and creating your own avatar. Jane’s personal experience continues to expand on how video games are beneficial to peoples' lives. For instance, Jane’s story on how she could do absolutely nothing after getting a concussion that didn’t heal properly explains how a game saved her life.
Jane believed taking her life might be the right decision to do, so, for her real life challenge she turned her problem into a game. She made herself power ups and made herself a slayer to take on challenges to try to overcome her struggle. This game is known as Superbetter. This game led to post-traumatic growth for Jane and others. People with post traumatic growth from Superbetter say their priorities have changed in life. People state they feel closer to their friends and family, understand themselves better and know who they are now, have a new sense of meaning and purpose, are better able to focus on their dreams within their lives by playing Superbetter. The four types of strengths that help people experience post-traumatic growth are physical resilience (not sitting still), mental resilience (discipline and willpower), emotional resilience, and social resilience (gain strength from others). Boosting resilience improves lives by allowing people to live 10 years longer. Watch this video and listen to how you could live a bit longer by playing a few short games to boost your resilience. Tom Chatfield begins this Ted Talk by discussing that video games reward people individually, collectively, and emotionally. The reason people play video games is the wanting and liking process for gamers. The wanting process is the drive that causes people to play video games while the liking process is the affection and delight one person would get from electronic gameplay. Within these games, there is also a reward schedule that aids the wanting and liking process. For example, Tom Chatfield mentions a scenario where killing 3 monsters will give you fifteen pies then a person will continually open boxes until they gain the 15 pies they are rewarded with. This system captivates gamers because they want to continually get those rewards which helps them to continue to play the game. Also reward systems can help a player want to play more because they progress such as 10% more likely chance to gain an item as they continue to play.
He continues by explaining his seven ideas on how video games are beneficial to the brain. The first is the experience measures the progress of the gamer. Next is there are multiple and short term aims that give people different tasks to continue to play the game. Also rewards are continually given for the effort a player makes to continue playing. Another is rapid, frequent feedback that continues to benefit the liking process. An example in real life would be global warming feedback loop. Uncertainty is a benefit to the brain because having uncontrolled elements in video games makes gamers want more and the drive increases to play the game. The last is windows of enhanced engagement and playing with other people. The last two are impportant especially to benefit social behavior. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3085/behavioral_game_design.php##
The article discusses the aspect of how people create video games by using psychology to develop the game around the player. It starts with using contingencies and schedules. A "rule or set of rules governing when reinforces are given." For example, in role playing games, as a player progresses a person might be rewarded new items and experience points to continue playing. In video games, there are also ratio schedules which only provide a certain reward after specific task have been completed. An example would be a fixed ratio schedule. This schedule involves when a task is given to be completed then there is more incentive to achieve that challenge after the player wants to gain the reward. However this schedule has complications because waiting for a certain amount of time to gain a reward can cause players to not want to play anymore. That is why the less actions the better because there is less wait to gain the reward and no need for the gamer to walk away |
AuthorHi my name is Megan and I currently go to college. I have lived in 5 different states and moved 8 times in my life. For my college project in English Composition, I made my topic about the benefits of video games to society because games were influential on me growing up. My research topic is towards society as a whole because video games is a large part of society. ArchivesCategoriesWorks Cited
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