Video Game Addiction May Not Be Bad After All

Video games have been saddled with bad publicity saying that they tend to impart violent characteristics to children and make them stupid. In my view, video games are more than just an addictive electronic device; they tend to make people responsible and productive. Not many are going to agree with my view but despite the negative stereotypes and people who have been criticizing the trend of video games; video gaming has reached immense heights. According to Forbes the gaming world has morphed into a massive $67 billion industry and will continue grow to $82 billion in 2017, with people from all age groups participating. There are numerous positive aspects of video games that are often overlooked.

Many people have this wrong notion that video games tend to rot the brain. I believe video games help players to utilize a significant amount of brain power. Video game addiction may not be bad afterall. Video games that are being developed today are not just sit and mash the buttons types; they force players to examine their surroundings, plan how to attack or defend their team and develop tactics to defeat the Artificial Intelligence in the game. Games such as Age of Empires, Rise of Nations developed by Microsoft Inc has had many positive effects on players. These games involved developing skillful tactics to out run your opponent; hand eye coordination also tends to increase drastically.Indian students and teens are also addicted to video games. With a considerable decrease in PC prices, video games have emerged as favorites among college and school students. Barnik Saha who is studying B.tech from H.I.T Calcutta has been a huge fan of video games and his collection constitutes of FIFA, NFS series, Mafia, GTA city, Batman and many more. He adds “FIFA and NFS are my favorites and for single player scenarios I prefer FIFA”. He loves football both in the physical and in the virtual world. “FIFA is based on a game which is liked by many teenagers but cannot be played outside often, due to many reasons. The new games that have been developed give solid graphics which presents real game scenarios before me”. His addiction to FIFA is such that he can devote more than 12 hours at a stretch, the highest being 20 hours. His liking for the game gives him many positive things to look upon. “The managing option in the game helps me to manage the team off the field, framing new strategies for every new game played”. But given an option to choose between a real football game with a virtual one, he would gladly accept the former option.

Some players choose to play video games because these virtual games fulfill some of their dreams. Rohit Singh who is also pursuing B.Tech from H.I.T Calcutta says “I wish to play for Manchester United but that cannot happen in real life”. FIFA, Battlefield series, NFS Hot pursuit, Call of Duty, Crysis 2 are among his favorite video games. But he tends to prefer FIFA and Battlefield. He shares “these video games offer a world beyond reality and gives you the leverage of acting as different characters such as a soldier, racer, player etc.” His addiction to FIFA has seen him playing it for over 18 hours at a stretch from 10 am to 4am. “Night hours are the best time to play games because you will have no interruptions” The addiction to video games hardly affects his college studies; he always remains among the top students of the batch. Rohit believes that video games are not just means of entertainment. “These games help me form complicated strategies to outrun my opponents, tests my nerves in difficult conditions and above all I learn how to perform under pressure.”

The young generation believes that there are many positive things to extract from video games. There are always two aspects of every situation, you need to look at the positive side and learn from the negatives. You can take a look at some of the entrepreneurial lessons that you can learn from Counter Strike.

Author Credit: Anurag