Play It Right With Video Games

It is common knowledge that video games, like any other form of entertainment, have both positive and negative influences. But the effect depends to an extent on the inherent traits of the player and is not as easily determined.  Sometimes, this realization comes tragically late. As with the Norwegian ‘mass murderer,’ Anders Behring Breivik, who spent 16 hours learning to use the rifle through video games. And who subsequently shot dead a total of 77 people a year ago. While Breivik is currently undergoing trial and psychiatric evaluation, the outside world has been deeply affected. In addition to the suffering caused to grieving families of the victims, the games industry is facing a round of backlash by media and public for being the root cause of the incident.

Incidentally one of the games that Breivik played most often happens to be the world’s most popular MMORPG game by the Guinness World Records, World of Warcraft.  And not everyone is going around causing mayhem.

To look for an outlet is understandable. But misdirected blame means taking the responsibility away from the criminal act. A person with a disturbed personality will use any medium to draw inspiration. History shows how suicides and murder have been triggered by music, movies and even books.

What should it be then–control content or control people? Ideally, it should be a blend of both. You may use child-lock controls for the younger age group but how can you possibly prevent a seemingly normal 33-year-old like Breivik, who calculatingly spent a decade in planning to kill?

Games that heal

On the brighter side, video games improve mental and physical well-being. Certain game mechanics improve skills such as strategic thinking, problem solving, hand and eye coordination, research and creativity. They help discipline through good sportsmanship and strengthens social bond when playing multiplayer games with friends and family.

With the mobile platform increasingly more popular than the PC, app developers are working hard to reduce the tarnished reputation of video games by bringing in wholesome and healthy content. For instance, recent news reports have been raving about a new mobile game application SuperBetter launched on the iOS platform. The game was created during the game developer’s personal experience while suffering an illness and thus created the game as a means to heal. The game is recommended to help counter against general health problems.

The gist of the issue is: self-awareness and self control play a crucial role in gaming. Whatever the platform one chooses, effects of video games are conditional to what I call the ‘3 Rights’: Right games, Right amount of time and Right environment. The ‘right’ factor is situational as well as individualistic and depends on personality type as mentioned earlier.

If you are prone to any form of addiction, avoid highly engaging games that will take you away from your regular routine and the resultant effects could cause social withdrawal, improper sleep and even job instability.

So if you know when to draw the line, then the very same games that another misuses, you could put to good use.

Originally Posted By SocialJitney.Com