gam3rgurl - Tumblr blog

gam3rgurl · 7 months

Text

First post

Jordan Kantor

Professor Cavitt

ENC 1102

29 Feb 2024

Gaming Hurts?

Hello everyone Gamergurl here! For my first official post I wanted to discuss the stigma around gaming being bad or unhealthy for you. Since my blog will go in depth about specific games, I think it is important to go over some broader topics of gaming first to touch the surface of gaming before we really get into it. One of the biggest stigmas around gaming is how it can be dangerous for you in different ways. These ways can range from health- both mental and physical, exposure to insensitive topics such as violence or nudity and of course the gam chats with strangers. While all of these issues are very real and genuine concerns, I am going to focus on how gaming is actually good for you today.

To begin, I would like to go over rhythm games first. These games are typically in the style of point and click to match up with a song. These games are good for reaction time. They stimulate the brain and improve hand eye coordination skills. These skills are also building blocks for more hands on or intense games such as shooter games. The National Institute of Health published an article that states “The researchers found that the children who reported playing video games for three or more hours per day were faster and more accurate on both cognitive tasks than those who never played. They also observed that the differences in cognitive function observed between the two groups was accompanied by differences in brain activity. Functional MRI brain imaging analyses found that children who played video games for three or more hours per day showed higher brain activity in regions of the brain associated with attention and memory than did those who never played”. This not only shows how gaming is good for brain development but regular tasks. Memory and reflex demanding games cause the player to exercise these muscles in the brain. While they may or may not realize it, they are doing an activity that is good for their brain and themselves.

Gaming is an outlet in so many ways. It can be used for inspiration and a way to express emotions. Personally, if I am in a bad mood or just need a pick me up, I will get online. An easy way to get out anger or sadness is channeling it into a game. An article done by the American Psychological Association states “Simple games that are easy to access and can be played quickly, such as "Angry Birds," can improve players' moods, promote relaxation and ward off anxiety, the study said. "If playing video games simply makes people happier, this seems to be a fundamental emotional benefit to consider," said Granic. The authors also highlighted the possibility that video games are effective tools for learning resilience in the face of failure. By learning to cope with ongoing failures in games, the authors suggest that children build emotional resilience they can rely upon in their everyday lives”. Video games can be calming even though they are known for intense emotions. There are many games that fall into the category of “indie”. These games are typically very calming and have soothing music with slow gameplay. These games are a nice alternative to other stress relievers. Personally, when I am upset or need to get some emotions out, I channel those feelings into an intense game. For me these games are FPS or First Person Shooter. Something in the games relieves that violence I built up and lets it out in a healthy way. Games are also a controlled setting to allow emotions out. Many games can actually teach you life lessons. My favorite example of this is the GTA franchise. For those of you who are not familiar with these games, you play as a character in story mode or a free roam world option. There are missions where you complete heists, robberies, shootings and more. While all of this sounds reckless and like a horrible idea for a child to have access to, this game has repercussions or consequences. If you break another persons car you have to pay for it with your personal in game currency. Cops can come and get you for doing these bad things such as robberies. And while doing these bad things is the objective of the game, there is the reminder that punishments await. This almost reinstalls the fact that these actions are bad and should only be committed online in a game. An example of a life lesson in games that I like is the don't give up and keep persisting aspect. The Harvard Buisness Review uploaded an article which mentions “Video games can be repetitive. You might fight the same monsters again and again to level up. You might run around for hours collecting sticks just to build one weapon. You might make tons of progress, only to fail at the last moment and be sent back to square one. Games take patience. The same can be said for work, and our lives in general — it can feel repetitive at times. But that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Think about it — if we didn’t enjoy the small, mundane moments of video games, what would be left? The patience and hard work are what make the glorious cut scenes, rare achievements, and final fights worth it”. These are some lessons that adults have a hard time with, learning this at a young age can be very beneficial for you in the long run.

Gaming is a way for many people to remain social. Gaming can allow you to connect with many people all over and create unique relationships. I personally have made some great friendships with people online. These relationships may be online but they are very real. As someone with anxiety, I find it easy to talk online. Hiding my face and detailed information about myself can be freeing. These people do not know who you are or what you look like etc. They only know what you tell them. For my senior year of high school I did all of my classes online. I did not do zoom so I had no contact with any classmates or anyone else but the teacher. This made it difficult for me to remain social. I found myself mainly socializing with my online friends. I was able to spend more time on my computer so it was easier for me to see what was going on online already. I would sit in calls with my friends or take mini game breaks in between subjects and assignments. This would be a distresses method for me and a way for me to calm down during class almost like a rest period in between classes. Since I also do have a hard time making friends out in public, this method of connecting with others was super easy for me and comfortable. An article by GEICO states “Past research involving children found that those who played more video games were more likely to have good social skills, perform better academically, and to have built better relationships with other students because of the social and collaborative component to some types of games”. This shows that people who play games are better at being social.

It may be hard to believe, but gaming can be a job .There is a broad spectrum of employment that falls under the term “gaming”. This can be from coding and designing to actually playing games for a living. The more common jobs related to gaming are jobs like game design, animation, game development etc. Or there are jobs to play games professionally. This is definitely an interesting career and not one that many can get into. I know this myself because I am trying. I stream on Twitch. It is definitely easier to make this a career if you are very good at a specific game because then people will watch you for the top tier gameplay. Unfortunately, I am not nearly good enough to be considered a pro in any game. My content turns towards funny rather than good. I still try very hard but I know that I am no pro yet. I like to consider my content as a road to success as I am working on improving as I make content. I have been streaming for quite some time now and I just try to have fun with it. At first I tried to be as good as I possibly could, but that got tiring really fast. It is not easy always trying to be the best at any given moment. I learned that as I went on. Now I just have fun and enjoy my time. Trying to be the best took all of the fun out of gaming for me. Once you reach a certain mindset in competitive gaming many people just seem to loose interest, I was a victim to this phenomenon.

To conclude, gaming has a natural negative stigma surrounding it. Gaming actually is not a harmful activity. It has many benefits both physical and mental. It can be a source of inspiration or an outlet for emotions. It can be a way to express yourself in many ways. Games can teach you real life applicable facts or skills. I myself use gaming for fun, money and a way to express myself. Nothing is better than that winning feeling you get from a victory or the endless laughs with strangers online.

SOURCES

0 notes