Why video games are helpful to students.

Nick Hawwa and Jeremy Radzim

Many adults are under the false impression that video games, “rot your brain and are a waste of time.” This, however, has been proven to be a myth and is not true at all. In fact, the opposite is true. Countless teenagers play violent games such as Call of Duty and Modern Warfare. Parents believe that their children are just killing the opposing player’s characters, when in fact, there are two teams and the teams have to work together in order to reach the score limit or get the higher score before the time limit runs out. In order to work together players need to be able to communicate to each other. They can do this via headset. Players communicating with each other helps hone their communication and interpersonal skills.

The first video games such as Pong and Mario Brothers were created purely for entertainment purposes. There was no thought of incorporating educational elements or scenarios into these games. However, all games, including these games that were already mentioned, are educational. Mario Brothers is educational because you learn through trial and error, how to conquer each level. Yes, the main objective is to get from the start of the level to the end of the level and save Princess Peach by defeating Bowser, but you learn how to kill different enemies and what each power up does and how it affects your character.

Mario Brothers also benefits your memory because if you play the same level multiple times you have a better idea of where the enemies are located and how to get through the level more quickly and efficiently. Video games, for the most part, relieve stress and put people in a better mood. If exposed to video games at a young age, children will more than likely be interested in technology which is very important because technology is becoming an even bigger part of our lives.

For adults, video games can help reduce pain. Video games are not what reduces pain but playing video games causes your brain to release endorphin. Endorphin are chemicals that typically correlate with happiness and have the ability to numb pain. Playing video games diverts the brain’s focus from pain to other senses further reducing pain. Call of Duty, as mentioned previously, as well as other action games, can also help improve eyesight. Experienced action gamers, who play this genre of video games, generally have a heightened “contrast sensitivity function”, which is the ability to discern subtle changes in the brightness of an image. According to Huffpost, a politically liberal American online news and blog, this is “considered to be one of first of the visual aptitudes to diminish over time, the ability to pick out bright patches is key to tasks like driving at night.”