The Importance Of Video Games

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In the last three decades, videos games have succeeded not only by gaining influence in the markets worldwide by generating billions in sales, but by also having a big role in the everyday life. One of the most famous and successful games, Ms. Pac-Man, generated a revenue of around $1.2 billion in 1987 (Rignall), proving that the video game era had just begun. In 2013, Grand Theft Auto V generated $1 billion only in the first three days of its release, setting a new World Guinness Record for the fastest revenue generating video game (Lynch). This was a clear sign that showed the big impact video games have in our society and even more, that this impact is growing. Ms. Pac-Man and the generation of video games at that time had only minimal interaction…show more content…
Nowadays, video games have astonishing graphics, long character scripts, incredibly detailed storylines and many other capabilities for the players. All these advances in the video game quality, made many people question the content of these video games that were being released. One of the main concerns that is still being debated is that of violence in these video games. With the new technological improvements came even more realistic content that thinned the line between a simulation and a video game. The thinning of this line is what made people think about the impact of these violent video games on the everyday life. Many psychologists and researchers suggest that playing violent video games is closely related with bad effects on players’ health and behaviour; mainly and more importantly causing addiction and heightened levels of…show more content…
Violent video games often require a longer playtime than other games to finish any particular mission and this “overdose” may cause blurred vision, near-sightedness and even headaches (Sorensen). There are also problems related with focusing, which according to recent research published show that an impaired focus is linked with violent video games players. Both violent and non-violent video game players have also been related with lack of concentration and attentiveness in tasks which to them seem less exciting, such as schoolwork, which causes the players to have a shorter attention span. Yet, this harmful effect was more evident in the first-person shooter category, the most well-known representative of violent video games (Brawer). Furthermore, Dr. Granic, who listed and explained numerous benefits that came from playing violent video games, also acknowledges the risks that these games posses. Addiction, depression and aggression are the major threats that players have to face (Foley). All complications listed above are serious and require a lot more attention than the benefits players get from these violent video games. Aggression, the most evident undesired effect, has been linked to violent video games in many studies made even twenty years ago. An up-to-date major scale 2014 study, conducted by Jack Hollingdale of the University of Sussex
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