Ever heard the saying ‘you are what you eat’? While it rings true for some, when it comes to molding your character, a more fitting phrase might be ‘you are what you think.’

Back in 2010, California took a significant step by outlawing the sale of violent interactive entertainment to minors. This decision sparked a legal battle that ultimately reached the highest echelons of the US Supreme Court. The matter was more than just a debate on the boundaries of freedom of speech.

Interactive entertainment possesses the power to influence the well-being of its participants and the individuals they interact with in their daily lives. Establishing positive connections with others is widely recognized as highly beneficial, especially for children. It propels social growth, fosters imaginative thinking, and cultivates competence. In our increasingly intricate society, children still require these face-to-face, real-world experiences for their holistic development.

Violence in video games – what does it do to us?

However, according to James Paul Gee, it is possible to learn this psychosocial development in a non-traditional way. For example, in a video game environment, where you have to permanently achieve certain goals. By following the trial & error method, you as a player:create yourself into a frustrating learning experience that makes you try again and again to solve a certain problem until it is eventually solved. Above all, this shapes success-oriented perseverance and is fun. If you want to try this method and have some extra fun at the same time, Slotozen login, where you can take part in exciting games and stand a chance to win big prizes.

Now, to get a more detailed insight into what video games teach in terms of violence, we have listed for you in the following article a list of 10 reasons why video games do not cause violence. So let’s start with the first point:

1. Video games help individuals to become more aware of their surroundings

Because video games require players to complete certain tasks as part of their objectives, players get a considerable amount of practice in finding items that may be hidden in the background on a map or on a cluttered screen. Their ability to find difficult items is about 30% higher than people who do not play regularly. Regular players (defined as those who play actively for at least 30 hours per week) also have a 50 percentage point higher hit rate than those who do not.

This characteristic allows people to locate potential threats in real-world environments more quickly and accurately than someone who does not play video games.

2. There is a decrease in physical pain in people who regularly play video games.

When a person plays video games for an extended period of time, the complete mental concentration required to achieve results leads to a reduction in the player’s perception of pain. It does not matter whether the video game they are playing is violent or not.

When burn patients were given the opportunity to engage with video games during their recovery by researchers at the University of Washington, they reported up to 50% improvement in their pain scores.

3. The level of societal youth violence is decreasing while the number of violent video game titles is increasing.

Although there are some direct links to video game violence when law enforcement officers question some criminals about their motives for committing a crime, the average citizen is not influenced in their decisions by this act. The number of juvenile arrests for all crimes in the United States has declined by 70% since 1996, when it peaked at more than 7,500 arrests per 100,000 population.

Even in schools, there is less violence today than in the 1990s, despite the higher number of school shootings. There are fewer fights and bullying problems in public schools today than more than 20 years ago.

4. There is probably no connection between players who play violent computer games and real-life everyday behaviour.

Although there are some studies that suggest a link between violent content and aggressive behaviour in real life, psychologists Netta Weinstein and Andrew Przybylski disagree. They studied over 1,000 young people in the UK aged 14-15 and included their parents or guardians. Almost two-thirds of the 1,600 titles the children played were found to be violent.

Weinstein and Przybylski looked for two possible links: a direct relationship and a tipping point. They found no evidence for either. Przybylski even said that the evidence cited that games make youth and adolescents more violent is low-quality data.

5. Societal influences are not present if violent video games were the cause of this behaviour.

Although children are more prone to moral problems than adults when playing violent video games, statistics on criminal behaviour in almost all communities do not support the idea that this content affects society in any significant way. Adults make up 70% of the video game market in the United States, although up to 90% of teenagers report being gamers. More people play violent video games today than at any other time in history, but crime rates are declining or much lower than in the 1990s.

6. Most video games are not a consistent programme of violence

Video game makers create content based on what their customers want. If you look at the size of the games market in an average year, 56% of titles are rated USK 12 or younger.

One in three games sold in the United States each year is rated “E for All”. The number of games rated “USK18” accounts for less than 10 % of the total market.

7. Playing video games increases the concentration and focus of the individual

People who play video games (including violent content) for at least 3 hours a week are better able to concentrate and focus compared to those who do not play games at all. This benefit includes a 40 % improvement in the overall quality of work done and a 30 % increase in the speed of productivity. All professions and careers benefit from this finding, including laparoscopic surgeons, according to data published by Iowa State University.

8. The contents could be helpful in the therapy of dyslexia

Young adults who struggle with their dyslexia can experience improvement in this learning disability by playing video games. Their reading speed has improved after as little as 12 hours of play, which can include violence. This benefit includes better word recognition, improved mobile mental receptivity and the ability to extract information from written texts. The reason for this advantage is partly due to the written and audio instructions that many games include as part of their instructions. By focusing on the information provided, the mechanisms that can sometimes prevent learning are overridden by the desire to succeed in the game.

9. Video gamers can train away their fear of social violence

One of the biggest fears critics of violent video games have is that the genre can teach people to become numb to aggression. What some may not know is that the ability to immerse oneself in an imaginary world can help people overcome their fears of mass shootings, criminal acts and other safety hazards that might exist in real life.

10. Playing violent video games can teach basic communication skills

Although there is a slightly increased risk of persistent aggression in some young adults, as researchers consistently note, most of today’s games that fall into the violent category involve a high degree of team-based interaction. You need to communicate with others in a variety of ways to achieve positive outcomes and rewards for all players. This advantage may not translate to face-to-face social skills, but it can improve interpersonal interaction online.

Conclusion

The advantages and disadvantages of violent video games are realistically applicable to each player for an accurate result. Some people are more influenced by this content than others. Therefore, it is much more important to prevent the experiences of violence that can occur especially in real life when people are in conflict. This strengthens one’s own well-being and awareness as well as that of all others.