Author: Hamood Almashraqi (Page 3 of 10)

For years, video games have always been devalued and misunderstood. Parents, guardians, care takers, etc have all implemented in their minds that video games courrupt their children and that there’s no good coming from video games. With the new generation of kids playing video games and growing older I would like to make them understand the positives and even some cons that come from gaming so they understand what gaming can do to them.  For this unit my focus is to teach the kids and even the teens and adults that play video games how beneficial it is. The genre I decided to go with was leaflet. A leaflet has all the information needed all in a small form factor, that is easy to read, very straight forward, easy to hand out and pass around and also since the average attention span of a human is 8 seconds, it should be well enough to grab the readers attention within those 8 seconds and since its so small and is packed with useful information, the reader will almost feel obligated to continue reading till its done. I will also have playful graphics from common games and a meme on it to better appeal to the younger and older audience. I plan to get started by researching a bit more about colors, patterns that stick out the most so it eye grabs the audience. Also what words and pictures stick out the most especially since its all condensed in a small form factor. After that I will research more relevant and useful information that I believe the children and teens would relate to and understand. Then I will create an outline and try to condense a lot of important and key information into it. Im only concerned that the audience would misinterpret the positives and use that as an excuse to play video games for longer than they allowed to.

When writing my essay I wanted my audience to be parents, guardians, teachers, and anyone else who believed playing video games isn’t good. I still believe this addresses this audience but also the kids and teens who play these video games can benefit from it as well. The reason I believe kids and teens can benefit from it is because they can understand what these games that they play strengthen different things. This can make the kids and teens play games that make them overall better with their cognitive abilities, etc. A good way to get these younger peoples attention is by making a magazine with a playful and enjoyable layout. This would gravitate the younger audience into being interested in what the magazine has in store. I will also suggest games that they should play and what that game can do to them.

Growing up video games have always been a big part of who I am. when I was in elementary school I had a PSP and I used to play ratchet and clank, burnout, ape escape, metal gear solid, etc. These games were all super fun to me and I enjoyed them because all my my friends around me also enjoyed them and played them. At lunch we would talk about where we were up to and help each other with tips and advice on how to get to the next levels. Middle school I started to play Minecraft which was a huge part of my childhood. Minecraft was a great game and everyone knows and has played it at least once. High school I started to branch off into other games and took on Call of duty as my game of choice. This game opened up a new opportunity for me to compete and try to be the best. It also helped me with my anxiety and other stuff. Overall throughout my life gaming has been a way for me to escape everything and just connect with my friends and prove myself that I was a great player.  My parents however don’t see it as a good thing. They disapprove of the games that bring me joy. They often try to push me away from gaming when they don’t understand the true reason why I enjoy playing. I feel as if there’s more kids that get misunderstood like I am and I want to research if there’s actually anything wrong / bad with gaming. I also want to figure out all the benefits to gaming because realistically gaming takes a LOT of skill especially when you play up against other real people out there who all have the same goal as you do, to win and be the best. I expect to find a lot of articles talking about the negatives of gaming because all old adults don’t believe in it. They think it’s a waste of time and don’t believe there’s any real benefits. If all the information goes against what I’m advocating for I will not scrap my idea or switch up. I will use my own research through my friends and my own experience and write about that as well, especially since we all first hand experienced it. I believe nonfiction articles about the topic I’m researching would give me great information.

in this article, the author who isn’t listed talks about how playing video games, including rough shooter games, may help children’s learning, wellbeing and social aptitudes, It also speaks about how there’s been studies that have been conducted to show the negative effects of gaming but there hasn’t been much highlights on the positives. The positives being that playing video games can actually strengthen a wide variety of cognitive skills and other things to do with memory, perception, and reasoning. Also, these skills can be applied in academic work swell and can help enhance the thinking in science, engineering, technology and mathematics. I agree with this article I like how it doesn’t just hate on gaming and sees it from a different light, I feel like there should be more articles like this that get exposure and parents see it and understand that gaming is way more beneficial than they think. APA  states,” The more adolescents reported playing strategic video games, such as role-playing games, the more they improved in problem solving and school grades the following year.” Depending on the type of game being played there could be many positive effects to the children who play these games. Strategic games help with problem solving in school work and can positivity effect the student and can boost his or her grades. Another example is “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.” Gaming has been proven to positivity effect the users mood and help with depression, anxiety, and provide relaxation from the stressful life that the user has and can be easy and quick to access. Wouldn’t you want your son or daughter to be  at ease and not have anxiety or stress on them?

In this video, Psych2Go speaks about how gaming has gotten more popular than ever with titles such as Call Of Duty or Fortnite going completely mainstream and more people are considering themselves to be gamers. She also mentions how the last few years that Video games had always been looked down upon for “causing” habits of addiction and violent behavior. These are all alleged and aren’t proven to be true so she goes over 7 psychological benefits to gaming. Psych2Go makes it very clear that gaming isn’t as bad as people think of it to be. By diving deeper into the Psychological benefits of video games, can help prove that games can help kids and teens psychologically, which parents and adults cant see on the outside but can tell from observation. one example she stated was that, “video games are linked with emotional stability… a 2012 study suggested that immersive games in particular, appear to be the most beneficial, because they allowed gamers to try out different versions of themselves.” These games can help us get an idea of what we would like to do with our lives and do things we normally can’t. Red dead redemption is a game that allows the person to be a “cowboy” ride horses, go hunting and be unique. You have full control of what you do with your character and can really be a hunter in the game, and this can give the user an idea of how hunting is. Another example is “video games improve visuomotor coordination…a recent study found that video games improve all vasomotor coordination which is when vision and movement work together to produce actions.” In first person shooter games us gamers are required to be extremely focused, react fast, and aim and shoot at moving targets and make small adjustments to dominate the competition, this translates to driving where we are making small wheel adjustments to maintain the stability on the road at a constant high speed. By constantly boosting out visuomotor coordination we get better at all the things we normally do using hand eye coordination.

This online magazine talks about how yes video games have been nuisance in families and distract kids when they take advantage of their privilege to play video games but also how there are hidden benefits to playing video games and they’re way better than you can imagine. This  magazine points out the fact video games detract kids who take advantage of the privilege but mainly focuses on the benefits that parents and adults might miss and not understand completely. For example, “there is considerable evidence that suggests gaming actually helps promote stress management skills and allows people to unwind and reduce their stress levels.” Kids and teens do have stressful lives too and parents and adults don’t seem to understand that. They are stressed out based on their own experiences and life, so what might seem stressful to them might be nothing compared to you because you’ve had more experience. This is important to know because some Kida and teens can suffer from social skills or anxiety or worse and gaming can be one of their only escapes from the stress they endure. Another example is “Playing to excess can lead to video game addiction, reduced school performance, and decreased real-life skills…With moderate gameplay, players may enjoy many of the benefits of digital gaming without suffering the negative effects” The author is obviously aware of the fact that excessive play can harm the user if he isn’t responsible with his play time. Playing video games is a privilege and kids and teens forget that. In order to have fun they must be responsible and moderate their play time.

An article called “Cognitive benefits of playing video games” written by Peter Gray Ph.D was published in Febuary 2015, shows research on video games positive effect on basic mental abilities. Dr. Gray basically goes over all the improvements in basic visual processes,  attention and vigilance, executive functioning, and in Job related skills. Some of these effects are very useful and important to our everyday function. For example “Green & Bavelier (2012) found that action video gaming improved performance on the ability to locate, quickly, a target stimulus in a field of distractors—a test that has been found to be a good predictor of driving ability.” This improves your spatial attention and can help the user be better at driving and can help the user be able to locate things quickly, like a parking space or your car in a parking lot. Another example is “A number of researchers have reported that experience with action video games improves people’s abilities to switch rapidly and without error between tasks that have conflicting demands.” This is useful because it increases your mental flexibility and in working complex jobs that require you to focus and switch between strenuous tasks, like flying a plane or working as a chef at a restaurant. Playing video games allows you to strengthen your brain and your ability to do multiple things at a time all while lessening your room for error. Having these positive effects can help you be more successful at whatever it is you do in your everyday life.

After all the research I’ve made on the benefits of Video games I have learned that Video games have a lot of benefits to it that we won’t truly notice since its all benefits to your brain. However these benefits are still demonstrated in your everyday life and can help you do things more efficiently. Video games have been tested to actually strengthen a wide variety of cognitive skills and other things to do with memory, perception, and reasoning which can be applied to academic work. They also can help prove that games can help kids and teens psychologically, which parents and adults cant see on the outside but can tell from observation. Which is something that parents over look a lot these days, They see that their kids and teens are fine on the outside and assume everything is okay on the inside as well. Kids and teens do have stressful lives too and parents and adults don’t seem to understand that. They are stressed out based on their own experiences and life, so what might seem stressful to them might be nothing compared to you because you’ve had more experience. Gaming can help with emotional stability and can overall make your kid / teen or even yourself overall a better, more happier, more efficient person.

Reviews memo-

I wrote this to inform parents, adults, or guardians, students, basically everyone of the positive effects of video games on kids and teens. I hope this essay will make them understand that there’s a lot of hidden benefits that aren’t shown physically, but mentally. I want them to understand that video games has a lot more benefits than they think.

This project has been going super well, ive found a lot of evidence and good arguments. The only issue is a lot of sources are repeating each other so that was the only thing wrong. Im proud of the research and work ive done to this essay and on how much ive learned.

Is there anything wrong with my essay/ confusing?  Are my evidence sufficient and informative? is there anything I can improve on and make stronger?