Just what the doctor ordered

With such negative reactions to gaming being circulated by the media the humble game is very rarely given the chance to prove itself. So could there be positives to playing video games?

We are hypodermically convinced by the media that video games make people violent, that they cause killing sprees and that they have a solely negative impact on a user’s mental capacity. But there seems to be a gaping hole in the media’s investigation of the positives gaming could have on its users. Film academics have investigated and have arguably proven that some elements of films (e.g. violence or horror) appeal to audiences because they allow them to safely investigate secretive aspects of their own desires. This could also be proven to be true to those who play video games. It stands to reason that a video game which simulates violence is actually allowing the user to release internal violent tendencies in a safe environment. This is in complete opposition to the idea that video games create and encourage violent tendencies. While this may not be entirely secure in reasoning when we add the concepts of interaction and immersion, but there is still merit in the idea that video games are not all bad for you!

Along the same vein of video games being oppressed by the media’s influence and so not reaching their full potential, educational video games are not as thriving as they could/should be. There is a lot of potential in using video games to educate this new generation of digital natives. It seems that educational video games are currently limited to poorly constructed children’s games and mid-day infomercial products (thus increasing media scepticism on their credibility) but they have so much potential to be taken from this level and brought into a more reliable light.