Essay Analysis: Computer Games' Negative Impact on Employability

This essay argues that computer games negatively influence employability skills, focusing on the detrimental effects of excessive gaming. The essay's introduction defines computer games and gamers, setting the stage for the thesis. It presents arguments against excessive gaming, highlighting reduced social skills, increased social anxiety, and violent behavior. The essay uses research to support claims, citing studies that demonstrate the link between computer gaming and decreased face-to-face social interaction. It further explores how computer games may be used to suppress social anxiety, increasing dependence on these games. The essay concludes by reiterating the negative impacts of computer games on social skills and the potential for increased violent behavior and social isolation, which may hinder employability. The essay follows the provided assignment brief, which asks to discuss whether computer games enhance a person's employability.

Running head: COMPUTER GAMES NEGATIVELY INFLUENCE EMPLOYABILITY
COMPUTER GAMES NEGATIVELY INFLUENCE EMPLOYABILITY
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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COMPUTER GAMES NEGATIVELY INFLUENCE EMPLOYABILITY
Introduction
Computer games refer to the video games that people play in their personal computers.
However, technological advancements have resulted in computer games being played cellular
phones, game consoles and iPods. Those addicted to playing computer games are referred to as
computer gamers and those who only play once or twice a week or month are called non-gamers.
The thesis of this essay is to argue that computer games have a negative influence on
employability skills. The essay will first provide argument against too much engagement with
computer games, which results in reduced social skills and increased social anxiety. Secondly,
the essay will argue that computer games result in increasing violent behavior amongst people
and causes social isolation.
Discussion
i) Claim: Computer gamers possess lower social skills than the non-gamers do.
ii) Justification: Too much addiction to computer games because social isolation and
people tend to avoid face-to-face interactions and socialize in general
iii) General reason: The dependence on computer games for psychological and social
pleasure, both of which come from multiplayer games where players converse with others across
the globe, makes people forget about the real world.
iv) Evidence: Campit (2015, p. 66) states, “being glued to a computer habitually is
expected to result into isolation that will prevent an individual to exercise face-to-face social
interaction. The author provides evidence of the study conducted on 115 first year students and
found that out of thirteen, eight negative behaviors had moderate social skills rating and the

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COMPUTER GAMES NEGATIVELY INFLUENCE EMPLOYABILITY
mostly the gamers practiced such behaviors. The non-gamers demonstrated “high social skills”
when it came to calling bad names for their classmates with a rating of 2.54. The gamers on the
other hand, scored a rating of 2.14 demonstrating that they ignored their friends (p. 68).
v) Critical comment: As evident from the study conducted by the authors, computer
gamers are more prone to loosing or not acquiring social skills than he non-gamers are.
vi) Specific reason: People often resort to playing computer games especially the online
multiplayer games to suppress their social anxiety.
vii) Evidence: Lee and Leeson (2015, p. 473) have found in their study that resorting to
massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) as an alternate medium to suppress
social anxiety further increased the players’ dependence on these games. The study revealed that
around 78% participants were engaged in MMORPG, which indicates that people find computer
games as a medium to express their true selves (p. 473).
viii) Critical comment: In view of the above evidence, it could be stated that although the
gaming medium is used as a platform to express one’s true self, it least helps while facing
problems in the real world.
ix) Concluding sentence: Therefore, it must be reiterated that computer games reduce
social skills and cause social anxiety.
ESSAY PLAN 2
Claim 2: Too much addiction of computer games result in increasing violent behavior
amongst people, which in turn causes social isolation.

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COMPUTER GAMES NEGATIVELY INFLUENCE EMPLOYABILITY
Justification: Many cases of violence in recent decades have been associated with violent
computer games.
Specific reason: The addiction to violent games especially the role-playing games where
people take on virtual avatars shape their violent mentality.
Concluding sentence: Thus, restrictions should be there for younger people in particular
to access such violent video games.

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COMPUTER GAMES NEGATIVELY INFLUENCE EMPLOYABILITY
References:
Campit, J.B., 2015. Differences on the Level of Social Skills between Freshman Computer
Gamers and Non-Gamers. Asia Pacific Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 3(1), pp.65-72.
Lee, B.W. and Leeson, P.R., 2015. Online gaming in the context of social anxiety. Psychology of
Addictive Behaviors, 29(2), p.473.