Video Games and Their Influence on Society: A Comprehensive Analysis

This essay provides a detailed analysis of the impact of video games on society. It begins with a historical overview of video games and their rapid expansion into a multi-billion dollar industry, highlighting both positive and negative influences. The essay discusses the rise of virtual reality (VR) games and their popularity among adolescents. Positive aspects such as collaboration and cognitive benefits are acknowledged. However, the essay focuses on the negative impacts, including addiction, aggression, and potential links to violent behavior, citing examples of mass shootings and aggressive tendencies. The discussion references studies on the effects of violent games on behavior and social life, while also presenting counter-arguments that emphasize other social and psychological factors. The essay concludes by suggesting further research on the specific ways video games may negatively influence children and adolescents, while also acknowledging the need to consider other environmental and psychological factors. The essay finds that the negative influences of video games overshadow their positive effects, but doesn't find evidence that video games have ruined the society.

Running head: VIDEO GAMES RUINING SOCIETY
VIDEO GAMES RUINING SOCIETY
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Introduction
Video games have a long history but it began to dominate the society only after the
advancement in technology during the 20th and 21st century. The video gaming industry expanded
rapidly to become multi-billion dollar industry, earning millions every year. However,
overshadowing positive influences, video games also became a curse to the society.
The essay aims to analyze the evidences that show that video games have ruined the
society. The analysis will include a brief overview of video games and its influence on the
society. The positive as well as negative influences will be discussed in the essay. Then, the
essay will highlight the evidences that prove the devastating effects of video games on the
society.
Discussion
In the modern era, video games have reached a different level altogether with makers
giving a real-life experience to the players through VR (Virtual Reality) games. These VR games
– an advance version of multiplayer interactive games – are becoming extremely popular
amongst the adolescents (Serino et al. 2016). Other than VR games, other forms of video games
such as online multiplayer, controllers, and so on are also a sensation amongst the youth. Video
games based on learning and collaboration is very popular.
Video games have a positive influence on the society as it allows people around the globe
to come together in a single platform and collaborate. It allows people from different cultures to
communicate and work together. Further, video games help children explore their cognitive and
physiological capabilities. Qutee, an online poll survey, revealed that more than 40% of the
gamers worldwide have found an improvement in their emotional wellbeing apart from other

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positive effects (Forbes.com 2018). In addition, the survey found that more than 90% of the
gamers have rejected the claim that video games lead to violence in the society. In an article
published in Psychological Bulletin recently, it was found that the increasing hours spent on
video games helped improve qualities such as perception, spatial cognition, cognitive flexibility
and multitasking amongst others (Psychologytoday.com 2018).
However, the chief concern that video games have is the psychological affect on the
minds of the young people. It has become a kind of addiction for the youth, who spend bulk of
their time in playing games rather than socializing. The most damaging effect of video games
could be seen from the number of unfortunate incidences that have occurred worldwide. The
mass shootings in the United States and elsewhere in the world, the aggressive behavior of
teenagers towards their parents and teachers – all have been caused by too much time spent on
video games. The February 14 shootings at the Stoneman Douglas High School revealed
evidences that related to the shooter being an avid first-person shooting games player. In the July
2016 shootings at Muni, Germany, it was found that the killer was an 18-year old gamer who
was addicted to first-person shooter games (Edition.cnn.com 2018). According to a study
conducted by Boxer, Groves and Docherty (2015), it was found that increased time spent on
playing violent games did contribute towards increased aggressive behavior amongst children
and adolescents. The study also found that video games adversely affect the “prosocial and
academic performance of the children and younger people” (Boxer, Groves and Docherty 2015).
Video games also affect the social life of young people who dedicate most of their time
playing games rather than socializing. In fact, they are so attached to the virtual world that they
have given up on their life and career. The video showing the interview of a videogame addict
confirms this argument. The player, a 23-year old individual from the US, has spent more than a

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decade of his life in an isolated room playing video games (Youtube.com 2018). The player
reveals that the failures in his life has caused him to give all his time in videogames as the virtual
world provided him the platform where he could be a hero as opposed to his real world image.
As per the 2015 study released by the American Psychological Association (APA), a “consistent
relation between violent video game use and increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive
cognitions and aggressive affect” was found (Apa.org 2018). It shows that as opposed to some
views regarding the positive influences, video games have caused more harm than health.
Many are however against the view that video games have ruined the society. They hold
that it is unfair to blame video games solely for making people commit violent, anti-social acts.
They opine, there are many other social and psychological factors that lead to violent and
aggressive behavior causing harm to the society. Etchells (2018) provides argument video
games, either violent or not, have nothing to do with ruining the society. According to the author,
ensuring a healthy environment where children could grow with sound mental health is more
important than blaming video games.
The society has gained immensely from the advancement of technology but it has also
been ruined to some extent owing to the technology. The rise of video games is the most
devastating example of this. As Greitemeyer and Mügge (2014) suggest from their study,
children engage in violent behaviors from a very early age such as bullying their peers. The
authors found, “children who play highly violent and mature video games were likely to bully
and cyber bully their peers” (Greitemeyer and Mügge 2014). These behaviors develop gradually
as children grow up and ultimately become a threat to the society. It is therefore important that
strict restrictions be put on children playing violent video games that damage their mental

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stability. However, it must be stated in addition that other psychological and environmental
factors must also be considered rather than just pointing fingers at video games.
Conclusion
The above discussion thus shows the influence of video games in causing significant
damage to the society. The essay focused on both positive and negative influences of video
games on the society and found that the negative influences clearly overshadow the positive
effects. However, the essay could not find any evidence that video games have ruined the
society. Instead, the findings revealed that video games did negatively influence the children and
adolescents in particular causing them to behave aggressively and violently. Hence, further
research on the prominent reasons demonstrating the way video games have ruined the society
needs to be carried out.

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References:
Apa.org 2018. APA Review Confirms Link Between Playing Violent Video Games and
Aggression. [online] http://www.apa.org. Available at:
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2015/08/violent-video-games.aspx [Accessed 3 Dec.
2018].
Boxer, P., Groves, C.L. and Docherty, M., 2015. Video games do indeed influence children and
adolescents’ aggression, prosocial behavior, and academic performance: A clearer reading of
Ferguson (2015). Perspectives on psychological science, 10(5), pp.671-673.
Edition.cnn.com 2018. Do video games lead to violence?. [online] CNN. Available at:
https://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/25/health/video-games-and-violence/index.html [Accessed 3
Dec. 2018].
Etchells, P. 2018. The professor who thinks video games will be the downfall of men | Pete
Etchells. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-
quarters/2015/may/11/the-professor-who-thinks-video-games-will-be-the-downfall-of-men-
zimbardo [Accessed 3 Dec. 2018].
Forbes.com. 2018. The Impact Of Gaming: A Benefit To Society [Infographic]. [online]
Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinanderton/2018/06/25/the-impact-of-gaming-a-
benefit-to-society-infographic/#620999f0269d [Accessed 3 Dec. 2018].
Greitemeyer, T. and Mügge, D.O., 2014. Video games do affect social outcomes: A meta-
analytic review of the effects of violent and prosocial video game play. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 40(5), pp.578-589.

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Psychologytoday.com 2018. Benefits of Play Revealed in Research on Video Gaming. [online]
Psychology Today. Available at:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201803/benefits-play-revealed-in-
research-video-gaming [Accessed 3 Dec. 2018].
Serino, M., Cordrey, K., McLaughlin, L. and Milanaik, R.L., 2016. Pokémon Go and augmented
virtual reality games: a cautionary commentary for parents and pediatricians. Current opinion in
pediatrics, 28(5), pp.673-677.
Youtube.com 2018. Why Unemployed 23-Year-Old ‘Addicted’ To Video Games Prefers Virtual
World. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=fKh4p_KBpFw&t=12s&pbjreload=10 [Accessed 3 Dec. 2018].