Video Game and Their Effects on Modern Society

Video Games and their Effects on Modern Society

        The article “Video Games: Good, Bad, or Other?”by Michael Rectenwald and Lisa Carl is informative and insightful regard on the debated of positive and negative effects of video games among children and adolescents. According to Rectenwald and Carl, video games as its’ own sides- good and bad. After a development process, some video games have also revealed the shortcomings of itself, meanwhile other effects can be beneficial.  Rectenwald and Carl’s key point is to address that video game effects are “complex” and should be view under different dimensions, rather than just good-or-bad. It is true that video games are highly entertaining and is undeniable the positive aspects of it as it helped children and adolescents reduce tension and fatigue after school hours. Video games if play properly, as well as under supervision of adults, will promote the benefits of itself to help relieve pressure and stress.

        The authors explained many dimensions to support the debate of good, bad, or other of the article. Rectenwald and Carl stated that video games are powerful teachers. In addition to recreational effects reduce stress itself, this is a form of entertainment that requires the flexible of mind and limbs. When playing video games, we can practice reflecting agility to promote brain processing.  According to the article, the research on video games over the past 10 years helped us understand more about different type of video games that affect players. There is different type of video games that will have its’ own theme such as violent games, exergames and prosocial games. Rectenwald and Carl argues that violent video games has negative effects on players because violent video games affect children over time, it can increase aggressive thoughts and encourage them to imitate the behavior of the game’s characters, such as the dismissive brutality theme of the video games. In the other hand, exergames, promote healthy lifestyle and fun environment. It combines two very popular concepts: video games and fitness. Studies show that people play interactive games for several reasons: to have fun, dance, stay fit, meet other people, or simply to enjoy the challenge of the game itself. Prosocial video games also promote educational benefits to players, players and game characters help and support each other in nonviolent ways, therefore will increase both short-term and long-term prosocial behaviors. The authors concluded that “good” or “bad” is a false dichotomy because video games can affect players in multiple ways at the same time.