The Good

  What Positive Effects do Video Games have on Personalities?

In an article I read from PROCON titled; "Do Violent Video Games Contribute Youth Violence?", psychologists discuss the relationship between video games and violence.  

SOURCE

"Violent juvenile crime in the United States has been declining as violent video game popularity has increased. The arrest rate for juvenile murders has fallen 71.9% between 1995 and 2008. The arrest rate for all juvenile violent crimes has declined 49.3%. In this same period, video game sales have more than quadrupled." This is not what I expected. Juvenile crime has decreased as violent video game popularity increased. I think that this is because even though kids play these violent games, they do not want to commit these actions in real life. They are scared of the consequences. Even though getting caught by the police and dying in a video game are completely different from the same things in real life, kids and understanding the consequences. Another more likely reason is that kids are taking their anger out on these violent video games and they do not feel necessary to convert their anger into the real world. Also kids nowadays may be more into video games and they do not usually have time for other things.  "Playing violent video games reduces violence in adolescent boys by serving as a substitute for rough and tumble play. Playing violent video games allows adolescent boys to express aggression and establish status in the peer group without causing physical harm."  Kids nowadays do not use actual fighting to establish status. They establish their status by how good they are in the video games. Kids who are good at the game are respected and the kids who are not are considered to be "noobs" and "casuals". Therefore by converting their ranking into video games and away from physical fighting, they can create their own hierarchy without severely harming other people.  "Playing violent video games provides a safe outlet for aggressive and angry feelings. A 2007 study reported that 45% of boys played video games because "it helps me get my anger out" and 62% played because it "helps me relax." I believe this is the most important reason why video games lowers violence. Kids can use these violent games to take out their anger and it is a way for them to relax. This seems to be a major reason for kids to play video games anyways. It is obvious that kids play video games to bond and relax but they also use it to distract themselves and relieve their feelings. "In 2005, the US had 2,279 murders committed by teenagers (27.9 per million residents) compared to 73 in Japan (3.1 per million). Per capita video game sales were $5.20 in the US compared to $47 in Japan. This example illustrates that there is no correlation between violent behavior and playing video games." In Japan, there are many more video games as compared to the United States. However despite that, there are significantly more suicides in the United States as compared to Japan. Basically there is no relationship between video games and violent tendencies.

Discussion Question: Can video games be harmful to people?

FUTURE RESEARCH: What negative effects do video games have on people's personalities? I will look at: http://videogames.procon.org/