Video Games, Immersion, & Columbine, Part III

"Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about rock-and-roll..."

- Shigeru Miyamoto

In these past few days, I have dedicated my time to you not as a former video game developer, nor as a Content Writer, nor as an entrepreneur. In fact, since I began this 90 Day Content Challenge, I have found that there is much more to all of this than meets the eye.

If you have not yet read Part I and II of this article series, click here to subscribe.

Picking Back Up

Now, picking back up on what I was discussing in Parts I and II, I have made it very clear that video games are both bad for you, as well as good for you. Up until this series, I have found my time utilizing my original New Breed Games, LLC website.

I have not posted a darned thing on the Facebook Page in almost ten years...

...and yet, I still get views.

In fact, it gets more views than this very blog post will, and yet I have remained inactive.

I have not made an official video game since 2014, and yet it remains the biggest topic of controversy and theology (and the hardest series to research) since I began this whole mess.

So, picking back up on the discussion, I will remind you that this is a three-part series, and if this article does not make sense to you, read Part I and Part II, and then return.

Let this burn bright after you see what I had originally posted, and the quote at the beginning of this article will make sense to you: are video games good, bad, or neutral?

We have been discussing all of the negative side effects of the gaming world that I felt it would be a good idea to close it out with the good. But first, a short recap...

Columbine & A Journey Into Deceit

Columbine was not the first, but certainly not the last, of a string of school shootings that were blamed on video games, media centralization, and Marilyn Manson.

As we discussed previously, there is mixed research on video games and their bountiful, glowing beacons of violence and sensory overload.

But there is some good to it, too. Bringing us back to the original discussion, I had to perform a lot of research during 2014 when I was invited to perform a guest lecture at a school called the Digital Media Arts College. The topic was video game aggression.

Suffice to say, I spent more time talking about the negatives of games than the good. I found that at around that point, not much research had been formally made on the "good" of games. I opened with a discussion of the Columbine shooting of 1999, and the failsafe that fell upon Manson, the game "Doom," and both of their respective roles in that nightmare.

But They Are Not All Bad

Though Columbine, and even more recent school shootings were throughly blamed on video games, research has shown that the person, not the situation, determines the nature of how someone will take what they learn and falter into either a) aggression, or b) outcome.

Games can increase spatial navigation, as one example. This is the human tendency (actually, a rather primitive part of the brain far beyond just human beings but also, recognized in just about every mammal on earth) to understand one's environment.

When you play a game, even one with violent outcomes, you are increasing your ability to navigate a complicated world. Racing games, as an example, increase the reaction times of many players; "Call Of Duty" improves teamwork skills when someone communicates with other members of the same team; even the "shoot-em-up" games have some magic.

Speaking Of Magic...

"Magic: The Gathering" is a game that once began as (you guessed it) cards.

I will not bore you with the details, mostly because I have never once played, but there is some research behind this series. It actually has been proven to psychologically increase teamwork skills, communication skills, and even plays a role in personality development.

You may have heard of this game a while back, and since then, it has become a new world craze. Many researchers have argued that the "magic" behind "Magic: The Gathering" is its ability to increase communication skills and strategic skills.

The Controversy

You see, we all have this convoluted idea that all video games are rests in shoot-em-ups, which, suffice to say, have dominated the market. In fact, shooter games represent roughly 24.35% of the entire gaming industry. This includes games like "Call Of Duty," "Doom," and multiple other series (yes, even "Halo" was once considered a "Shooter").

But even shooter games (almost one-fourth of the entire market) have been proven in some studies to indicate an increase of teamwork, communicative abilities, and spatial navigation. As always, we cannot trust everything we read.

Even I have to be careful with the topic, as there is so much mixed research out there that blinds the mind to how sometimes, games are not always good.

Yes, there are studies indicating video games increase aggressive tendencies, but only when already prone to it. I touched upon that in Part II.

The Person Determines The Skills

Take, as an example, my youngest cousin. His parents were smart enough to avoid the classic games many parents suffice to hand their children, much like handing a loaded pistol to a serial killer. They only let him play games like "Donkey Kong," and other less violence-prone games that, essentially, allowed for him to never once "shoot" somebody.

He has turned out to be quite intelligent, albeit, genius in his thinking.

When his mother found out that he wanted to become a video game "level designer," I told him I would give him some pointers. Of course, we were humoring him in the best of ways, as it is not that easy. However, I said to him:

"Okay, go draw the best level for a game and come back to me...I'll show you how to design it in the Unity 3D engine." I was honestly expecting a gory masterpiece, when he returned to me with a picture of a racing game.

Okay...?

Now, as a former developer (or rather, one of wannabe status), I really had no idea what I was doing by the time he got back to me. I realized: "Oh, wait, that's right: he doesn't play violent games." In fact, when I said: "Include a secret pathway," he said: "What is that?"

Honestly, I was expecting a level with characters and side "flank points," where he could show his friends how cool this game idea was. But at the end of the day, this youngster had no culmination or understanding of the violent aspects of gaming that we so thoroughly entertain our kids with. In fact, I thanked my cousin (his mother) for not raising him under that theory. She responded with a simple: "We don't want him to grow up violent."

Thank God!

Every parent, at some point, has had to wrestle with the notion that their child may one day end up prone to bullying, violence, or aggression. That is just human nature.

"It is in your nature to destroy yourselves..." - Terminator II

Truly, that quote rings a lot of bells for many of us. You see, my cousin was not a violent person, and though it may or may not be because of the parenting style of exceptional status, I found that he had never once been exposed to violence.

And though one may insinuate that this is a parental achievement...well, if you did insinuate that, you are correct: the manner in which we raise our children is the manner in which they will turn out. Case closed.

All Of The Good

The video games we are used to are violent ones. But if we expose a child to aggressive behaviors, especially when already exposed to aggressive tendencies, aggressive video games, aggressive movies...have I said the word: "aggressive" enough yet?

My point is this: if the person is already violent, especially if exposed to it at a young age, they will turn out just as well as you raised them. But we suffice by the notion that all games are bad. Rather, it is proven that the person playing the game who results into violence is already aggressive in everyday behaviors.

Games can help more than they harm, believe it or not.

To Conclude This Three-Part Series

I will leave you with this: though the research is mixed, we cannot siphon by assuming all games are bad. Rather, the environment we are raised in, and the theorem of our parenting styles and our direct environment are what cause, or hinder, this personality trait. Some say games increase aggression, but as already stated, this is based on the person.

I wanted to end this series with some good, and here they are:

* Games can increase spatial and hand-eye coordination

* Games can help develop coping skills and mechanisms

* Games can relieve more aggression than cause it

* Games can increase teamwork and communication skills

* Games can help in the development of personality development

(APA, 2019).

We have to realize that it is not the game, nor the person, but rather, the environment we are born into. If you are like my cousin, you will succeed with a well-mannered child who has never once shot someone in a virtual, 3D world.

And he will always be a good person because of that.

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