Essay About Us Video Game Market And Video Games

Gaming – Downside
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The US video game market reached nearly $ 21 billion in sales in 2008. On an average
an adolescent spends about 10-13 hours per week playing video games. The cause
may be attributed to the fact that video games today have become a necessity more
than a luxury. They are a unique form of entertainment because they encourage players
to become a part of the game. However, video games have both positive and negative
impacts on players. While some of them are fun and entertaining, others have drastic
effects on children.
On one hand, video games are a source of leisure. People play video games because
they want to get away from their everyday stressful life since these games are fun and
interesting way to spend time. Another major advantage of playing video games
includes improving childrens computer literacy since most of the games nowadays
require internet. Also research studies show that video games tend to increase ones
hand eye coordination as well as theirability to make quick and reasonable
judgements. Educational games provide practice in problem solving and logic and are
thus becoming more prevalent as teaching tools for youth in primary and secondary
schools. However this is just one side of the coin.
Video Games with violent content have far reaching effects on children. Research
studies suggest that violent video games increase aggressive behavior among youth.
Since violent acts are often rewarded and continually repeated in a game, it highly
influences them. Children who see a lot of violence are more likely to view violence as
an effective way of settling conflicts and are more likely to assume that violence is
acceptable behavior. Also, if one buys an intriguing game, he may get addicted to it,
which may lead to drastic consequences. An addiction may lead to physical problems
like obesity, headaches, damage to eye, decline in schoolwork productivity, spending
problems and confusion between real and