Over the years, video games have dramatically evolved. Going from simple 2D games like Pacman to virtual reality games like Beat Saber. They’ve grown from innocent games like Pong to aggressive first person shooters like Call of Duty. People have always argued the effects of gaming and questioned if video games were actually bad for human health. There are plenty of examples of how bad some violent video games, like Grand Theft Auto, can be, which have been blamed for cases of stolen cars. Though, society has never really focused on the good that comes from playing video games. Living in a pandemic, sometimes gaming is a medium that actually saves lives. On August 12, 2013, Adam Lanza shot through Sandy Hook Elementary School. This was one of the worst shootings in United States history. Police followed up on the event and found Lanza had been obsessed with gaming, owning the typical first person shooters such as Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto. Media swarmed over this discovery, claiming that his shooter mentality came from these games, but in reality these weren’t the games Lanza had been obsessing over, it had been Dance Dance Revolution, a nonviolent, rated E for everyone game. (1)

      Just like that, the world jumped to conclusions when in fact “scientists have investigated the use of violent video games for more than two decades but to date, there is very limited research addressing whether violent video games cause people to commit acts of criminal violence.” (1) Millions of people play games around the world, yet the United States has a higher violence rate than any other country. “The fighting kids do in physical games and video games alike is just a simulation,” stated play theorist and author Brian Sutton-Smith (1). Games are just games, most people who play know the difference between reality and fictional scenarios.Video games should not been generalized as harmful without evidence that they even promote aggressive behavior.
   In 2013, the American Psychological Association, APA, put out a resolution encouraging the Entertainment Software Rating Board, the ESRB, to refine its rating system for games to “reflect the levels and characteristics of violence in games.” This put a seven-member task force in charge of reviewing existing studies and conducting a few of their own to determine “whether video game violence can and does lead to real-world violence.” Experts and researchers since have claimed that the results of this are ‘junk science.’ Out of the seven task force members, four already had previously stated their opinions on the link between violent video games and aggression, all confirming that link. Not only did the APA task force go in biased, but many studies were denied inclusion in their study. Christopher Ferguson, chair of the psychology department at Stetson University, stated that the APA had listed six criteria from which studies would be included, yet there were many studies that met all but were not deemed ‘sufficient utility.’ Of those not included, Freguson found that they all almost systematically excluded most studies that found no association between violent video game exposure and violent actions. The APA, one of the biggest national psychological associations, missioned to make certain that there are no negative psychological applications in the nation, is going against all the rules in the scientific world. No researcher or study goes in with a biased view and they never ignore and nullify other studies, even if the studies go against what they are trying to prove. (2)
      In February of 2014, Lisa Bowen of the APA released a new article contradicting the 2013 APA resolution condemning video games. In this article, Bowen describes how first-person shooters “strengthen a range of cognitive skills such as spatial navigation, reasoning, memory, and perception.” The social benefits, she added, include how games “promote relaxation and ward off anxiety…a fundamental emotional benefit.” (3)
      The media has always portrayed gamers as people who lock themselves in their rooms and become anti-social for hours as they play their lives away. The COVID-19 pandemic has majorly changed that for the better,changing how people interact with one another. With shutdowns lasting months at a time for some countries, it shifted many things online.    Just as schools used Zoom to connect teachers with students, Discord became the new location for people to socialize. Discord is a program that allows instant message, voice calls, screen sharing, and so much more for its users. Prior to the pandemic, people tended to play more single player games, and multiplayer games only really saw an increase in gameplay during the weekends or on holidays. During and after the pandemic, over 60% of users on Steam, a game distribution platform, started playing multiplayer games more (4). Not only that, but the timeframe of multiplayer games being played also changed away from just being on the weekends.
      Not only did the pandemic hurt people’s ability to socialize, but mental health issues became more and more prominent. About four in ten adults reported symptoms of anxiety and depressive disorders, previously only being one in ten adults (5). Other activities that also contribute to mental health negatively increased during the pandemic, such as sleeping issues, eating, alcohol consumption, worry, and stress. There are new ongoing studies that also show that there are more negative impacts incoming, especially as the pandemic continues. “Pandemic Brain” is a new term that researchers are using as people start to feel mental fatigue and even “burn out” from the ongoing pandemic (6).
      Video games not only were able to help people socialize, but also help on a deeper level, being as effective to even help mental health. Even just 10 hours of game play can help. Game designer and author, Jane McGonigal says that “Gaming is the neurological opposite of depression.” She says that when playing video games, the parts of the brain that associate with motivation and goal orientation are the most active, parts which are usually inactive due to depression. McGonigal suffered from a brain injury herself and she created a game to help heal her brain. She later adapted the game to also help people with depression, anxiety, brian injuries, and chronic illnesses. “I like to think of people who spend a lot of time playing games not just as gamers, but as super-empowered hopeful individuals,” she states. Certain games can be built to target brain regions that can be trained through gameplay. Video games have positive effects, similar to therapy. They become an outlet for many people as a medium to help relieve stress, which is critical for emotional and mental wellness. (7)
      Slowly the world is realizing that video games aren’t just a source of entertainment, something to do just because you’re bored. There are actual social and mental health benefits, which are especially needed as the world lives through this never-ending pandemic. As the pandemic moves forward, more and more research will be arising showing the continual progress that gaming can do to one’s health. So if you are ever feeling alone or mentally struggling, take a break from life, pick up a controller, and give it a go!

Resources

1. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-video-games-inspire-violent-behavior/
2. https://www.newsweek.com/apa-video-games-violence-364394
3. https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/02/video-game
4. https://healthpolicy-watch.news/video-games-helps-people-to-connect/
5. https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/the-implications-of-covid-19-for-mental-health-and-substance-use/
6. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/multimedia-article/covid-19-and-brain-health-enhancing-the-resilience-to-stress-ratio/
7. https://time.com/4051113/why-playing-video-games-can-actually-be-good-for-your-health