Video Games always seem to pose as a barrier between work and slacking off, the older generation and younger generation, and between men and women (although I will go into more detail about that later). I always seem to hear complaints about video games, more so as a child than now, about how video games “rot the brain” and “makes one stupid."

Biologically, I don't personally know nor have ever heard about video games physically effecting the brain in relation to grey matter amount. However, the plague of mental disorders that has gripped our nation has taken hold on an industry many take pleasure from. The World Health Organization (WHO) will be classifying “gaming disorder” as a real mental illness. While there is still much research to be done, and no treatment has been reported, we can expect to see this in the official 11th International Classification of Diseases (Scutti, 2017). This is a fair enough argument to the anti-video game side as mental health often seems to be overlooked in today’s society.

While we have come a long way, there is still so far to go into in the development of treatment and with video games being such a large industry, a new mental disorder that sprouts from such a popular area of society, there could be devastating effects. Now, there are positives and negatives to many arguments, and now that we have addressed one of the more serious cons, it is time to address one of the most significant pros. While the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health has done a study comparing expert gamers and non-gamers and compared perception and cognition, I figure a personal explanation can help the reader understand. There are different levels to games.

The first level is the primary story behind the game which usually comes in the form of a single player campaign. The campaign, much like a movie, contains a plot, character development, a climax, a resolution, usually whatever you find in literary works.

Then, there is the next level, which contains a secondary objective, which is not necessarily important to the main story line, but it still provides interesting content to keep the player interested and involved in the lore of the game. This level is most prominent in open world games such as Skyrim or Fallout.

Finally, there is the Easter Egg/ bonus content level. This involves secret surprises and bonus content that can be accessed either through hours of gameplay or online research. Halo is a great example of this with the different skulls one can find through the campaign that makes gameplay more fun and interesting. It takes not only understanding the games but knowing where to look hence where perception comes in. Understanding the surroundings in the games and being able to notice a small crevice where something may be hidden does actually apply in reality as well. While not to the degree I would hope, I do think that my perception, and cognition as well, have been improved.

Finally, addressing the discrepancies between groups, I think there is a larger gap between millennials and the baby-boomers because of the customization to technology. It is more difficult to learn something new later in life than to pick it up at a younger age. Between men and women is a little different however. I think games are not necessarily accustomed to the female group in gaming. While that has changed with the development of immensely popular, less blood and gore shoot-em up games such as Overwatch, I think much is left to be desired to an entire group of gamers that could potentially create an entirely new category of gaming. While that last bit is mostly based upon speculation, I hope my point still rings clear. Regardless of age, gender, or genre preference, pros or cons, there is a game out there for everyone and you just have to take a little risk and have a little fun.

References:

Scutti, Susan. “WHO to Recognize Gaming Disorder as Mental Health Condition.” CNN, Cable News Network, 27 Dec. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/12/27/health/video-game-disorder-who/index.html.

Boot, Walter R., et al. “Do Action Video Games Improve Perception and Cognition?” Frontiers in Psychology, Frontiers Research Foundation, 2011, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3171788/.