Nolan Bushnell Founder of Atari said, “Video games foster the mindset that allows creativity to grow.” I agree. By showing my brother Minecraft he became more creative. My essay is Videogames are not always about killing and shooting. Because I know that there are those games like Call of duty, Fortnite, Halo, and Black ops. But there are also games like Wordscapes and NBA 2k. Video games can be educational.
Did you know that video games are a great source of learning? For example, I have learned a lot from videogames. Especially the games that have fun facts on the loading screen. In the game “Wordscapes” you have to put words together with letters that you have. This teaches you lots of new words and how to spell. Another example is “Simcity,” In this game, you get to build your own city and have people in it. It teaches you how to build stuff and how to deal with your profit by making you buy new buildings, making new houses, and hiring more staff members in your buildings.
Finally, another example of educational video games is all the math games that are available for students. With math games, you can practice math like division, multiplication, and subtraction that helps you get better at math and also memorize your math facts. The website engadget.com lists eight cognitive benefits of playing video games including that they enhance memory, improve attention and concentration, improve brain speed, and that they are a great source of learning.
Video games can also improve your hand to eye coordination. A recent study from the University of Toronto found that people who regularly play video games, particularly action titles, are better able to learn new sensorimotor tasks, and improve hand-eye coordination, than people who do not play video games. In virtual reality (VR) games you wear a headset that puts you in a different place. You also have two hand controllers, one in each hand. There are many buttons on the controllers. You can’t take the headset off to look at the controllers and the buttons so you have to use your eye-to-hand coordination to be able to do it. The more you do it, the better your eye-to-hand coordination gets. In Wii games, there is a tennis game where the player has one controller and on the screen. The controller is a tennis racket and you have to move it around depending on where the ball is to hit it. Playing tennis improves your eye-to-hand coordination and instead of using a racket, you are using a controller instead.
Video games increase our teamwork. Playing video games with coworkers can boost teamwork and performance at the office, scientists say. Researchers from Brigham Young University in the US found newly-formed work teams experienced a 20 percent increase in productivity on subsequent tasks after playing video games together for just 45 minutes. In a role-playing game, you can work with other people that you find online to defeat the boss or monster or whatever it is that you are trying to conquer. Also in games like Mario Odyssey, one of the players is Mario and the other one is Mario’s hat. You both have to work together because one doesn’t work without the other. You have to be in sync with one another. Both of these games increase your teamwork because you have to work with the people around you so that you can win. You can’t do it on your own.
Some people think that playing more than three hours of videogames can cause hyperactivity and inattention, and poor social skills. And I just want to ask, when did videogames get so violent? What happened to Mario cart? Or Pac-Man? We need more non-violent games! Videogames are not always about killing and shooting, they are often educational and creative. You just need to find the right game. With a perspective, I am Logan Wittenberg.
Sources:
Engadget.com