Gaming in Society
Introduction
Video gaming exists in society. People engage in playing video games in society as individuals and also in groups. Different people and scholars have had differing opinions about the impacts of gaming in the community. Some people have linked video gaming to social evils. These people have found that gaming is harmful, and it has adverse effects on society and to an individual. Other people and scholars have found gaming to have positive impacts on an individual in the community. These scholars have attributed gaming to some of the positive developments in society and an individual. This paper will explore both the positive and negative impacts of gaming in the community. The paper will conclude by giving a summary of the implications of gaming in the society.
Positive Impacts of Gaming in society
Gaming creates fast problem solvers in society. Video game players are fast and accurate thinkers (Mann). Gaming helps individuals to be alert and quick thinkers. Games create obstacles, and the players must find a fast way of solving and avoiding the obstacles. As they actively participate in gaming, their thinking capacity and problem-solving skills get sharpened. This is a good quality when it comes to decision making and problem-solving. Problem-solving is one of the great attributes needed in society. Fast thinkers and problem solvers are assets in society. In times of challenges and calamities, quick thinkers and problem solvers chip in and provide solutions to the problems that the society is undergoing. The quality of problem-solving is necessary for the growth and development of a society.
Gaming has helped to reduce idleness in society among young people. Idleness has been a common problem in many societies. Inactivity is mostly common among school-going children and teenagers, especially during the weekends and school holidays. Idleness also affects university students and the unemployed population in the society. Idleness is the root of many evils in society, such as drug abuse, early pregnancies, and an increase in crime levels. Reduction in the rate of idleness in the community results in a reduction in the price of social evils in the nation. Gaming helps to reduce inactivity by taking up most of people’s time when they are free. According to an article posted in the persuasive essay, young people spend most of their free time on gaming. This time consumed by gaming could have otherwise spent indulging in societal evils. It is evident that gaming reduces idleness in society and turns it reduces the cases of social crimes in society. The quality time spent on gaming saves society from laziness and social evils.
Gaming allows positive interactions in society. Through gaming, many people in social get the chance to interact as they play together and enjoy the gaming process. These interactions start with the family unit. Families sometimes play together both the children and the parents (Tumbokon), and it creates harmony in a family. This harmony and positive interaction spill over to society, and it makes the community a better place to be where peace and harmony exist. Gaming helps people to learn how to tolerate each other and accept each other in society. They help people in an organization determine the value of each other, and they become friendlier with each other. Gaming is a good source of positive interaction and harmony in a society where people exist.
Gaming improves education quality in society. Gaming has a way of making learners more active, and this helps them to improve their grades in school (Tumbokon). Through gaming, students get to acquire some characteristics that are advantageous to their leaning. These characteristics include high confidence, high self-esteem, and problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and group interaction (Merino-Campos and Dell Castillo, 117). These qualities help a student to perform well in academics. Increased academic performance is favorable to society. When learners in an organization are doing well, academically it implies that there will be few uneducated people in the nation with a majority of people in the society receiving higher Education. A well-educated society is more knowledgeable and free from poverty. Gaming has positive effects on Education, and this usually spills down to the nation in terms of growth and development.
Video games are a source of innovation in society. Video games create a sense of creativity among players (Tumbokon). This creativity is the source of change in society. Through video gaming tri, an individual learns how to think fast, solve problems, and be creative in solving challenges as an individual plays the games. These qualities trickle down to practical life situations, and people start being more innovative in business and industrial development. The benefit of having more innovations in a society is that society gets to grow and develop in terms of infrastructure and economically. The change also helps to reduce the rates of unemployment. The government encourages more people to be innovative and come up with new inventions. Innovation and creativity can be created merely through gaming, and they can benefit society.
Gaming is a source of emotional healing and psychological welfare in a society. Many gamers, when asked, have replied that gaming helps them to relax when they are under so much pressure (Anderton). Games are a way to relieve stress and find psychological healing. This kind of healing is essential to an individual and the society as well. Many crimes that happen in the nation are committed by people who are emotionally unstable and psychologically unstable. Many people who are serving jail time in prison suffer because of actions they did under stress. People must find a way to relieve their stress, heal their feelings, and find psychological stability for their benefit and the people surrounding then in society. Gaming is the right place for people to find internal healing and peace.
Gaming reduces loneliness and depression in society. Life today has changed and become more challenging. In today’s society, so many people have become occupied by their jobs. These people miss out on social opportunities to make friendships. Many people are silently suffering from depression and loneliness. Gaming is always an available option to reduce isolation to people in a society and reduce depression. The society suffers widely from depression. Gaming offers a chance for people to make friends and to interact. The effects of loneliness and depression are like increased crime rates and suicides. Gaming helps to mitigate this in society by reducing loneliness and depression.
Gaming improves people’s health in society. It has been found that gaming has a number of health benefits to individuals in a society (Papastergiou, 604). Some video games have been designed to keep people active. These games are like the Wii fit and Wii sport. These health benefits are like improved eyesight and mental health. Gaming also creates the desire to live a healthier lifestyle through adequate body exercises. When people’s health improves the society benefits a lot since the money used to treat and help people to get well is saved. The more the people are healthy, the lesser the number of people in health facilities seeking medical attention. A healthier society implies that society saves money that could have been spent on building more hospitals, hiring more health workers, and purchasing medication. The money saved can be used in society to solve other societal problems. Gaming helps people in societies to be healthier.
Gaming can lead to careers and job opportunities in the society. It would be wrong to think that gaming is just a fun experience. People design video games, and many people are involved in the design and implementation of video games. Through playing video games, young people in society may get more interested and decide to venture into a career to design and invent video games and video websites. Gaming is one career that is not congested, and the chances of getting a job are high. The jobs created by video games benefit society by reducing the rates of unemployment and mostly by increasing revenue to society. Gaming is a good source of employment that young people in a society can also look forward to venturing into.
Gaming helps in better planning and resource utilization in a society. Through gaming, individuals learn how to plan and survive using minimal resources. When playing many video games, a player has to utilize very scarce resources and persist throughout the game. This character learned by individuals’ trickles down to society. It creates many people that are good at planning and people that can utilize the society’s scarce resources to the maximum. Proper utilization of resources results in zero or no wastage. Adequate management and use of resources are of great benefit to society.
Games are a source of entertainment in society. Video games are designed to be exciting and enjoyable for the players. They create a source of entertainment in society that could be relatively cheaper to adopt in society. Games serve all the purposes that a movie serves in a community like relieving stress and creating time for family and friends to bond. Entertainment is part of the things that give meaning to life in a society. Gaming is a thrilling part of people in the society can be counted as one of the entertainment forums in a society. The society invests lots of its money on entertainment and recreation because of the benefits that it draws from entertainment. Gaming is another added source of entertainment in the society.
Gaming helps individuals in a society to grow and develop in the society. The society has a responsibility to help individual to grow and become productive members of the society. Gaming helps people to identify themselves morally, emotionally and psychologically. They help young people to identify their societal roles and expectations. They help people to improve on their social lives and to becoming more responsible citizens in a society. Individual growth and personal development are necessary to individuals in the society. Gaming is one tool that is helping people in a society to grow socially and financially and these benefits trickle down to the society.
Disadvantages of gaming to the society
Video games are a source of time wastage in the society. Many people spend so much time on video games (Copenhaver, et al, 737). This time would have been spent doing more constructive tasks in the society like studying or taking up extra shifts at work places. Time wastage slows down individual and societal development. Gaming is addictive to many people especially the young generation and it makes them to spend more time gaming than usual and than planned. Time is a valuable concept and wasting time has negative side effects to the society in general. The time spent on gaming should be regulated in order to create more time for more constructive activities that assist in the growth of a society.
Gaming introduces violence to the society. It has been discovered that a number of violent cases in the society were caused by gaming. Some video games are violent in nature. They include shooting and killing the enemy and obstacles. This has negative side effects on the players. Many video players are children and teenagers who are still in the process of discovering themselves and their purpose in the society. Exposing this young generation to violent video games is harmful to their well being. These young people may end up being violent and aggresive in nature. Many violent crimes that occur have been driven by violent video games. Creating violence among the people in a society increases danger and crime rates in a society which is not good. The rate of violence in a video game should be limited according to the age of the players allowed to access the games.
There are heath issues created by video games in the society. Spending too much time on video games is not healthy for people in a society. People need to spend more of their time plying real games and interacting with other people in the real society (Khan). Lack of physical exercises to children, teenagers and adults is not good for the well being of their health. The society may end up spending much money on people’s health due to lack of exercise. People should limit their screen time as they play video games and invest some time on physical exercises and interactions. An unhealthy lifestyle that may be resulted by video games is disadvantageous to the society. Gaming time should be reduced and children together with teenagers and adults should engage in more healthy activities.
Academic failure is another disadvantage of gaming in the society. Children and teenagers may end up spending too much time on video games rather than on Education. College students also experience academic drawbacks as a result of excessive playing of video games. Children and teenagers who carry their smart phones to school also spend their free hours in school on gaming rather than studying (Beulow,et al,. 230). Students have also been reported to use school computers and internet to play video games. This excessive playing of video games affects the academic outcomes of learners in a society. Poor education acquisition in a society has its negative implications because it means that many learners may not qualify to go to college resulting to reduced skilled labour in the society.
Laziness is another result of video gaming in a society. Research has shown that many people run away from their daily tasks to go and play video games. In some work places workers may hide from their responsibilities just to play video games on their phones or work place computers. School students may exhibit character traits of laziness and lack of interest in other fields and aspects of life (Khan). Laziness in a society is the key to poverty. Laziness reduces the rate of production in a society. Reduced production results to reduced income in a society or extra cost to hire more labour. Laziness is a vice that should be discouraged in the society since it leads to poverty. In order to reduce poverty in our societies, video gaming time should be restricted.
Video games are addictive to the society. It has become normal to find people glued to their screens for hours as the play video games. Too much of video gaming is addictive especially to the young generation (Khan). This addiction leads to lost concentration to other issues surrounding in the environment. The society suffers a lot when people get addicted to video games. This suffering is because many issues in the society end up not being attended to. People lose concentration in their daily routines as a result of video game addiction and they end up causing road accidents and other incidences happen. Excessive gaming is not good to an individual and to the entire society.
Gaming is expensive to an individual and to the society. Money is required in gaming. This money is required in upgrading the games and purchasing and maintaining the necessary tools that are required when gaming (Khan). These amounts of money spent every day on gaming could be directed to other basic needs of an individual or the society. The cost of gaming has reduced savings in families and in societies. Excessive gaming leads to more money wastage in the society.
Conclusion
It is evident that gaming exists in the society. Gaming has a number of benefits that the society gains from it. The positive impacts include improving learning, creating social responsibility among the youth; it can be a career for young people, increased social interactions, providing mental health and improved health and living styles. Gaming help in building cognitive abilities in children and building their relationships with family and the society. These advantages of gaming make the society nice and a healthy place to exist. Gaming also has a number of its disadvantages to the society like increasing violence, laziness, unhealthy lifestyle and expenses. Gaming is necessary in a society but excessive gaming is not good for the welfare of a society. People in the society should play video games in a controlled way. Too much of anything is poisonous and so is gaming. Parents should take caution about the number of hours that their children spend on video games. With controlled gaming the disadvantages of gaming can be mitigated and the society can reap the benefits of gaming.
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