Are video games a positive good?

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Gaming is widely not believed to be a constructive hobby. Growing up, my mother hated video games and constantly discouraged my brothers and I from playing them.

But are they good? Were they ever good?

Yes, they do discourage socialization and are often contributory factors to people becoming anti social shut ins

But are they helpful or positive? They certainly seem to lead to friendships, and give people fun things to talk about. Since the late 80s/early 90s it has spawned a whole new kind of nerdy subculture.

More recently, video games seem to have taken on the likeness of "high art" with sophisticated story lines, beautiful soundtracks, and stunning visuals.

Perhaps they have relieved many a lonely college student, led to sleepovers being just a bit more fun, and helped provide refuge to people from a chaotic and stressful world.

I suppose I wax poetic, but am I right in thinking that video games are not only a fun amusement, but a positive good?

I've always found video games to be entertaining, my mom hated them though...she did eventually give in and let my brother keep an Xbox a friend gave him so me and my sister played on that. Also we were allowed computer games earlier on.

I can't help thinking I might have had a better chance at making and keeping friends if my mom didn't try to discourage certain interests just because she didn't like it or get it. Also when I was around 10 years old she wouldn't allow us to watch pokemon because something she read that convinced her it was bad, so of course I certainly didn't get into any of the card trading or video games....which of course only added to my not fitting in since many of my peers were into it and even the ones that weren't still knew what it was and some about it.

I would say so, yes.

I know the idea of them being a negative is often pushed forth, but... that's a simple stereotype, usually involving lazy gamers that live in a basement and never accomplish anything, blah blah blah...

It doesnt help that alot of people doing this usually see endless advertisements for the same blasted shooters over and over again. It gives the idea that all games are mindless, which isnt a good thing.

And in my experience, none of that is true.

The benefits that I have personally experienced with these:

Increased coordination/speed/reflexes: These things are what I'm known for, among anyone that knows me at all. I'm fast.... REALLY fast. I can react to things before most people even notice that those things are happening. I'm faster than many people that are 10 years younger or more. What's more, my reactions are accurate, since I'm very coordinated. I dont mean just in-game... I mean IRL. This helps with alot of things, the biggest one being driving. But these really are abilities/traits that have alot of use overall.

Increased awareness/perception/processing: Another thing is that I dont get easily overwhelmed by chaotic situations like many autistics do. This is in part because the sorts of games I play tend to be very chaotic, and have to some degree taught me to deal with that. I can mentally process/track LOTS of things at the same time, and I tend to have total awareness of everything around me, regardless of what I'm doing. Games can exercise your mind by engaging you and forcing the practice and improvement of these skills.

Teamwork, communication: Lotsa team-based games out there, usually competitive but plenty that are co-op too. If you want to get anywhere in these... you gotta understand how to work as a team, and you have to be able to at least somewhat communicate properly with your teammates. If you're not coordinated as a team, you will lose. IRL, these skills have many applications.

Logic skills: I know alot of people see games as a brainless activity, but... no. They arent. LOTS of games these days are complicated as all hell. Let me give an example here:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1XpgkqQIF_A/maxresdefault.jpg

That game is a favorite of mine, called AI War. It's one of the most complicated games I've ever seen. It is an RTS (real-time-strategy), however it's one that can be paused (you can give orders while it's paused). This is a game that involves THOUSANDS of units at once, on multiple maps. All that stuff on there? That's on one individual planet map. Those ships are in some sort of combat. But that's not the only map.... you have a full galaxy map screen, consisting usually of about 80 seperate planets... and ALL of these are running at the exact same time. They dont simply freeze up when you switch to another. And if that's not complicated enough? Look at the right side of the screen. See all those icons? Each one represents an individual type of ship that is present in the current system. That's ALOT of ship types, each one different.... and the game has about 300 different ones. See that bit at the bottom left? That's the stats for ONE individual ship type. Just look at how much data is there, from things like attack power and range to immunities and other things, and you have to understand these things, you cant just ignore them. And this isnt a PVP game; this is played against the most competent AI I've ever seen, a non-cheating one that's damn near unbeatable at it's highest difficulty. And there's a hell of alot more to it than just that. Suffice it to say, this is a COMPLICATED game. And very, very hard.

Yet it's NOT the single most complicated I"ve ever seen... just think about that for a moment. Games of high complexity like this exist in pretty high numbers, in many different genres. They could be things like roguelikes, or ARPGs like Path of Exile (with it's hyper-complicated mechanics)... all sorts. These games require LOTS of thinking/processing, lots of planning, and lots of logic in order to get anywhere. They are absolutely stuffed with numbers and stats and things. I've got tons of games like this, as they are a popular type; many gamers arent satisfied with just playing the usual shooters or story-focused games.

Computer skills: This one mostly applies to PC gamers. One way or another, if you're going to get into PC gaming, you MUST know your way around a computer. There's often stuff that needs fixing or changing, you have to often deal with screwball installation issus, hardware... all sorts of things. Gaming is what got me into computers as a whole.

Jobs! Yeah, that's right. Jobs. Often, people into this stuff are drawn either towards the gaming industry itself, or perhaps towards things like programming in general. Or other things... the gaming industry isnt JUST about playing games. Even I got sucked into something... I've been contracted twice by an indie developer to assist with making a game, and the second time put me in a position of authority; I have control over what goes into the game (which is in constant development after release) and what doesnt. I can design my own content and add to it. And I do indeed know what I'm doing, and it's gone well (pretty much nothing but good reviews)... but I am able to do this ENTIRELY because I've played so many bullet-hell games. And that's just me: Some people might get into gaming-related journalism, for instance. Or maybe they make videos about it. Maybe they get into the publishing or PR side of things. There's ALOT to this stuff, and alot of potential.


So there, that's my big long rambling answer to that question of yours. Suffice it to say, yeah, I think gaming can be very positive. Wether or not other people can see that, however, is another matter.

To be fair, parents have a point that back in "my day", sitting alone in front of the Nintendo for three afternoons straight wasn't good for you.

Video games can be constructive though. Online gaming was where I practiced voice chat with other players, which helped me overcome my fear of talking on the phone. Meeting so many new people also helped me become more relaxed about the process and broaden my horizons.

And of course, it's something for friends to physically do together or apart when they're in college. Some gaming friends turn into offline friends, or husbands and wives. They also allow people to be creative, solve problems, and relax.

The way I see it, video games are a vice, but a somewhat constructive vice.

At this point video games are almost a "poor man's" version of a symphony, a painting or a high fantasy novel.

I feel that they somewhat stave off more dangerous, destructive habits, such as mindless net surfing and porn

To me, some video games are genuinely forms of art as well as intriguing ways to tell stories [Final Fantasy VII, Radiant Historia, The Last Story, Xenoblade Chronicles, even Pokemon Explorers of Sky].

Video games can be espec if gamers then later in life start to take a more professional interest wishing to be on the otherside of the industry.

These days i tend to spend alot of time on forums and community stuff, still love my games but get far greater pleasure from being part of a mature forum related to a game i enjoy. Would love a career writing game story/lore or marketing and advertising dunno if it'll happen can only hope.

Yes. Absolutely.

As long as it does not become something that causes any kind of harm to the person (physically or mentally), it surely is a positive thing with a lot of benefits. Things like patience, coordination, perseverence, reflexes, mental agility, etc., can all be improved through games.
Of course it has the potential to make you want to sit in front of your game machine and do nothing but that all day, but as long as you can maintain it at the same time that you keep in touch with your "real life" scheudule (like work, study, maybe social life) and make sure that it is not harming your health, I don't see any downsides in it.

In my opinion they are not bad if you don't play too much. They help me to reduce the stress. Overall they can help people to develop or improve communication skills and learning ability

Yes, imho they are. Depending on the types of games you play you train your reflexes, your coordination and so on. On a more personal level: videogaming helps me when I'm feeling down since I can forget my worries while I play. It's also one of the things I'm looking forward to the most when I'm at work. Besides that videogames helped me aquire some of my English skills since back in the days screen texts and dialogues in most games were written in English.

The one thing I dislike are people who claim video games are detrimental to the people who play them, and then turn around and watch trashy television programming all evening long every day after work as if that was a better way to spend their time.

To me, gaming is recreation. Especially when I am able to bring in the couple of RL friends I have for some couch co-op on the weekends. It is not the lowest common intellectual denominator that many people like to paint it as.

Increasingly, studies are finding that video & computer games may be beneficial. The games that appear plain (games that avoid all of the "bells and whistles" e.g., flashy graphics) may prove both challenging and beneficial.

Studies find that video & computer games can boost cognitive functioning, and even hand-eye coordination. Games are increasingly popular beyond the young-adult age groups. Senior-citizens find video & computer games both beneficial, and even enjoyable!

With the growth, and enhanced functioning of 'Artificial-Intelligence' (AI) TECH., the challenges presented by incorporating (AI) into games adds yet more fun, and challenges to gaming!

I think so, but I've been a gamer my entire life and cannot be considered unbiased. Still, I think the idea that videogames are harmful and/or that they're not something adults should be into is outdated, although with my sociology background, I think I understand where those ideas come from.

Videogames are part of a phenomenon known as "adult kinder-culture", which is the act of adults getting into things that were traditionally perceived as being "for kids", largely because they were. This phenomenon also includes things like comics, traditional animation, collecting figures, etc. I believe George Lucas is credited for being the first entrepreneur to market action figures to adults with his Star Wars line in 1979, but though adult kinder-culture gained slight momentum over the 80s and 90s, it wasn't until the 2000s and especially the 2010s when it really started to pick up steam. The internet might have been instrumental in that.

Videogames in particular were in fact marketed primarily towards kids as far back as the 3rd and 4th gen, and that may have even been true to a degree in the 5th gen. It's worth noting that those kids grew up and many still enjoy this pasttime. Perhaps everyone here identifies as one of those kids?

It's a stark contrast to just one generation prior to ours when videogames, along with a lot of other things were commonly left behind when someone reached adulthood. Maybe they would play games with their kids, or maybe they were part of the probably very limited audience for Atari porn games, but otherwise, adults generally had different priorities. Some might now be inclined to check out videogames and other things, but if some have a hard time grasping why those of us in our 20s and 30s still like to pick up a controller, that's why.

Gaming isn't the only pastime suffering at the hands of outdated ideas. Traditional animation in the West almost died off at one point and is still fairly scarce, all because for whatever reason it was decided that it's for kids, unless you're watching Family Guy or The Simpsons or something. I think animation is recovering, but as much as I like CG I'm not exactly thrilled that it's the norm now. I know people who wouldn't even touch CG films, so they're probably in a similar boat even if they're faring quite a bit better.

Maybe if we want videogames to be accepted as art, and something that's just as good for adults as they are for kids, we should ally with fans of other media rather than treating certain issues as exclusive to one medium...since they all stem from the same place. We ought to work towards striking at the roots of the ideas that are harmful to the acceptance of our favourite things, so that we can reach a future where enjoying these things are just accepted as the norm.