6 Myths about Video Games

Video games have become such a huge part of our cyber life, however digital immigrants (people born before the tech era) still have some prejudices to this aspect of technology. So...

Q. What are some myths about video games?

A. 1) Video games are for Kids

It is true that kids love video games, but it is clear that video games have become an industry that affects and is used by all age groups. Adolescents are earning large salaries because of the skills in video games e.g. The South Korean team for the 2016 world championships of the League of Legends won $2 M in prize money.

  Even celebrities are involved with video games because the trend now is that designers use celebrities as voice actors for video game characters. Video games are also being integrated into the work place in order to teach concepts to workers. Not bad for something "just for kids".

2) The First Video Game was Pong

When you think of the grandfather of all video games, many people think of Pong. However it has been proven that there were several games before Pong e.g Tennis For Two (1958), Spacewar (1962) and other digital fossils that we probably never heard of.

3) Girls Don't Play Video Games

This myth, has been proven so wrong that, I won't even go in depth. Guys just beware; when you invite a girl to play Call of Duty with you and she already knows the controls, you better show no mercy or you might get dominated.

4) Violent video games  are the cause of real-world violence

Call of Duty, Mortal Kombat and GTA are just a few games that some people condemn for instilling violent tendencies in gamers. This is not true. The content within the video game doesn't lead to violence, but the competition and frustration that comes with playing video games can lead to aggression. We all had that one time we wanted to break our phone because we lost in Flappy Birds, Colour Switch, MMM Fingers or we were ready to fight with someone because they beat our high score. Gamers just have to have some self control. These are one of the few times you blame the player not the game.

5) Gaming Leads to Isolated Behaviour

This anti-social stigma has been associated with video games since the beginning, however at

present, it is very false. Thanks to the Internet, the world is a global village and many video games are taking advantage of this. Online gaming is becoming increasingly popular with people from different cultural backgrounds meeting each other and interacting online. Also a lot of the games being design improve cooperation skills and stress teamwork which do benefit the social development of gamers.

6) They're making us smarter

At least since Steven Johnson’s “Everything Bad Is Good for You” was published in 2005, video-game players have proudly declared that their hobby may look childish and brutish, but it’s actually changing their brains for the better.

They aren't completely wrong. Action games such as first person shooter games, have shown in studies, to improve hand-eye coordination and spatial thinking. Other benefits include increased attention span, improve vision and mental task-switching. However this isn't for all games

Angry Birds, Candy Crush Saga have none of these benefits.