The Influence of Games on the Psyche: Myth or Reality

It’s difficult to remember who posted an article or research about games’ negative impact, especially video games, on the psyche. However, it became the starting point for a huge movement. Thousands of people from all over the world announced themselves as opponents of games and tried to make governments prohibit them. Even though numerous research, surveys, and studies proved games do nothing bad to the brain and psyche, individuals still consider their opinion the only right one. Despite all these protests, games have been, are, and will be the favorite pastime of 3 billion people worldwide.

We don’t want to state that games are either bad or good. Instead, their impact depends on the game’s theme, the way the gamer perceives the experience, and the amount of time an individual spends on playing. We just want to understand people who can always find something negative in everything and protect their children from all things they consider negative. Well, at least, none of their ‘predictions’ came true: children and adults didn’t become violent, they didn’t give up studying, and are perfectly normal people. We want all people who like spending time playing games to continue doing it. Sometimes, it’s the only way to get distracted from negative thoughts and some worries that chase them at work or in class.

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Let’s start the myth-busting journey.

1.   People become emotionless

The myth stating that games, and especially violent ones, cause desensitization is not the most widespread and popular. However, there are many people who sincerely believe in it. There were many studies conducted on this topic. To be exact, these studies analyzed how violent media makes people less sensible and emphatic to other forms of violent media. The opponents of video games considered it normal to operate these results when discussing the ways games harm people. However, they failed to consider one important aspect: violent media and people’s perception of it have no connection with real life. In other words, this research can’t be applied to discussing people’s attitudes towards real-life acts of violence.

2.   Gamers become more aggressive

No one research really proved that playing games causes real-life aggression and acts of violence among gamers. Children who shoot people in the virtual world don’t go to the streets and continue doing it. So, all these charges make no sense. The age when people start playing such games is big enough to let gamers draw a border between the game and real life. The detailed analyses, studies, and questionnaires showed that games cause no changes in behavior, mental health, and sexual attitudes.

3.   Games make people afraid of social life

Individuals who dare to call themselves scientists have given rise to another popular myth: games change people’s psyche and make them isolated from society. How can it be possible when a large portion of people adore playing games with friends? Children, school and college students, and even adults consider it a good way to spend time together. Moreover, we want to add that team play boosts cooperation and communication between participants. You start playing, discuss some issues and problems with each other. Then people start creating a game tactic, defining the approaches to solve the important problem and play. And all this time, they communicate. It’s not even necessary to play with friends: you can open any online game and communicate with people who play with you. By the way, there are many cases when people find good friends in games.

4.   Games cause addiction

If we listen to some ‘experts’, we’ll find out that everything new is bad and causes addiction. Of course, games aren’t the exception. However, the percentage of people who became addicted to games is low, and all these people meet certain criteria. If you’re an ordinary office worker or college student, having no mental disorders, and love spending time on other hobbies, you’ll never form an addiction. Experts state that people having a game addiction can get rid of it fast without special treatment. In comparison with drugs and alcohol, games seem harmless.

Know why you play games to protect yourself

We’ve already mentioned that people who have a clear motivation and purpose for playing games may not face the negative effects of it. The cases when people face the negative effects of playing are rare enough, but people still focus on everything bad they hear. We hope we shed some light on the positive aspects of playing games to make more people change their opinions.