Sam Dolphin
Mrs. Karabon
English 10
3 March 2014
Video Games – The Silent Teacher Since their launch, video games have received vicious criticism saying that they are too violent. What critics miss are the benefits of playing these games. Our nation should stop being afraid of video games, as they can teach us things like no other form of media. We could use video games to benefit people everywhere. A survey was conducted that showed 90% of children in the United States play video games, while 70% of parents/legal guardians play video games as well. With these numbers given, the actual average age of a gamer is 33 years old (Bavelier, “TED”). Our nation is forever evolving and the people who don’t play video games are being left behind, missing out on the real world things that video games teach us. Those born between 1978 and 2000 are called Millennials (Madland 1). They grew up playing video games, due to the fact that home gaming systems (also known as platforms) such as computers, Nintendo, Sega, and PlayStation were established in many homes when they were in elementary school. They’ve played video games as nearly as long as they’ve been alive, and less than 5% have committed a violent act caused by videogames. While playing a violent videogame may make you more violent than normal in a few cases, the positive benefits drastically outweigh the negative.
The most controversial and violent videogames are also the ones with the most potential benefits.