Gaming does not encourage or condone violence, nor is it as useless as it might seem to some people. A brief collection of opinions and feelings from those who love and need games in their lives.
Shey Caroli, Kulturwissenschaften
Illustration: Selma Badic, Soziologie
Media often depicts gamers as the worst, making them seem stupid and violent. Even comparing them to mass shooters, stating that video games motivate the troubled youth to go through with such acts. Do you remember the time when the former US-president Donald Trump, during a public speech, blamed video games for violence, or Karens would argue about how bad video games are for health, social skills, and behaviour of children?
Every gamer knows how judgmental people can get: «Do you not want to do something better with your time?» «Isn’t that just for children? Grow up.» «Why are you getting mad, it’s just a game.» «Games are the work of Satan himself!», some people seem to think. And let us not forget those who want their significant other to stop playing at all, because they just «cannot stand it».
It is important to me to show that video games can in fact have positive effects on someone’s life. Theories like the one that games lead to violence were proven wrong multiple times. That is why I will not go into studies and scientific details. This article is not about proving anything with science, but to shine light onto a community and demonstrate that, in fact, gaming is also experienced in a positive manner – based on my own and others‘ experience with gaming. I will express my feelings towards the gaming world through the eyes of people I know.
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First, I tried to gather information about people’s relationship to gaming and their opinion on topics such as videogames and violence, their upbringings and what positive effects gaming had on their life. All names in the article are pseudonyms.
Cara told me how her mother thought that gaming would make her and her sister addicts. They could not play more than one or two hours a day and not every game they wanted, as some games like Pokémon would make them even more addicted. Even though she could not play whenever she wanted and not the games she would have liked, she enjoyed every moment of playing: «The restriction somehow made the gaming sessions even more special».
Adrian, Cara’s boyfriend, had parents who allowed him to play and so he played daily, making deep connections to other gamers and forming lasting friendships. Since he is now studying game programming, his knowledge of the industry and the community come in very handy.
For another friend, Paul, who lives in the mountains, the best memories of his childhood involve video games and organising LAN parties with his friends on weekends. It helped him to form better friendships with those who had similar interests. The last person I asked, Alex, told me that they did not really have any relationship to gaming growing up and only played Sims as a teenager.
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The second question asked referred to the positive aspects of gaming in general. Cara told me about her difficulties with motor actions and how gaming helped her strengthen her abilities. She also pointed out how puzzle- and problem-solving skills are also reinforced by games thanks to riddles and strategies one must learn to be able to make progress. Adrian told me that playing singleplayer could have a good learning effect on one because of the same reasons Cara listed.
Multiplayer instead is good for building new connections and being part of a community. «The game itself is secondary when I play with others. It’s more about the conversations you have – be it with your friends or with strangers.» This is a popular opinion in the community and shows how the argument about games ruining your social skills is not true.
Paul gave more details about different genres of video games. He told me that the effect on one depends on what game the person plays. Some have an impact on hand-eye-coordination and can help with developing better imagination or reflexes. Story games often depict reality-based situations and human feelings. Some are more realistic, some are more abstract. The result is the same: affecting one’s character and opinion on different topics. Alex had a more emotional and personal approach to my question, stating that gaming would help them in difficult times, making it possible to calm down and to take their mind off certain thoughts.
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The people I asked stated that several studies already concluded that there are no significant correlations between gaming and violence. Behaviour cannot be explained by just one factor and violence mostly results from multiple problems coming together. All the gamers I know play shooters or fighting games and they themselves know other people who also play these kinds of games. None of them are aggressive in any way in real life.
Adrian said something relatable of which I had never thought: «Shooters do not make me violent and sports video games do not make me good at sports». Alex, who did not have a special bond to gaming since childhood, told me that they think that videogames can offer a good outlet for anger and can certainly help some people. After a bad day or a bad experience, being able to let out emotions or frustration is crucial for letting go and relaxing. Gaming can help by giving the possibility to dive in another world and taking some distance to one’s own self and reality.
The world of gaming is an enrichment for those who need it and love it. Cara’s life revolves around the «Geektum», as she calls it. She can create new creatures, imagine stories and biographies around them. Gaming and everything that surrounds it is a substantial part of her life. She feels that if she were not able to play games, she would be a completely different person. Adrian was able to get to know many new people and even began studying in the gaming field. He is excited for new things to come and wants to learn everything about the world of gaming, from development to marketing. In other words, he gained future perspective and goals through this hobby. Paul invested a large amount of money in video games, but he regrets nothing since it is his favourite hobby.To quote Alex: «Some games are real works of art and they often inspire me. They can let you experience fantastic worlds or things you could not see in real life because they are long gone or unreachable. Gaming helps me in different ways, but it especially helps me get out of certain thought patterns.»
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Is gaming useless? Let us begin with Cara and Adrian who said that the uselessness and usefulness of something lies in the eye of the beholder. That is in fact true, if drawing is useful for you and useless for me, that is completely fine and a very inclusive approach other than thinking «this is useful, that is useless». Paul had a similar opinion, to him declaring something as useless is the only useless thing about it. It is not relevant if something is useful for any other person than the person who likes it. «If it means that I do not gain anything from it, like money, then we could use the same argument for many hobbies, like driving motorcycles or playing an instrument.»
It was surprising for me to see that the people I talked to were a lot more inclusive about other hobbies and differences than those who do not play games but judge it. And now it’s 2am and I’ll go save some folks on the PS4.
