Ethics: Impacts of computer games on society

Ethics: Impacts of computer games on society

Gaming is as popular as ever. Anyone and everyone plays games in some form or another, be it Candy Crush on a phone or Call of Duty on an Xbox. Gaming has a heavy influence on a great deal of people, so much so that many ‘Hard core’ gamers will spend hours, maybe even days just binge playing a game. A good example of severe dedication to gaming, or certain games is a man who was very in to Fallout. A heavily popular game, one man collected Bottle caps (used as currency in the game.) For a great deal of years. And as soon as the fourth installment was announced he posted the picture of his collection on the internet, sent it to the developers (I think) and because of his dedication, they sent him the game for free. Obviously this isn’t a bad thing as far as games are concerned, but there are some cases where gaming has been the cause of violence and even severe neglect.

In one case of the ugly side of gaming is where a middle aged man attacked a younger boy for killing his character on the first person shooter game; Call of Duty. The case was a 13 year old boy gunned down the man’s avatar and gloated about it. The man, obviously outraged, stormed from his house and assaulted the 13 year old as he was playing the game at a friend’s house nearby. Although this was a severe over reaction, the man did acknowledge the fact he was out of order and has apologised since. But this does show that video games do have the potential to have a severely negative effect on someone. If someone is far too heavily invested with a game. So they have the potential to make people violent, though I do believe this isn’t overly common.

Another negative where gaming is concerned, is neglect. Although, like before, this isn’t too common. It isn’t unheard of. There are a few cases where parents, carers or owners have actually neglected pets or children due to being immersed within a video game. Again, this isn’t so common, it does happen. There is one case on the internet where one dedicated gamer did indeed forget to feed their pet dog due to being so far into their game. They hadn’t fed it for quite a long period of time, causing the dog to become a little under nourished. This is alongside the fact he didn’t bother taking it for walks and the like. So yep, there are other effects, and neglect is one of them.

Alongside ethics is the objectification of women avatars within the game industry. They are given rather unrealistic feature… And larger assets than normal (You know what I mean) which seem to defy gravity, and admittedly skimpy outfits. This objectification is considered very controversial as women find these females provide unrealistic standards for female gamers. So it doesn’t have a great impact to the degree that some are offended by the appearance of female characters. Though this is most of the time the case, many don’t pay attention to the strong personalities they are given. So games can also cause a deal of controversy.

And yeah, sure game can have the potential to bring out the worst in people, it is very rare. I say this because there are far more examples of games having positive effects rather than negative effects on those who play. This is because it is said to be able to improve hand eye coordination. And a normal human is said to only be able to track four objects at a time, whilst experienced gamers are able to track seven. Many people also argue that gamers are social introvert and don’t go out much. But with Xbox live and on things like HALO matches. Gamers are able to communicate with one another and make new friends. So to a degree it is socially beneficial. They also reduce stress and even have the potential to help dyslexia. As you can see, although there are some setbacks and the like. These cases are very few and the positives certainly outweigh the negatives with gaming.

So to conclude, with gaming; yes, there are things that represent it as a bad, or potentially violent hobby. But this ultimately isn't the case.

Pros of gaming:

.Improves hand eye coordination
.Can educate the player (Mainly with games set in a different historical period.)
.Research shows it has the potential to over come dyslexia
.Helps people make faster decisions and evaluate situations quicker
.Reduces stress and helps patience improve 
.Increase social skills and help a gamer build a wider circle of friends
.Improved reaction times
.They are just fun in general and make people happy
.Can make people fitter, given the progression of motion sensor games
.It can actually reduce physical pain. Researchers have found it can reduce physical pain because it is a good distraction.
.It can be beneficial for vision. Things is because gamers pay close attention to surroundings in games.

Cons of gaming:

.It's expensive, from consoles to games to software. It really isn't a particularly cheap hobby
.Can lead to eye strain if played for long periods of time
.Lead to lack of fitness if it is normal console and controller
.Games can become addictive. This may cause gamers to distance themselves from friends and family
.It is said to promote violence with games such as Grand Theft Auto etc.
.Can also promote the objectification of women given how some females are presented. (Like Juliet from Lollipop chainsaw, as presented above.)
.Distracts gamers like students from things like chores and homework
.It could cause depression if a gamer was so immersed in a game that it made the real world seem not as good as the virtual reality they became attached to
.If the gamer becomes too invested in a game they can become socially withdrawn and can hold back their social skills.