The video game industry is a huge industry, and that is not an understatement. To put it in comparison, the movie Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens grossed in one billion dollars in 12 days in theaters while Grand Theft Auto V achieved that total in just three days. Video games have come a long way from when “just nerds” played them. According to the Entertainment Software Association, over 150 million of Americans play video games, that’s nearly 50% of the U.S. population. But as they have gotten more popular, they have also gained criticism, particularly with shooters. Video games have been pointed at desensitizing violence and being a cause of increased violence. People falsely believe that video games only make people violent, and
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Video games are suggested to provide intense positive emotions and that gamers feel when “immersed in an intrinsically rewarding activity that elicits a high sense of control while simultaneously evoking a loss of self-consciousness” (Isabela 7). Video games give players a sense of achievement and when beating a hard level or finishing a story, they have positive emotions. Another study demonstrates that these positive emotions “demonstrates that experiencing positive emotions may help broaden the number of behaviors one perceives as both possible and motivating and may build social relationships that provide support for goal pursuit and coping with failure” (Isabela …show more content…
A retrospective study analyzed 3 other studies on the effect of prosocial games on prosocial behavior. Study 1 took place in Singapore and had middle school students list their top three most played games and how often they interacted with other players in the games community. It was found that there was a positive correlation between prosocial games and prosocial behavior (Gentile et al. 4-5). Study 2 took place in Japan and had elementary school student rate often they played games with the character being social, and then how often they helped other people. The results of the study showed that there is a positive relationship between prosocial games and prosocial behavior (Gentile et al. 5-6). Study 3 had American college students play either a prosocial game, neutral game, or violent game. Then, after playing, the player had to give their partner who they played the games with 11 puzzles and were told, if their partner solves 10 of the 11 right, the partner wins a $10 gift card. The person picking the puzzle could pick harder or easier puzzles. The result from this experiment was that the group that played prosocial games were much more helpful than the other 2 groups (Gentile et al. 6-8). The general consensus between the 3 studies is that prosocial games show that
Video games are suggested to provide intense positive emotions and that gamers feel when “immersed in an intrinsically rewarding activity that elicits a high sense of control while simultaneously evoking a loss of self-consciousness” (Isabela 7). Video games give players a sense of achievement and when beating a hard level or finishing a story, they have positive emotions. Another study demonstrates that these positive emotions “demonstrates that experiencing positive emotions may help broaden the number of behaviors one perceives as both possible and motivating and may build social relationships that provide support for goal pursuit and coping with failure” (Isabela …show more content…
A retrospective study analyzed 3 other studies on the effect of prosocial games on prosocial behavior. Study 1 took place in Singapore and had middle school students list their top three most played games and how often they interacted with other players in the games community. It was found that there was a positive correlation between prosocial games and prosocial behavior (Gentile et al. 4-5). Study 2 took place in Japan and had elementary school student rate often they played games with the character being social, and then how often they helped other people. The results of the study showed that there is a positive relationship between prosocial games and prosocial behavior (Gentile et al. 5-6). Study 3 had American college students play either a prosocial game, neutral game, or violent game. Then, after playing, the player had to give their partner who they played the games with 11 puzzles and were told, if their partner solves 10 of the 11 right, the partner wins a $10 gift card. The person picking the puzzle could pick harder or easier puzzles. The result from this experiment was that the group that played prosocial games were much more helpful than the other 2 groups (Gentile et al. 6-8). The general consensus between the 3 studies is that prosocial games show that