Humanities Block 15
December 1, 2014
Can Video Games Change the Way People Behave?
1.2 billion people play video games because they’re addictive, entertaining, and fun. (Venturebeat, “More than 1.2 Billion People Are Playing Video Games,” page 2). Many people play video games for different reasons, such as to relieve stress, avoid schoolwork, chores, which could get out of hand. Brian Knight, one of the authors from the book, The Ultimate History of Video Games, remarked, “Before video games were introduced, kids watched television, played games like hide and seek, raced cars made out of wooden boxes, or rode their bicycles.” (Brian Knight, page 12). After William Higinbotham created the first video game in 1958, it changed young people’s behavior, relationships and the way they interacted with the world.
Overtime, technology was advancing, fast, and so were video games. People wanted to find a new way to entertain themselves and have fun. It all started with a simple game, Tennis for Two, created by Higinbotham, the first interactive analog computer game. (“The First Video Game?”). Fast forward to the late 1960’s with Ralph Baer, an engineer …show more content…
Video games can be great learning tools, “cheats,” that can help in people’s normal lives. They can boost confidence, particularly for those that are not good in sports or in social settings. On the other hand, addiction can lead to isolation, neglect of school work and even anti-social behavior. Nicholas Greene, a British film maker, remarked, “We’ve seen competitive gaming achieve a level of legitimacy on par with with professional sports. We’ve seen an entire generation grow-up with controllers in hand.” (Nicholas Greene, page 1). Video games, techies, gamers, ipod, iTouch, tablets, computers, these are all become part of societies daily