Are Online Games Good For The New Generation?
I'm positive most of you gamers have noticed the influx of the new generation in online games. Of course, this is an inevitable occurrence and they should be welcomed. But are online games good for them? By saying good, I mean are they correctly influenced and do they take away some great capabilities or are their experiences harmful? Lets examine this topic further.
Friendships & Communication
It's very important early on for kids to learn to communicate and form friendships with others. Surely, online games give the ability to do that. It's actually pretty easy for kids to get to know each other, for example - my younger brother who spends his time playing Fifa or Minecraft on PS4 got to know a lot of people simply by joining a game or some sort of community where they play together and organize different sorts of events.
I'm the type of person who sees a problem when people, especially kids spend too much time playing games and socialize via a game platform and I propagate various real-life activities as well. Though it's inevitable that most kids just choose to spend their time playing games with their friends, which is really understandable as I did exactly the same when I was younger.
It's completely fine and positive to form relationships and communicate with others while playing online games, though there's one problem that I do see. There are lots of bad examples and these are in fact people, mostly teenagers and older ones, who are generally toxic and create a bad influence towards the new generation - being unfriendly and really just shit-talking, which is of course something that the kids take in and think of it as something normal.
The best example I can think of is CS:GO. Those of you who have played or are playing it will know what I'm talking about. If you join a game of CS:GO and choose not to mute your teammates from the beginning, you might end up with bleeding ears. So imagine the influence this gives to a kid and what kind of things he's learning. Though, again, it is inevitable, sadly.
Learning Different Skills
Not taking other people's influence into account, I'd dare say that online games are really great when it comes to developing certain human traits and skills. We could start from something like dedication - spending any amount of time to achieve something great and then reaping the rewards. Kids can get a sense of achievement and they can learn things like the fact that nothing comes without a price.
Of course, a lot of factors have a say in this. Not every game will require lots of hard work to achieve something, but there's lots more to learn. Even the most basic game can teach a kid something about the importance of communication, will and even leadership. It helps them grow as human beings.
If you look at most games these days, they are most likely good/evil themed. How is this important to a youngster? Well, it's simple - it helps him develop his moral standards and he can feel good when choosing moral decisions. There's also things like reaction and eye-coordination which are being trained constantly.
Stress & Pressure Relief
It's normal that kids feel stress and pressured by the real-life's responsibilities like school and etc. It can be a great stress-reliever. People do various activities to relieve stress, but do not banish online gaming from that list. I know from experience that kids who play online games are constantly thinking about jumping on the game and doing some fun stuff with their buddies. It's natural and it's a behavior which shouldn't be deemed as something not normal. It will get even better than that, believe me.
So are online games good for kids? I think yes, they are pretty good for kids. Yes, they can be a bad influence as there's a lot of violence and people who set bad examples. But take into account that it's inevitable for every person - you will always get to know the dark and immature side of life. However, when you compare the bad and the good, the good definitely perseveres over the bad. Think of all the skills that they could learn and all the decisions they can make which helps them develop as human beings.
That's my opinion on the matter. Thank you for reading and hope you have a nice day! Share your thoughts!
I believe games are most unhealthy because they become addictive very easily and addictions are very difficult to overcome.
I like gaming a lot and I am not an addicted but my I know a few guys, even older than me that have never managed to quit playing since the year of 12.
It is highly prejudicing their lives and the way they think, most are very unproductive, fat (unhealthy) and in need of better life choices.
That's true, however there are many different cases to this. I don't believe everyone generates an addiction to the point of forgetting what's really important.
ofc not, but in my opinion a very large amount do.
One thing is making your life out of it, that requires you to spend a lot of time doing so, other thing is playing just to pass time and waste most of your life with a useless hobby.
It is knwon that it helps develop some skills but those skills are rarely used in real life use cases.
Gaming is not the course it is the tool . Same addiction is seen with many things , social media , some sports , popstar fandom , just name it .
The problem lies deeper .
I had a lot of profit in live from my game skills , reaction time saved me many times in real live , as a gamer you train that . I became Laser programmer/opperator cause gaming on pc learned me a lot . ( try to run Black ops 2 on a Atlon II and still be someone online ) .
A negative point of view will not make you see the bright sides .
Blaming gaming is to easy , look deeper .
Games are like the white rabbit , watch it , know it , even enjoy it , just dont't follow it down a hole .
If you are not relaxed , feeling like your having fun , then stop , your just damaging yourself and others . It's not all about KpD and status rank .
Accept that there are better players then you , respect there skill , playing while cursing and blaiming tru voice chat isn't helping anyone . Asking how TF he did something you can't , could't lead to answers you yet not have ;-) and possible new friend's .
Yep, competition is good. I think everyone should learn how to lose :)
When your new to a game , losing is the only way to gain experience , to learn from your mistakes you must make them ;-)
Too much of anything is never healthy for us. Depending on the substance you need to choose the proportions
Yeah that's correct, though this post wasn't entirely towards the time spent on online games. This was something more like the benefits as well as the negative aspects of if, not taking the time spent into account. But what you say is true.
While the excited fan and gamer can always find some "good" in the games because of the mere fun and stress relief, the evidence is overwhelming that most current games have a "bad" effect on the mind...
The potential good for all games is tremendous, if only the social good was forefront instead of profits and social engineering agenda.
Rather than convince any gamer that a game is "bad" I will share how games could be for the better of humanity:
Can Games Solve The Biggest Challenges Facing Our World?
Many people thinks games are bad, children become lazy, and see too much which is not for their eyes on a certain age,.. BUT; they the game force them to think out of the box, games could connect with people around the world, and last but not east, in many cases the children are @home, and not hanging around on the street
I think too many kids stay home these days. Not that it's bad to stay at home, but when I was young, I would spend my time outside with buddies as well.
About playing outside you are fully right. It has to be a mix and from playing outside they learn a lot as well. Interaction, social and communication. That last point will be a problem for many in the future.
It can be good and bad, but it depends a lot on what child it is.. As long as the parents make a decision or at least think about it. If you leave them because they do not disturbs you then you are not a good parent
Yeah, kids need more supervision.
I think that online games can learn you some great skills. I have played many games online and I have met a lot of awesome people. When I was younger I didn't had English lesson on school until I was 12 years old but before that, I learned English my self because I needed to communicate with my team mates.
And now a few years later I just scored a 9.1/10 On my English exam almost with out learning just because of the many years gaming online and communicating.
Great post! I believe balance is the key of life, games are no doubt beneficial for kids .
Thanks :)
I think that games are great, and the added bonuses you get from playing with other people makes them all the better! I do feel like balance should definitely be encouraged though, because it is easy to get addicted (looking at you Stardew Valley) and that comes with a variety of problems.
Sadly I can't play many online games thanks to my crappy internet so I make do by myself :'D I loved this post btw!
Thanks! Balance is neccessary, I agree.
I know what you mean about the 'shit talkers'. I've actually taken a break from online gaming due to server negativity. Maybe I'll go back after a break, but I got tired of so much drama ruining my gameplay. I'm only playing single player or local play right now.
As for the "too much time inside" aspect, I've tried to mitigate this as I've gotten older. I realized spending too much time indoors was making me depressed. I've become more aware of it, and I make sure to take a time out to do something else even if it's just going to sit outside and play my guitar or going for a drive.
We're on the same page man. I too cannot stay indoors for to long.