No game, no gain : the effects of video games

• Main Authors: Chan, Sim Mun, Poon, Charlene, Oh, Priscilla Jing Shuang
• Other Authors: Michael David Gumert
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Psychology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/63898
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

As technology dominates modern lifestyles, video games have become a routine part of children and adolescents’ lives. Researchers have long debated over the nature of video game effects. Majority of past research on video games has focused on negative effects, specifically on the consequences of playing violent video games and the engagement in problematic gaming. Newer research links video games to positive effects in multiple domains - emotional, social, cognitive, physical, and therapeutic. This paper examines both the positive and negative effects that have been associated with video games. Some effects are linked to specific genres or types of video games more than others. The main relationships are summarized and the complexities of these effects are discussed at the end. Future directions suggest addressing the similarities between traditional play and video games.