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Cognitive Benefits

The psychological research into games has yielded theories on how playing video games may be advantageous, for both children and for adults. Some theories claim that video games in fact help improves ones cognitive abilities, rather than impede in their ability to grow. These improvements theories include the improvement of visual contrast sensitivity. Other developments include the ability to locate something specific among various impediments, this primarily done first-person shooter games where the protagonist must look at everything in a first person view while playing, by doing this they increase their spatial attention due having to locate something among an area of diversions. Games accomplish this by having action in them and such a player must remain observant of the surroundings of the video game in order to achieve success should an impediment come to obstruct their playing in the virtual world.

Another cognitive enhancement that is given by playing video games would be brain functioning speed, due to the constant playing and need to think while playing in order to do well in the game. This constant thinking allows the brain to constantly run and the speed of thought is sharpened greatly, because the need to think quickly is required to succeed. In addition to the pattern being increased, another increase would be the attention of the video game player. This is due to the video games of the action genre having continuous fighting that requires the user’s constant attention and in the process the skill of concentration is also sharpened due to the concentration the user must have on the screen the game is displayed on.

The overcoming of the condition known as dyslexia is also considered an improvement due to the continuous utilization of controllers for the video games. This continuous process helps to train the users to overcome their condition which impedes in their abilities of interpretation. The ability of hand-eye coordination is also improved thanks in part to video games, due to the need to operate the controller and view the screen displaying the content all at the same time. The coordination of the player is enhanced due the playing and continuous observation of a video game since the game gives high mental stimulation and coordination is important and therefore enhanced due to the constant visual and physical movement that is produced from the playing of the video game.

The playing of video games can also help increase a player's social skills. This is done by playing online multiplayer games which can require constant communication, this leads to socialization between players in order to achieve the goal within the game they may be playing. In addition it can help the users to meet new friends over their online games and at the same time communicate with friends they have already made in the past; those playing together online would only strengthen their already established bond through constant cooperation. Some video games are specifically designed to aid in learning, because of this another benefit of playing video games could be the educational value provided with the entertainment. Some video games present problem solving questions that the player must think on in order to properly solve, while action orientated video games require strategy in order to successfully complete. This process of being forced to think critically helps to sharpen the mind of the player.

Sources

gamestudies.org

New Media- The distinction between atoms and bits (Galileo)

The New Media Reader pg 499

https://sociologyofvideogames.com/2017/01/29/games-studies-and-the-sociology-of-video-games/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201502/cognitive-benefits-playing-video-games

Bibliography

Aarseth, Espen. “Game Studies.” Game Studies - Issue 1701, 2017, Game Studies, gamestudies.org/. 

Wittek, Charlotte1, et al. "Prevalence and Predictors of Video Game Addiction: A Study Based on a National Representative Sample of Gamers." International Journal of Mental Health & Addiction, vol. 14, no. 5, Oct. 2016, pp. 672-686. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s11469-015-9592-8.Wardrip-Fruin, Noah, and Nick Montfort. The NewMediaReader. MIT Press, 2010. 

“Games Studies and The Sociology of Video Games.” The Sociology of Videogames, 29 Jan. 2017, sociologyofvideogames.com/2017/01/29/games-studies-and-the-sociology-of-video-games/.

Gray, Peter. “Cognitive Benefits of Playing Video Games.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 20 Feb. 2015, www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201502/cognitive-benefits-playing-video-games. 

Eugenio, Sheila. “Public Access - 8 Cognitive Benefits of Playing Video Games for Kids.”Engadget, Public Access, 9 Feb. 2017, www.engadget.com/2017/02/09/8-cognitive-benefits-of-playing-video-games-for-kids/.

Granic, Isabela. “Video Games Play May Provide Learning, Health, Social Benefits, Review Finds.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, 25 Nov. 2013, www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2013/11/video-games.aspx. 

Topics

New Media

Game Studies

E-Commerce

I choose Game Studies

Article Evaluation

The Wikipedia Article is "New Media" since that relates to the subject of the class.

I found this helpful and everything within the article seemed to relate to what we are taught in class, it helped me understand New Media better than I previously did, because it mentioned some things that had not been mentioned in class and nothing seemed to distracting about the whole article. As far as I can see the article seems to be neutral. Things seemed to speak factually and does not favor anyone or anything in particular. I think the viewpoints are all represented well, in my own opinion. Especially the area labeled definition, I feel that it has good representation, because it comes from New Media Reader. The links work well and some seem familiar as I have seen some of them before, since one was a textbook for our class, New Media Reader. This being said it can be established that the references are good. The information seems to come from various sources, most notably from the New Media Reader that we use in our class. There appears to be no obvious bias within the article.As far as I can see the information appears to be fairly recent and nothing appears to be missing as far as I can see. One conversation involves if paper should be included in the subject of new media. Also how 'new' should not be confused with the term of new media, in other words just because something is new does not make it a part of new media. Another conversation is on the subject of New Media vs Interactive Media among many interesting conversations in the Talk page. The Article is Rated B-class and High Importance. It is part of WikiProject Media. Not that much, it basically has the same information, just some extra pieces. So this is just like in class. Above all this seems to be a good article to learn some quick things on the subject of New Media.