Johnny Gamer's Opinion

"I've been playing video games for a long time, I picked up my first gaming controller when i was 5, and I've seen both sides of this argument.  Obsession and aggressive behavior are serious, real problems that can be caused by excessive gaming.  But 'Excessive' is one of the key words there, because the vast majority of people who play games don't end up in those situations of obsession and violence.  You only really hear about the bad cases because those are the ones that get media attention, they're more interesting than the stories about a quadriplegic finding joy in life again from being able to play games with a modified controller.  Yes, there are downsides to video games, but there are also tons of positives that often get ignored by the media.  I play a lot of multiplayer games, and the online communities for these games are amazing, I've met some of my best friends through them, and the social support provided by fellow gamers has helped me through a lot of rough patches in my life.  I've always been beset by arguments from my parents and other older people about how games are anti-social or can stunt your social growth, but I have to disagree.  When i play games like World of Warcraft I'm interacting with thousands of other people and forming legitimate bonds with some of them.  I can look back on my life and see that games have had a serious impact on it, and while the negative effects of games certainly need to be addressed, the positive effects cannot be ignored."

- Johnny Gamer

What GG Inc. Thinks

"The video gaming industry is a large part of modern society, and has come under scrutiny time and time again for the content we put into the games we produce.  Some time ago, video games were seen as a toy for children, something immature and not fit for anyone other than the youth of our society.  But the industry has changed, and so have our consumers.  Only 26% of gamers today are under the age of 18, and companies are now marketing towards those 20-somethings that have grown up with the gaming industry.  The argument of violence in games affecting growth is largely moot at this point, as the majority of games are no longer marketed towards younger people.  In fact, only 14% of all games released in 2014 received a Mature rating, which further shows how small the margin of obscenity is in the gaming industry.  For the amount of studies attempting to prove a correlation between gaming and violent behavior, there is still little to no solid evidence to support it.  And for all those studies, there are just as many showing positive effects of gaming.  Games have been proven to increase hand-eye coordination, improve problem solving abilities, and increase social, teamwork and leadership skills.  So while there is still no solid argument on the relationship between violence and games, there is very conclusive evidence that games can have positive effects on development."

- Good Games Inc.

Suburban Susan's Perspective

"Recently I've noticed that my children, a 6 year old, 8 year old, and a 10 year old, have been getting more and more interested in video games.  All 3 of them were lobbying me to get them an xbox one for Christmas this past year and so now we have one in the household.  I've heard a lot of things from friends and on the internet about violent video games and the effects they can have, so I've been making sure to keep an eye on what they're playing.  With this new addition to my household I've started doing some research of my own, and there are a LOT of studies on the relationship between violent video games and aggressive behavior.  This is pretty concerning, I mean, even if not much has really been proven, the fact that there have been so many studies on the subject puts up a few red flags, right?  I don't want my kids to play some game where they shoot someone and get it in their head that that's an ok thing to do!  A good portion of the things I've seen link violence in games to higher levels of aggressive behavior.  These are games!  They're for kids, they shouldn't be tailored in ways that support these violent tendencies!  Why are companies even making games like this?  Can't people have fun playing games without violence?  I've even found some stuff saying that playing violent games can lead to increased bullying behavior, I don't want my kids to grow up like that!  After finding all of this out, I'm seriously considering returning that xbox that I bought them."

- Suburban Susan