Research Paper- Benefits of Video Games

Turning Everyday Fun into Learning I grew up in a household where video games were a privilege that I had to earn. When I had done all my homework and chores, I was allowed to play video games for an hour a day. As I grew older my parents thought I could make my own choices and did not limit the amount of time I spent playing video games. Many people today think that video games cause children to become couch potatoes, act dumb, and be rude. As a young child, my parents taught me that responsibilities come before the reward. That is why I have a different opinion of video games. I believe that video games can be beneficial to individuals; however, there are limitations. They help children deal with cancer, improve literacy skills, gain educational skills, and stay fit, but individuals should be cautious about the genre of the game and the amount of play time. When these precautions are taken, video games can be a helpful tool for many. The first at home video game, Pong, was created by Allan Alcorn for the Atari. It consisted of two dimensional graphics and was the first game to attract people’s attention. To win, you had to be the first to defeat your opponent in this virtual game of table tennis. Soon after, the video gaming industry began expanding at an unimaginable rate. It took only 30 years to develop this multimillion dollar industry. New technology is opening doors for more advanced gaming systems and the industry is always increasing. We have come from a virtual two-dimensional game of table tennis, to realistic graphics with an abundant amount of detail. One advantage of video games is that they help patients in hospitals with certain problems like cancer, stress management and even physical therapy. Imagine your son or daughter has cancer. Every time they go to the hospital to get chemotherapy, they dread it, and it saddens you knowing how much pain they will be in. You try to think of a distraction but come up with nothing. In the early 1990s,

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