First-Person Gaming: Pros & Cons

It has long been a center of conversational debate on whether or not first-person shooter games are negatively effecting the gamers that play them. Like every debate there are two sides to the argument, some people say that the games are negatively effecting the gamers an then there are some that say that the games actually allow people to gain something positive from the gaming experience. In Aaron Delwiche's book The Green Berets to America's Army: Video Games as a Vehicle for Political Propaganda, Delwiche strongly is in favor of the games having negative effects, stating that the "compelling worlds created by game designers have the potential to shape attitudes in dangerous ways." But, to be able to further look into and decide for yourself whether or not you back up Delwiche's view starts with understanding both sides and looking into the psychology behind it.

It is easy to believe in the direct correlation between violent video games and aggressive behavior displayed by the people who play them, but is there really a brain issue at the source of the issue? Dr. Montag from the Life & Brain Center of the University of Bonn believes there is some kind of correlation but it could be more on just the desensitization of emotions rather than an actual change in brain chemistry. If one takes part in violent games as a young child or in a cognitive development less activated in the users of violent games than the non-users. The left medial frontal lobe is the brain structure used to control fear or aggression so this could lead to backing up the theory that people who commonly partake in violent gaming can become desensitized to the material and situations being simulated.  This doesn't effectively answer all the questions about the correlation between violent video games and aggressive behavior, but it opens some doors and still is an area of high concern especially since these games are becoming more accessible to more vulnerable younger population of potential gamers.
period in their life, one could just understand and be able to separate the violent behavior in video games from actual response-needed situations in life. Montag performed brain scans on both users of violent video games and on non-users of violent video games (control group) as the users were exposed to violent and negative images, he found that the left medial frontal lobes were

When it comes to the argument for violent video games actually having positive effects for the gamers involved it all is centered around how these types of games can improve your attention, mental control, and visual skills. Games such as Halo and Call of Duty, which require quick reflexes and fast mental processing, seem to give their gamers potential to develop lasting cognitive skills. There isn't a whole lot of scientific research to back up this theory and most of the articles that are available seen to mainly opinion based, it is almost like this theory is just being introduced to make people who play violent games a lot feel more productive and better about how they spend their time. But, the whole theory is highly plausible and would make sense if it were to be discovered as true. At the end of the day, the two sides of the violent video game argument and what kind of effects it has on the brain and the individual both seem that they will be going at it for awhile longer. As long as there are intense, life-like video games out on the market there will be herds of passionate gamers standing by their side. It will be interesting to see where this debate goes to in the future as it becomes more popular and science becomes more involved.