In this interview from London Knowledge Lab, Professor David Buckingham discusses how violent video games being a concern is questionable, as the Professor states that "You can learn a lot from video games", and the fact that video games reflect reality, with players being able to solve problems.
Useful points from the interview:-
"You could make the same argument about video games, where one argument is all about violence. The argument that games cause people to be more violent than they would otherwise be I think is very questionable indeed". Or the risk of people getting 'addicted' to video games - a very loaded term, but the idea at least that people are spending more time than is good for them playing computer games, when they should have more balanced lives.
"And yet, of course, video games are also fun, and people learn things from them, they can be quite sociable experiences, and so on. Again, it doesn't make much sense to separate the positives from the negatives, or to see this in simple either/or terms".
Therefore, Professor David Buckingham believes that playing violent video games for a longer period is harmful, as it leads to the audience being unhealthy and unsociable.
"So for me that means you need some kind of educational response to this, rather than saying something is bad or risky, so let's just ban it.
Professor David Buckingham's argument revolves around the fact that young people take risks when playing violent video games, which are pleasurable, as they can make their player perform awkward stunt moves, as signified in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
David Buckingham's seems to advocate risk taking, as the players learn from doing thing repeatedly, by playing violent video games, they build up strategies to compete to the next level or to complete the game.
"So the argument would be that people need to be informed about what they're letting themselves in for, they need to understand how to deal with risk, rather than simply trying to keep them away from it".
Though, like many other scientists, Professor Buckingham doesn't wholly believe whether violent games are harmful or not.
Throughout this argument, Professor David Buckingham stresses the fact that video games seem to educate audiences.
"No. But equally I would say that neither am I convinced by the argument that they have enormous benefits for learning. Again the evidence is very, very limited. What we have to say is that, like any other medium, you can learn from video games, but it's not so much the game itself as the context in which it's used - the educational relationships that surround it".
Something in the news lately is notable neuroscientists saying that video games, computers, the internet are changing the way our brain works, for the worse.
Yes, and they make arguments about the plasticity of the brain which seem to depend on a view that development in infancy has a massively determining effect on the kind of people we become. Frankly, I think there's a lot of mystification about neuroscience - that it's seen as 'real science,' and claims coming from other disciplines are somehow not seen to carry authority. Personally I'm not too convinced that some of those notable neuroscientists actually know anything at all about video games.
http://www.lkl.ac.uk/cms/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=349
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