Can Video Games Improve Your Lifestyle?

Submitted by:
Md. Nashif Shahriar Rakin
ID: 123 0282 030

Date of submission: 17 th July, 2016

Subject: ENG105, Section: 02

Submitted to:

Nasreen Rahman (Nnr),

Senior Lecturer, North South University.

1|P a ge
Table of Contents
Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 4
Objective of Study .................................................................................................................................. 6
Participant Profile ................................................................................................................................... 6
Research Methodology ........................................................................................................................... 6
Data Presentation & Analysis ................................................................................................................. 7
Suggestion ............................................................................................................................................ 17

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 19

My Opinion & Reaction......................................................................................................................... 19

References ............................................................................................................................................ 20

2|P a ge
Abstract
Playing video games has become common source of entertainment for all generation of people. Almost
every human being loves to play video games to pass their leisure time. But nowadays a lot of people are
shouting against this and they want to ban video games from the society. A lot of research and surveys are
also coming up against video games. But are all the games harmful? Don't they have any positive effects
on individual? This thought drove me to choose this topic and do a profound study about the matter. I
started my research with the objective to show people the benefits playing video games in the long run.
This report examines and shows that video games may help people to be a better person over time.
Therefore, I hope my research work will help the readers to understand the importance of this issue and
convince them to have a positive attitude towards video games.

3|P a ge
Introduction
A video game is actually a form of entertainment where people have some sort of control to cause
something on a display screen to do some sort of action. Video games are electronic sports which take
place in a computer or a computer like device. Theyre mixture of interactive TV shows and interactive
movies. Theyre digital board games and card games. Theyre rough simulations of everyday life
including, probably, whatever you do for a living. Some video games are works of artistic expression.
Others have different tastes. Today there is a wide verity of video games: action, adventure, role-play,
sports, puzzle etc.

Many people especially the teenagers, enjoy playing video games. Day by day its popularity is increasing.
For some people this is a burning issue as they think the whole generation is going to be destroyed by
playing video games. Anyone who says otherwise is either making money from them, playing them, or
cant think straight. posted online by a person in a gaming debate. They think playing video games is
the worst idea that can a person ever think of. To some extent, video games have some negative issues
such as addiction, over-dependence of video gamers, practicing violent acts, aggressive behavior,
confusion about reality and fantasy etc. But this can be easily controlled if the gamer is aware of this and
willing to enjoy the game in a positive way as video games also offer a lot of benefits as well.

The good thing for those who regularly plays video games is that they are gradually developing their
brain day by day without knowing. When a person plays video games, it gives his brain a real workout.
Video Games teach us lifelong lessons such as how to survive in a war or how to use guns if you are in
the army! People only think about what bad lessons and bad things these games could teach but there are
many upsides to these games so parents should allow us to play posted online by a person in a gaming
debate. In many video games, the skills required to win involve abstract and high level thinking. These
skills are not even taught at school. Some of the mental skills enhanced by video games include: problem
solving logic, Hand-eye coordination, fine motor and spatial skills, Planning, resource management and
logistics, Multitasking, simultaneous tracking of many shifting variables and managing multiple
objectives, quick thinking, making fast analysis and decisions, developing reading and math skills,
mapping, Situational awareness etc.

Though video games have all these positive effect on the user, yet a lot of people believe that they are
more likely to have a harmful impact. However in real life, video games are actually improving peoples
life day by day and this is proved by the scientists. If a person can have control over his/her playtime
he/she can easily enjoy the benefits of video gamers which would surely improve his/her lifestyle. Video

4|P a ge
games teach us different skills through different tasks which are actually unique in nature and may
become very helpful in real life. All the benefits I have talked earlier are good enough to make a human
being successful in this daily life. So people should stop thinking all these negativity about video games
and should embrace them for their unique benefits. So I think video games should not be banned from the
society.

5|P a ge
Objective of Study:
Majority of the video games are especially designed for entertaining people. However, the purpose of
video games widely varies with the nature of information itself - to inform, persuade, or stimulate. And
most of the video games have certain benefits with it. But a lot of people think that playing video games
has no benefits and is the worst source of entertainment because of the lack of information. That is why I
focused on whether playing video games can change people's lifestyle in any positive way or not. My
objective of the study is to change people's negative attitude towards video games so that they can enjoy
the benefits of playing video games and improve their lifestyle every day.

Participant Profile:
A survey with a questionnaire was conducted at School of Business and Economics in North South
University as most of the people here have access to video games.

Research Methodology
Primary data: For my primary research, I have conducted survey on my university student and some
people in other professions. I designed a questionnaire with different types of questions to get required
data.

Secondary data: For my secondary research, I mainly used information from internet articles and journals
about the benefits ad positive outcome of playing video games

6|P a ge
Data Presentation & Analysis
I conducted a survey among 30 people; most of them are NSU student and rest of them are employees in
different fields. Among the respondents 10 were female and 20 were male. Survey questioned contained
10 questions with optional answers.

This section elaborately discuss the kind of responses I got from my survey for each question separately:

Q1. How often do you play video games?

Everyday Whenever Im Free Occasionally Rarely Never Total Response

3 15 5 7 0 30

Q1. How often do you play video games?

Whenever I'm Free, Everyday

50%
Whenever I'm Free
Occasionally, 16.67%
Occasionally
Rarely
Rarely, 23.33%
Never
Everyday, 10%

Introduction: The pie chart represents the outcome of my first question of the survey. It shows the
information of average playing time of video games of the participants.

Findings: About 50% of people play video games whenever they are free, 23.33% people pay rarely,
16.67% people play occasionally, 10% people play every day and there is actually no one who never
plays video games. From the chart we can say that almost every people play video games in their life. So,
we can say that video games have become a common source of entertainment for the people.

Conclusion: The peak rate of the chart is 50% and it belongs to Whenever Im Free and the lowest
rate of the chart is 0% which indicates Never.

7|P a ge
Q2. When upset, do you soothe yourself with games?

Yes, it helps to get relaxed. No, it does not help anyway. I have other options. Total Response
21 5 4 30

Q2. When upset, do you soothe yourself with

games ?
I have other
No, it does options., 13.33%
not help
anyway.,
16.67%

Yes, it helps to get relaxed.

Yes, it helps to get
No, it does not help anyway.
relaxed., 70%
I have other options.

Introduction: The pie chart represents the outcome of my second question of the survey. It shows the
information of the participants preference on video games when they are upset.

Findings: About 70% of the participants think that playing videos games help them to get relaxed
whenever they are upset, 16.67% participants think that video games do not help them on this situations
and about 13.33% people think that they have other options rather than thinking about video games. From
the responses we can see that video games have a positive effect on peoples emotion.

Conclusion: The peak rate of the chart is 70% and it belongs to Yes, it helps to get relaxed. and the
lowest rate of the chart is 0% which indicates I have other options.

8|P a ge
Q3. Did you make any friends by playing video games?

Yes No Is that possible? Total Response

21 5 4 30

Is that Q3. Did you make any friends by playing video

Possible?
2%
games?

No
37%

Yes
Yes No
61%
Is that Possible?

Introduction: The pie chart represents the outcome of my third question of the survey. It shows
indicates whether people can make friends by playing video games or not.

Findings: About 60% of the participants made friends by playing video games, 37% of the participants
could not make any friend and 2% of the participant does not have any idea about this. So we can see that
people actually can make friends by playing games.

Conclusion: The peak rate of the chart is 60% and it belongs to Yes and the lowest rate of the chart is
2% which represents Is that Possible?

9|P a ge
Q4. Do you think video games can bring parents& children together (If they play together)?

Never, video No, they will just Yes, playing video Obviously, Total Response
games only waste time over games together can gradually they will
damage games. improve their develop a strong
relationship. relationship. bonding
.
1 9 17 3 30

Q4. Do you think video games can bring parents

& children together?
3.33%
Never, video games only damage
10% relationship.
30%
No, they will just waste time over
games.
56.67% Yes, playing video games together
can improve their relationship
Obviously, gradually they will
develop a strong bonding

Introduction: The pie chart represents the outcome of my fourth question of the survey. It shows the
impacts of video games on Parent-Children Relationship.

Findings: About 56.67% of the participants think that video games can improve parent-children
relationship if they play together, 30% of the participants think that they will just waste over time by
playing games, 10% of the participant believe that they will gradually develop a strong bonding by
playing games and about 3.33% people think that video games only damage relationship. So we can see
that about 60% of the participants think that playing video games together can bring parent and children
together.

Conclusion: The peak rate of the chart is 56.67% and it belongs to Yes, playing video games together
can improve their relationship. and the lowest rate of the chart is 3.33% which represents Never, video
games only damage relationship.

10 | P a g e
Q5. Does video gaming encourage you to do exercise?

Never, you better No, I don't think Yes, some games Obviously, sports Total
hit the gym they have any promote to do games encourage Response
rather than relationship. exercise. gamers to learn the
playing games. skills in real life.
4 14 8 4 30

Q5. Does video gaming encourage you to do

exercise?
Never, you better hit the gym
rather than playing games.
13.33% 13.33%

No, I don't think they have any

26.67% relationship.

46.67% Yes, some games promote to do

exercise.

Obviously, sports games

encourage gamers to learn the
skills in real life

Introduction: The pie chart represents the outcome of my fifth question of the survey. It shows the
impacts of video games on daily exercise.

Findings: About 46.67% of the participants think that video games do not actually have any
relationship with physical exercise, 26.67% says that some games promote exercise, 13.33% people think
that sports games encourage gamers to learn the skills in real life which requires physical exercise and
about 13.33% of the participates believe that video games have no impact on exercise and people should
hit the gym rather than playing video games.

Conclusion: The peak rate of the chart is 46.67% and it belongs to No, I don't think they have any
relationship. and the lowest rate of the chart is 3.33% which represents Never, you better hit the gym
rather than playing games.

11 | P a g e
Q6. Do you think video games inspire history and culture?

Strongly Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Total

Disagree Agree Response
2 9 1 17 1 30

Q6. Do you think video games inspire history and

culture?
Strongly Disagree,
Strongly Agree,
6.67%
3.33%

Disagree, 30% Strongly Disagree

Disagree
Agree, 56.67%
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree

Neutral, 3.33%

Introduction: The pie chart represents the outcome of my sixth question of the survey. It shows whether
video games inspire history culture or not.

Findings: About 56.67% of the participants strongly agreed with the statement, 30% disagreed, 6.67%
people strongly disagreed, 3.33% people strongly agreed and about 3.33% of the participant were neutral
with the statement. We can see that most of the people think that video games do inspire history and
culture.

Conclusion: The peak rate of the chart is 56.67% and it belongs to Agree and the lowest rate of the
chart is 3.33% which represents Neutral.

12 | P a g e
Q7. Do you think your life might be much better without games?

Obviously, people Yes, people will No, life would be Never, life is Total Response
would be more stop wasting time monotonous impossible
productive. on video games without video without video
games. games.
8 3 19 0 30

Do you think your life might be much better

without games?
0%

Obviously, people would be more

26.67%
productive.
Yes, people will stop wasting time
on video gamesr
63.33% 10%
No, life would be monotonous
without video games.
Never, life is impossible without
video games.

Introduction: The pie chart represents the outcome of my seventh question of the survey. It indicates
whether life would be better without video games or not.

Findings: About 63.33% of the participants think that life would be monotonous without video games,
26.67% of the participants think that people would be more productive without video games, 10% people
think that people will stop wasting time on video games and no none said that life would be impossible
without video games. We can see that majority of the participants think that life without games would not
be a happy life.

Conclusion: The peak rate of the chart is 63.66% and it belongs to No, life would be monotonous
without video games. and the lowest rate of the chart is 0% which represents Never, life is impossible
without video games.

13 | P a g e
Q8. Do you think games can be educational?

Education & No, they only Yes, there are a Obviously, every Total Response
Video games? teach violence lot of educational game has a core
Total opposite. video games educational
message.
2 3 23 2 30

Q8. Do you think games can be educational?

6.67% 6.67%
10% Education & Video games? Total
opposite.
No, they only teach violence

Yes, there are a lot of educational

76.67% video games
Obviously, every game has a core
educational message.

Introduction: The pie chart represents the outcome of my eighth question of the survey. It shows the
impact of video games on education.

Findings: About 76.67% of the participants think that there are a lot of educational video games, 10%
people think that video games only teach violence, 6.37% of the participants think that every games has a
core educational message and about 6.67% people think that education and video games are total
opposite matter. We can see that more that more than 80% people think that video games have a good
impact on education.

Conclusion: The peak rate of the chart is 76.67% and it belongs to Yes, there are a lot of educational
video games. and the lowest rate of the chart is 6.67% which represents Education & Video games?
Total opposite

14 | P a g e
Q9. Do you think games may help you to be more socially aware?

No, they never Neutral Obviously, non-violent games Total Response

promote social inspire to be helpful towards
awareness. people.
10 2 18 30

Q9. Do you think games may help you to be

more socially aware?

No, they never promote social

33.33% awareness.

Neutral
60%
6.67%
Obviously, non-violent games
inspire to be helpful towards
people.

Introduction: The pie chart represents the outcome of my ninth question of the survey. It shows the
impact of video games on social awareness.

Findings: About 60% of the participants think non-violent video games inspire to be helpful towards
people, 33.33% people think that video games never promote social awareness and 6.67% of the
participants are neutral about the topic.

Conclusion: The peak rate of the chart is 60% and it belongs to Obviously, non-violent games inspire
to be helpful towards people. and the lowest rate of the chart is 6.67% which represents Neutral

15 | P a g e
Q10. Do you think games can enhance your creativity?

Never, people are No, you don't Yes, it is known Obviously, video Total Response
born creative. need to play video that video games games enhance
games to be enhance people's our creativity by
creative creativity. letting us do
different tasks.
1 5 17 7 30

Q10. Do you think games can enhance your

creativity?
3.33%

23.33% 16.67% Never, people are born creative.

No, you don't need to play video

games to be creative
Yes, it is known that video games
enhance people's creativity.
56.67%
Obviously, video games enhance
creativity through different tasks.

Introduction: The pie chart represents the outcome of my last question of the survey. It shows the
relationship of video games with creativity.

Findings: About 56.67% of the participants think that video games enhance peoples creativity. 23.33%
people think that video games enhance creativity through different tasks, 16.67% believe that they do not
need to play video games to be creative and 3.33% people think that people are born creative.

Conclusion: The peak rate of the chart is 56.67% and it belongs to Yes, it is known that video games
enhance people's creativity. and the lowest rate of the chart is 3.33% which represents Never, people
are born creative.

16 | P a g e
Suggestions
1. Ideal time of playing video games: A new study has been carried out by Oxford University to find
the ideal time of playing video games. They found that people who play video games for an hour or less
per day tend to be more social and satisfied with life than people who dont play any video games at all.
They also found that if someone plays more than three hours than he/she is more likely to be unhappy
than non-gamers, as well as more likely to have problems with hyperactivity, attention and relating to
their peers. So, I suggest people who are playing too much to control their behavior and I would suggest
non gamers to consider playing video games a bit as it has some positive impacts on life.

2. Video games as relaxation: Though the topic is controversially, scientists have proved that playing
video games is beneficial for health and may reduce you stress and depression and make you feel better.
Already a lot of people are using video games for relaxation but those who are still not in the gaming,
should add bit of game-playing time to their schedule which can improve their mental health in many
surprising ways. Even violent games have some positive impact on health. A 2010 study at Texas A&M
conducted by Associate Professor Dr. Christopher J. Ferguson showed that both men and women who
play violent video games long-term seem to be able to adopt mental skills to handle stress, become less
depressed and get less hostile during stressful tasks.

3. Make friends by playing video games: The most notable benefit of playing video games is that
you can make a lot of friends by playing it. You don not even have to look for research and studies to be
sure about it. Just look at the gamers or gaming community, they always hangout together and participate
in different events. You will always find group of friends among them. So those who are not that in
making friends just start playing multiplayer video games and hopefully you will find a lot of cheerful
friends.

4. Parent should play video games with their child more often: This is another controversial
topic, but truly playing video games together can bring parent and child close. Recently two studies have
been done and both found that playing video games with kids has a positive impact on long-term family
outcomes. So parents should now start playing video games with their kids to make their relationship
even better.

5. Physical exercise is important too: Cheryl Olson noted that In my own research, players
(specifically boys) talked about learning new moves from sports video games and then practicing them at
the basketball court or on skateboards. He found that sports games encourage players to do physical

17 | P a g e
exercise. So those who are playing video games for too long should try sports games too. Recently a lot of
articles have been published about health issues of playing video games. So gamers should start doing
physical exercise to keep their body fit.

6. People should learn history & culture by playing games: A lot of games such as Assassins
Creed, Prince of Persia, Far Cry, Saboteur etc. promote history and culture. While playing these kinds of
games gamers should try to learn the relative history and culture from the game itself, this will enhance
their knowledge.

7. Make life interesting by playing video games: In my survey most of the people said that life
would be monotonous without video games which is actually true as a lot of study supports this issue. As
video games have become one of the most common sources of entertainment, without this a lot people
may face depression and stress. So my suggestion for people who are shouting against video games
should try playing video games in proper way so that they can find the core interest of playing video
games. Without playing video gamers none actually can understand how much interesting life can be with
a little bit of gaming.

8. Play & learn: A lot of people argue that video games have no education benefit but a lot of research
showed different. Almost every video game actually has a core educational message. A gamer should try
to understand that while playing the game. Gamers also can improve their English language as most of the
games are in English language. They can also play puzzle and problem solving games to learn new tricks.
It will also help them to be creative in real life.

9. Play & be socially responsible: Video games are actually fantasy version of real life. So gamers
can explore a lot of different things in video games which non-gamers cant. So in a way you can say that
video gamers may have some extra experience about life. So they should use their experience in their
social life to make the society better. Non-violent video games teach how to be careful and respectful
towards the society. They should learn these manners and apply them in their everyday life.

10. Play & be creative: One of the most notable gifts of video games is that video games help the
gamers to be creative through different tasks. Usually in a video game, gamers have to pass to different
levels of difficulties to go to the next level. Throughout this process they have to do different tasks
mentally. This process helps gamers to be creative. So people should use their creativity in real life later
on to lead a successful life.

18 | P a g e
Conclusion
After careful analysis and comparison of the primary data (from survey) with the secondary data
I have found that in most cases there are evidences that being video games can help people to
improve their lifestyle.

The objective of study I put forward was based on what I expected since I had some prior idea
about this topic and I knew that video games can help people to get a better life in different ways.
Nevertheless seeing the numerous complain and negative research in Bangladesh I wanted to
find out the benefits of playing video games in Bangladeshi context.

Therefore, after analyzing the data I can now say that my objective which is to change people's
negative attitude towards video games so that they can enjoy the benefits of playing video games
and improve their lifestyle every day. Since most of my primary and secondary data matches, I
can say that video games can improve peoples lifestyle though different ways and should not be
banned from the society.

My opinion and reaction

After profoundly studying this topic I want to give following recommendations to gamers:

Do not play video gamers too much; it will not benefit you in any ways.
Try to encourage non-gamers to play video games so that they can learn about it.

Finally, I have few recommendations to non-gamers and parents:

Do not hold a negative attitude to video gamers as they are not always harmful at all.
Do not forbid your children to play video gamers rather control his/her timing of playing
it.

19 | P a g e
References

Grandoni, D. (2014, May). Scientist Discovers The Ideal Amount Of Time Kids Should Spend
Playing Video Games. Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/05/amount-
time-video-games-kids_n_5651027.html
Dube, R. (2015, September). Science Proves that Playing Video Games Reduces Your Stress.
Retrieved from: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/video-game-stress-reduction-need-start-
playing-right-now/
Shapiro, J. (2013, December). Research Says Parents And Kids Should Play Video Games
Together. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanshapiro/2013/12/04/research-
says-parents-and-kids-should-play-video-games-together/#1efa7e391b1c
Olshon, S. (n.d.). Video Games Encourage Exercise. In 8 Reasons Video Games Can Improve Your
Child (slide 37208). Retrieved from: http://www.parents.com/kids/development/benefits-of-
video-games/?slideId=37208
Olshon, S. (n.d.). Video Games Inspire Interest in History and Culture. In 8 Reasons Video Games
Can Improve Your Child (slide 37206). Retrieved from:
http://www.parents.com/kids/development/benefits-of-video-games/?slideId=37206
Rudon, T. (n.d.). 10 Benefits of Video Games. Retrieved from:
http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/10_Benefits_Of_Video_Games.html
Moore, E. A. (2011, November). New study links video gaming to creativity. Retrieved from:
http://www.cnet.com/news/new-study-links-video-gaming-to-creativity/

20 | P a g e
 Apendix
Can Video Games Improve Your Lifestyle?
Purpose: The purpose of the survey is to collect data from people to know their opinion about how video
games can improve their lifestyle & how their opinions and views differ from one another.

Instruction: Please give a () to the appropriate response for each question and fill the blank spaces if
required.
Gender: Male Female Age: 15-20 21-26 27+
Q1. How often do you play video games?
Everyday Whenever Im Free Occasionally Rarely Never

Q2. When upset, do you soothe yourself with games ?

Yes, it helps to get relaxed.
No, it does not help anyway.
I have other options.

Q3. Did you make any friends by playing video games?

Yes No Is that possible?

Q4. Do you think video games can bring parents & children together (If they play together)?
Never, video games only damage relationship.
No, they will just waste time over games.
Yes, playing video games together can improve their relationship.
Obviously, gradually they will develop a strong bonding.

Q5. Does video gaming encourage you to do exercise?

Never, you better hit the gym rather than playing games.
No, I don't think they have any relationship.
Yes, some games promote to do exercise.
Obviously, sports games encourage gamers to learn the skills in real life.

21 | P a g e
Q6. Do you think video games inspire history and culture?
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
Short explanation:

Q7. Do you think your life might be much better without games?
Obviously, people would be more productive.
Yes, people will stop wasting time on video games
No, life would be monotonous without video games.
Never, life is impossible without video games.

Q8. Do you think games can be educational?

Education & Video games? Total opposite.
No, they only teach violence.
Yes, there are a lot of educational video games.
Obviously, every game has a core educational message.

Q9. Do you think games may help you to be more socially aware?
No, they never promote social awareness.
Neutral
Obviously, non-violent games inspire to be helpful towards people.

Q10. Do you think games can enhance your creativity?

Never, people are born creative.
No, you don't need to play video games to be creative
Yes; it is known that video games enhance people's creativity.
Obviously, video games enhance creativity through different tasks.

Your Suggestion (If you have any):

Thank You for your time

22 | P a g e