Today I want to address a discourse that cyclically we lovers of the world of video games (and not only) find ourselves arguing and that, like it or not, puts us in front of continuous reflections: I'm talking about "violence" in video games and the effects that this has in the course of our life. As you know, there are well-thinking heads, excellent analysts and scholars, who aim to study the effect that video games have on the human psyche. A study that, like others, can certainly increase the quality of the world video-game sector. However, the studies that take place often seem to be aimed more at demonizing video games than inducing them to improve.
The triggering fact from which this reflection of mine arose was the last very serious act of unconsciousness that has occupied the black news pages of all the newspapers in recent days. I'll tell you more precisely what the newspapers are writing about the Pontelangorino story to date. In a small town, in the province of Ferrara, an act as absurd as it is brutal was carried out: a double murder of a married couple, deprived of life by none other than their son and his best friend. In this story, of which I do not want to go into the merits, we have heard over and over again video games being brought up, because the couple of young murderers after committing this rash act and after trying to clumsily conceal the evidence would have retired home. of the second to play the PlayStation. This latter attitude would have unleashed the anger of critics, analysts and ordinary people towards the video-game world (now a well-known cliché), wasting no time in pointing the finger at video games for yet another act of violence. We have heard of all colors, starting from the fact that video games influence the lives of users since the early years of growth, up to speeches such as "those who play more are more violent and are more likely to have aggressive thoughts", and how "the lack of desire to help others, in many games, makes children more accustomed to violence".
Surely many video games are raw or portray virtual violence, but there are also studies that are never mentioned in these cases, which instead highlight the good things that video games can create and evolve inside our heads. Some of these have pointed out that chronic gamers have problems neural connections much more developed than the norm and favor a better and faster approach to new technologies. The task of the "salience network" is to focus attention on important events and put the subject in the conditions to act in the best possible way. In video games, very often it is necessary to act with speed and precision, and this helps to develop the brain skills dedicated to visual and auditory coordination. Neural connections thus developed help to concentrate and grasp some important information in a very large and sometimes dispersive environment, quickly capturing changes and ultimately helping someone to think more effectively. These statements come from none other than the University of Utah School of Medicine to remove the chestnuts from the fire in defense and defense of the video-play world, which perhaps should be helped and not buried with certain reflections and thoughts freely expressed on TV or in the newspapers. After all, it is well known that in the world of social networks there is an attempt to demonize the gamer; but the problem of social addiction is not even minimally taken into consideration, which like all addictions alienates people from reality, or the basic family problems of the single individual.
Let's stop and think: if we were to consider this type of addiction as a big problem, then progress would stop. All people could loom or fall into gaming or social addiction, which could be avoided simply by updating and reshaping the teachings to the new generations. It is true that video games are often the stage of violent scenarios, very often they alienate some players, it is also true that these forms of alienation fall on less strong or problematic minds, which live with discomforts perhaps not visible to the naked eye but latent in the unconscious. already before. These disturbances can lead to rash acts such as murder and many other acts of a violent nature.You cannot simply blame a video game without contextualizing the background of the subject who performs the act. If the great minds of our generation highlight the damage that video games are doing in the heads of those who play, they should, in my opinion, think that the video-game sector is lately driving the development of modern society in general, thanks to the innovation that employees they manage to bring to the works on the world market, not only in the reference sector. I would also like to make you reflect on the fact that there are not only shiny discs with weapons and bombs inside, but also spectacular driving games, sports games, graphic adventures, friendship stories and above all video games dedicated to education that can help in ' learning less fortunate children or children with particular disabilities. Simply the average user thanks to the usual TV, which mostly proposes butchers in military overalls or gangsters in suits, demands a game park in which to play the killer or executioner of his enemies himself. We cannot blame our children alone, as we parents provide the money to buy certain games.
Apart from some less recreational games, there are many realities and many opportunities that video games are giving to millions of users around the world: for some time now they have united people of all kinds, within the many online rooms, who must learn to cooperate and approach. with other people, each perhaps coming from the other side of the globe. A stratospheric effect, capable of uniting and creating strong connections even outside, because some users, after having played and faced missions of all kinds within videogame worlds, decide to see each other also off-screen and thus consolidate true friendships, perhaps in front of them. to a pizza. These are the many possibilities that video games can and must offer, also assisted by the institutions that should approach the reality of young people and not move away: it is too easy to blame video games for the shortcomings that society and those who govern it have, compared to frightening evolution of one of the new cultures that is imposing itself. So I am strongly convinced that it is wrong to blame only video games, when excesses occur, because it is an unjustified exploitation of information and in most cases without foundation.
