Video games can improve brain function

A video game is a kind of electronic game that is played on an electronic device with the help of a user interface like a gamepad or a joystick, and the game is displayed with an inbuilt display unit or using an external display device like a TV screen or computer monitor. This was first created by academic computer scientists during the 1950s. They were played for research purpose only.

In 1960, the professors and students of the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) played video games like tic-tac-toe, on computers such as IBM-1560. But during that time, video games were not familiar to everyone, because personal computers and game consoles were not easily available in the market. But after the growth of the electronic industry, gradually video games became very popular around the world. Many companies like Atari, Nintendo and Sega started selling game consoles in the market during the 1980s. Later companies like Sony also introduced many gaming consoles like PlayStation and captured the market in the late 90s. After the emergence of PC gaming, people started playing video games on their PCs and laptops, either at home or work but now people like playing video games on their mobile phones also.

Video game addiction and de-addiction

According to the American Psychiatric Association, video games can’t cause any kind of addiction. But video games can cause a different kind of addiction. It’s a kind of behavioural addiction that makes someone to play video games excessively and that interferes with everyday life. There is no approved medication for this type of addiction but still, most psychiatrists are treating video game addiction using psychiatric drugs.

Behavioural addiction is a kind of addiction that doesn’t involve the use of any drugs but it happens because of rewarding behaviour. This type of addiction happens because of the rewarding system of our brain. Our brain is functioning because of the neurotransmitters like serotonin, GABA and dopamine. Certain activity or behaviour of a person can increase such neurotransmitter levels in the brain and can give pleasure. That’s why this could vary from person to person because everybody’s brain chemistry is not the same. Some people might find video games addictive but some might find it a waste of time only.

Usually, any drug-related addiction is cured using de-addiction (substitute) drugs. In case of drug addiction, the brain gets dependent on a particular drug and to De-addict someone from that drug, a substitute drug is used with a tapering plan. As the substitute drug is tapered gradually on a daily basis, the brain starts to reduce its dependency on the addicted drug.

Similarly, for any behavioural addiction like video gaming, the de-addiction can be done using a substitute game. For example, if a user starts playing a game, he finds some difficulty in the beginning but after winning the first level of the game, his dopamine level increases and so he wants to play for the next level, but as the level goes up, the difficulty level also goes up. This causes the brain to take the stress from the game and wants to play again and again to reach the top level (reward). This process makes anybody (from children to adult) to get addicted to a video game.

Therefore, de-addicting from such video games can be possible using a substitute video game. Just like a benzodiazepine is used as a substitute for alcohol addiction, a substitute video game will able to De-addict someone from such an addictive game. Games like PUBG cause addiction because of their addictive algorithm and interface, but if a similar video game is created using reverse engineering and then changing the gaming code in such a way that it will cause less difficulty and less awarding, then playing that game will make someone to get de-addicted from a similar video game. Just like most people don’t like watching a movie twice, such substitute games would prevent people from playing addictive games again and again. However, to get rid of video game addiction, the best solution is to play them limitedly for a certain period of time. Playing video games with breaks, instead of playing for hours, can also prevent the addiction.

Psychological effect from video games

Apart from getting addicted to video games, it’s also possible to get a psychological effect from video games and all games are not suitable for every user of all age groups. Video games are rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) of USA according to the age group. According to ESRB games which are designed for everyone are rated as ‘E’, above 10 years are rated as ‘E10+’, for those between 10-17 years of age are rated as ‘T’, games that are for above 17 years of age are rated ‘M’ and for 18 years and above games are rated as ‘A’. If video games are played by a suitable age group, then it will not cause any psychological problem. However, some video games are often played by the unsuitable age groups by means of piracy or if the game is free to download, and that could cause a psychological effect on the user.

Video games can improve brain function

Even though video games could cause addiction, playing certain games can help improve the cognitive function of the brain. Children who play video games develop better cognitive skills and develop better learning abilities. New research done by the researchers at America’s Yale University found that children who play video games are always good at learning.

Your brain is yours... if you don’t use it, you lose it! Many age-related brain disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, can progress in people who don’t like doing brain work and lives a very easy going life. One research shows that people who play puzzles and board games frequently are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. So playing board games and puzzles on your PC or mobile can also help reduce the risk of brain-related disorders like Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, when you play a game like chess on a PC, you are competing with a computer and a computer is a complete logical machine. More you play with a computer, the better your brain learns to become logical. However, defeating a computer is not easy and some might find it frustrating, but playing with a computer instead of a human helps a lot in improving the thinking abilities because if your opponent player is a human, then he may not have better playing skills to compete with.

Apart from Alzheimer’s disease, some video games might also cure mental disorders like ADHD and games like Project: Evo and Akili are designed to cure ADHD but are waiting for the FDA’s approval.

Video games are also good stress-busters, and a new study of millennial gamers has revealed that video games can help reduce mental stress. Behavioral Science Institute in the Netherlands found that some video games can help reduce mental stress and one survey was done by Luke Hales, GM of the Dave TV Channel also concluded the same thing.

Future of video games

Due to the advent of new technologies, video gaming experience had gone to another level. Previously video games were only played on game consoles but now people can play also on their smartphones. Apart from using gamepads and touch screens, a new technology called gesture control which helps in playing video games only with hand movements and gestures. This technology made playing video games a lot easier and it’s also suitable for people of all age groups. Virtual Reality (VR) is another new technology that allows users to experience video games or any 3D simulator in a 3D environment with the help of VR headsets. In VR gaming, one can actually feel the presence in the gaming environment and can visualize everything around them virtually. Apart from gaming, VR is also used for simulation and training purposes.

VR can also be used for educational purposes and it can also help the doctors to get training on how to operate a human body using a surgery simulator (video game). I think VR technology is more useful to perceive things easily because it gives a real life-like experience. Besides VR, there is another technology called Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) and in this technology a headset is used to communicate with the computer from the brain directly, using electrical signals, and it can be used as a control device for video games also.

As technology improves, video games will become more and more enjoyable and useful in the future. Starting from game consoles to touch phones, video games are enjoyed by people of various age groups, and even though there are some dark sides of video games, playing them appropriately will not cause any problem and we can get the benefit of playing video games happily.