video games statistics essay

video games statistics essay

The Impact of Video Games: A Statistical Analysis

1. Introduction to Video Games and their Popularity

According to a paper written by the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress, video game technology had already begun to have a major impact on the world economy even by the mid-1980s. “Video games have become part of the popular culture of the world’s youth,” that paper noted. “The proliferation of video games is having an impact both on the general public, which is increasingly making use of the latest video and graphics technology for business and recreational applications, and computer science researchers, who are using the techniques developed in the video game industry for the design of software systems and for the visualization and manipulation of complex data” (11). Today, video games have moved from a mere hobby for a handful of intrinsic technophiles to a multi-billion-dollar sector of the global entertainment industry. The world electronic entertainment market is similar in size to those for film, television, and recorded music. In fact, the video game industry often eclipses those related areas.

2. The Positive Effects of Video Games on Mental Health and Cognitive Skills

The rest of this section uses simple statistical evidence to investigate the impact that video game playing has on the possible positive-related mental health and cognitive skills of male game players aged 20-85. For now, female game players are excluded from the analysis; one aim of the current website is to collect well-being data on video game playing by as few as 10,000 male game players. The small sample collected here and in the previous section is used to display general trends and to advertise for additional survey participants in a follow-up analysis. The current sample studied here is of particular interest because it consists almost exclusively of middle-aged and older men who did not grow up with video games, and it may then provide boundary evidence for the recent popularity in the economics of video games. We uncover evidence that video game playing, like reading, browsing the web, and participating in other leisure activities, is related to well-being improvements, although more is needed to understand the true nature of the relationships.

The previous section discussed a possible link between video game playing and fatal violence and showed how such a link, if it exists, is likely to be negative and insignificant. This section discusses the effects that video games may have on the positive mental health and cognitive ability of game players. Especially important, one might think, would be the effects that video games have on youngsters whose playing of video games often takes time away from studies. As of now, however, little is known for certain regarding any such mental health and cognitive effects, with one random medical literature providing evidence that video games have the potential to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s dementia.

3. The Negative Effects of Video Games on Behavior and Addiction

Research into violent video games has been more prevalent. Nonetheless, a thorough review revealed little comprehensive research that controlled accurately for the effect of other relevant video game types. Previous attempts to explore the effects of varying game genres have often used violence or type of game as the primary variable of interest, while other game content influences were often ignored. Several research examining violent video games have found low, weak, or insignificant relation among male high-school students between violent video games and violent behavior. Although these studies and others often fail to find a significant path between violent video games and behavior, the potential connection between violent video games and aggression lingers. Additionally, in comparison to those studies that do uncover a meaningful relation between violent media and negative behavior, other pieces of research have found only a modest correlation.

Behavioral consequences following the prolonged use of video games have recently come under investigation. The present study advances this area by exploring the effects of various types of video games on negative behavior. Although most previous research has explored the negative effects of violent video games, the effects of different game types have not been sufficiently explored. Since the U.S. projected video game market for 2001 is estimated at $9.2 billion, it is paramount that such potential relations be uncovered. The cross-sectional findings suggest that the playing of games, notably trivia games, role-playing games, and gambling games, is hooked up to three negative behavior behaviors, such as deceptions, alcohol use, and verbal and physical aggression. These correlations seemingly exist after accounting for a host of demographic, environmental, and working requirement variables.

4. Statistical Data on Video Game Usage and Demographics

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, dedicated gamers, aged 8 to 18, play for an average of 90 minutes a day and the majority of their parents are unaware of the content and ratings of the games their kids are playing (Roberts). This study found that nine of the top ten video rentals of 2004 were movies with an R rating. The only exception was the top ranked movie, Shrek 2, with a PG rating (Associated Press). Since a movie theater rates a movie’s content, a parent can decide if it is appropriate for their child. However, parents are less familiar with the exact content of video games, making it difficult to govern the exploration of violent or mature material. Many of today’s best-selling games include interactive violence such as hitting, shooting, or killing, combined with verbal aggression in a three-dimensional virtual world. Moreover, Prof. Byron Reeves of Stanford University cautions that violent video games could have a detrimental neurological effect on your child’s emotional brain.

5. Conclusion and Future Trends

This paper has been developed with the interest of highlighting the potential role of video games in the lives of both children and adults. First, we started with the individual use of console games, showing through the BDSS how much the gamer spends at a given moment in the discussed sample. Next, we continued our exploratory data analysis, highlighting the main characteristics of each most popular product with a console games brand. We also took care of drawing a general profile of the console gamer in them. It was possible to trace, quite well, the average player, taking into account the arrangement of consumption observed in the data provided. We continued with a cluster analysis, in order to group the gamers using only the volumes purchased and observed trends, that is, adherence to each brand at the present time, which settings favor getting into some cluster or staying out, what is the variability of the variables in question, among other possibilities. Finally, we list some future trends about the use of console games, in order to arouse the curiosity of researchers who are interested in addressing this important market.