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Is playing video games, a boon or bane?

by Gitumani-Talukdar
May 20, 2019 13:31

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The history of video games can be traced back to 1950s when academic computer scientists started designing simple games for brain stimulation which was also a part of their research. Soon after many games were played by the professors and students of MIT back in 1960. These include games like 3D tic-tac-toe, moon landing etc. With the help of punch cards, these games were played on a computer such as the IBM 1560, the computer of that era.

The mainstream video gaming starts between a period of the 1970s to 1980s. It then becomes a popular form and source of entertainment for most people. Gaming through joysticks, buttons and other controllers, was introduced at the comfort level of playing at home.

Most of us have seen WhatsApp status being updated with “Dinner, dinner chicken dinner”. How come getting a single piece of chicken to become so famous? The answer lies in PUBG- Known as PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds, it is the most famous and trending online battleground game on the earth at present. The game is all about the three golden rules of life- management, strategy and implementation.

So, why are we discussing games here? Well, it has been recently reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), that addiction to gaming can be categorized as a mental disorder. Further, it has been mentioned that the persistent or reoccurrence of online gaming activity is so rampant that it has overpowered other life interests.

Now, this is alarming and needs proper attention. But to know and analyze one side of the picture will never give us proper results. On the contrary to it, it has also been observed that most of the people who are engaged in online gaming activities have an upgradation of knowledge towards different concepts. In a battle, three things are very important. Planning, strategy and management. Thanks to PUBG, players of different age groups are knowing the proper meaning of those terms through putting themselves into the battleground.

On, a positive note, these people have learned through a game, the meaning of such terms that might be difficult for them to comprehend outside the world of gaming. Addiction to anything can be judged by knowing how a person is indulged in that activity.

Economically, a gaming industry can become a reality now, or can at least take its shape. In Japan, there is a gaming parlour at every 5 kilometers of distance, as they are nurturing the fact of gaming and putting every potential effort to make something productive out of it. Whereas in India, the awareness towards gaming is always attached with negativity. People have a long way to go to realize that if given proper guidance and right direction, their children can bring laurels by participating in various Gaming reality shows.

As per addiction is concerned, every little thing or concept has a positive as well as a negative notion to it. It is on us how such negatives can turn into something positive. India has a boon of having a demographic dividend, why can’t we use it to our own good. For gaming to be a boon or a bane, is completely upon the idea of how things are getting shaped. If addiction can make you learn, implement and strategize things, then it is a boon or else it will definitely turn into a bane, it not taken care properly.