Multimodal Essay Final

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Nicholas Tortorello

Introduction to Rhetoric and Composition


12/21/21

Why Video Games are Good for Mental Health

Video Games have become increasingly popular over the last few decades. They became

small hobbies that were simple in design and concept, to legit careers, and pivotal parts of

people’s lives, in so many different ways. This perception of video games has created mixed

responses from society with the question of is this a good direction for video games? There are

many people who stand on each side but in my opinion, I am for this direction of video games,

and the way it ties into mental health. People also have mixed thoughts on if this direction of

video games is good or bad for mental health. I’m here to tell you that video games are good for

mental health by ways of, distraction from sad emotions or events, social interaction with other

people on online games, the sense of accomplishment, and mental stimulation.

How do video games distract you in a way that’s good? When thinking of distraction, you

usually don’t want distraction because distraction usually comes in forms of school or work and

those are two of the most important aspects of life in getting a good education and having a

stable job. Wouldn’t you think video games being a distraction towards these aspects be bad?

Well essentially yes, because it’s distracting you from the important things in life, but in other

aspects it can actually be good for you and your mental health. Video games can be a distraction

to the sad things in life or in times of tragedy because “recent research even suggests that video

games are as effective at reducing the depression in adolescents and might be effective means of

reducing pain and anxiety.” [(Friedman and Markey) 356-361] The idea of making people stray

away from those thoughts and events and have them focus their mind and attention on video
games which cause happiness, allows people to uplift themselves and not think about the sadness

they are experiencing. I also know this because of personal experience. I myself am a pretty big

gamer, so a lot of the information I will be talking about, I will be able to give my own thoughts

and experiences to show that the information being brought up is true for people. So, for my

personal experience with this is when my great grandfather passed away. I was ten years old and

was deeply saddened by this and it was on my mind for months. One of the main methods I used

to uplift myself was by playing video games. They made me happy and allowed for me to take

my mind off of the passing of my grandfather. If it wasn’t for video games, I would have been

upset for much longer and it would have been even harder for me to get over his passing.

This also ties into my next topic which is mental stimulation. This idea of mental

stimulation is making your brain think in certain ways to either achieve a goal or develop critical

thinking and focusing all of your attention on that game. Video games make you think and when

you take part in playing video games “almost every part of your brain is working to help you

achieve higher-level thinking. Depending on the complexity of the game, you may have to think,

strategize, and analyze quickly.” [WebMD] Video games stimulate your mind to focus on its

contents and it works. People put in hours and hours of time in playing these games and

understanding the concepts of how games work to try and beat the game and help improve

development of critical thinking skills. Some newer video games such as Red Dead Redemption or

Grand Theft Auto put players in different scenarios in which their decision making in the game

affects the outcome. This helps critical thinking skills by examining and understanding situations,

outcomes, and consequences and seeing if you made the right decision or not. Exposing this concept

of thinking to teenagers, or adolescents can improve their decision making and help them analyze

real world situations.


This ties right into the topic of video games allowing people to have more social interaction.

In today’s society, gaming is one of the easiest forms of social interaction online. When playing a

game you can use quick chats, or the more common aspect of voice chat. This builds social skills

for people who aren’t so comfortable or shy talking in person, and it allows people to build

character. While also building character, you can build so many friendships while gaming. Just ask

John Kieswetter. Kieswetter played video games with his younger sister and two cousins who lived

close and played as much as possible. He enjoyed playing with friends and family and meeting new

friends from gaming. Kieswetter’s sister unexpectedly died following complications from a surgery,

and gaming allowed him to distract him from this sadness, while also allowing him to talk to his

friends he had met playing video games. Kieswetter would talk to his gamer friends about his

situation and many of them reached out to him and offered their support. Kieswetter states,

“Gaming has had a huge impact on me as far as my mental health. The friends I have made over the

years are so incredibly supportive and I consider them family. They have been there for me, and I’m

there for them.” [Bach] Kieswetter’s story shows the impact video games has on social interaction.

It shows how easy it is to interact with other players, and really form connections with people that

may even be helpful to you in life. In Kieswetter’s case, his gamer friends were very helpful to him

and allowed him to get over a sadness and tragedy that had been affecting him. I have my own

personal experience with social interaction in gaming. I have met numerous friends while playing

video games, and even meeting them in real life and continuing our friendship on both social media,

and real life. This is a way to build friendship and improve your mental health by allowing you to

have people to talk to and interact with, so you don’t have a sense of loneliness or anxiety.
My final talking point is how video games make you feel a sense of accomplishment. Why

would this be helpful towards mental health. Well, when playing a video game, and dedicating your

time, energy, and thinking skills, to beat a game and get the satisfaction of completing the game, it

stimulates happiness and achievement and uplifts you making you feel better. This feeling of

accomplishment also encourages critical thinking, and really using your brain to figure out how to

solve this puzzle or beat this level to get closer to the goal of beating the game. The continuous act

of completing games encourages this sense of critical thinking, allowing people to be determined to

solve problems and put all of their will power in completing their task. In the best games available

on the market, the success and accomplishment factors are “so effective because it adjusts itself

dynamically; the difficulty level is continuously being calibrated to players’ abilities through

increasingly more difficult puzzles demanding more dexterity, quicker reaction times, and more

clever and complex solutions.” [Granic 71] Granic’s explanation of how accomplishment affects

gamers is a fantastic way of explaining it because she touches on how the difficulty of these

challenges change depending on the senses of the player, and it really shows how it makes

gamers smarter, and use a more complex way of thinking.

Although I have presented a lot of information and evidence of how video games can

help mental health, there is one main objection that people think of instantly. Gaming can cause

serious amounts of rage and anger, while also serving as a distraction against important aspects

of life such as schoolwork, family time, or work. To counter this argument is pretty simple. Yes,

these points are valid because I myself have experienced these points and know many people that

have experienced them as well, but the pros outweigh the cons here. It is more often that people

experience more happiness and joy than rage and anger when playing video games. Yes, there

are those moments where rage and anger occur, but typically, it is not the entire experience, and
most of the experience of playing a video game results in happiness. For the point of distraction

in a bad way, the simplest way to avoid this is to limit one’s time playing video games. This

form of distraction is very common that I myself have also experienced, but in order to avoid

this, you must either limit your time when playing video games or complete the more important

tasks first and then you can avoid this problem easily. Even though these objections to my

argument may seem like they are pretty big, they are very easy to avoid or aren’t as prominent as

people think they are. There is this perception on video games that they aren’t good for people

and how it may be a waste of time or money, but that just simply isn’t true.

Overall, video games can improve one’s mental health in various ways. From mental

stimulation to distractions from sadness and times of tragedy. It shows how big of an impact

video games have on society because of how prominent video games are in our world. People

have careers of gaming, and millions of people around the world play every day to experience

the ways video games can help so many people.


Work Cited

Popular Sources:

[1] Bach, Deborah. “Mind Games: How Gaming Can Play a Positive Role in Mental Health.”
Microsoft, Microsoft, 3 May 2021, https://news.microsoft.com/features/mind-games-how-
gaming-can-play-a-positive-role-in-mental-health/.

[2] “Video Games: Do They Have Mental Health Benefits?” WebMD, WebMD,
https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-benefits-of-video-games.

Scholarly Sources:

[3] Friedman, Howard S., and Patrick M Markey. “Video Games and Mental Health.”
Encyclopedia of Mental Health, Academic Press, Oxford, 2016.

[4] Granic, Isabela, et al. “The Benefits of Playing Video Games.” Pro Quest, Pro Quest, Jan.
2014,
https://www.proquest.com/docview/1492508455/fulltextPDF/1CBAD6F9A0434052PQ/1?
accountid=10796.

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