New video game releases are marked by widespread excitement among gamers. With game releases like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, interest in video games becomes more evident among students.
Video games come in a plethora of genres such as action-adventure, horror, puzzle, and sports. Senior Spencer Teuscher favors games from a variety of genres. “I play a bit of everything. I play Red Dead Redemption, I play Call of Duty, I play Assassin’s Creed, I play Five Nights at Freddy’s, I play Minecraft, I play Roblox, Dead by Daylight. If I haven’t said it, Friday the Thirteenth… And I think that’s it,” Teuscher said.
There are more ways to play video games than simply playing with a controller and a console. The three main types of games and the equipment needed to play them are: video games played on consoles like Xbox, computer games played on personal computers without internet, and online multiplayer games that can be played on both but require an internet connection. According to the Pew Research Center, video games played on console were the most popular among the three.
Video games have not only been a form of entertainment for students, but also a way to exercise their decision-making and logic-based skills. Some of the most popular video games are great at making their audience think. Freshman Sophia Aliotte, an avid gamer, loves the video game Franchise Resident Evil for this reason. “It’s open-world, you can go wherever you want and you kind of have to put your mind to it—you have to think. It doesn’t just, like, tell you what you have to do step-by-step. You have to find out what to do,” said Aliotte.
In recent years, there has been speculation surrounding the influence of video games on developing children.While some believe the content of certain games can have an effect on the mindset of younger audiences, others believe that younger audiences are able to differentiate between reality and fiction. “I don’t think they really contribute to me as a person. When I’m playing a game, I don’t really get influenced by what happens in the game. I don’t see the game and think ‘Oh, I want to do that in real life.’ And that’s for everything. When I play a GTA game I don’t want to become a GTAcharacter in real life,” said Aliotte.
Classic literature and history have also been known to influence and inspire the creation of video games. Games like Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Red Dead Redemption, and Call of Duty: Vanguard are all set in past time periods and based on historic events.
It may be hard to believe that video games have any use in the classroom, but they are used daily here at FCUS. Every time students play Kahoot, Quizziz or mini games in Progress Learning, they are using games as a tool to further their education. However, these aren’t the only ways teachers have used video games in the classroom. Mrs. Walton, a high school social studies teacher, uses video games to keep students engaged. “In economics, I had the students play NBA 2k because we were talking about supply and demand… they had fun and it made the lesson more interesting for them and I think a lot of it stuck with them longer than if I just gave them a typical non-video game lesson,” said Walton.
Video games can be used as a form of stress relief, entertainment, and escape for stressed students. “You don’t have to worry about anything when you’re playing a game. It’s like you’re going into a different world,” said Aliotte.
