Video Games and Mental Health - Just Pixels?

By Soffie Paul.

The idea of video games having a negative influence on mental health has been well-debated since the 1980s with a rather surprising outcome. However, the criticism surrounding video game use has only increased since then. Although opinions have been carried forth differently by various cultures, generations, and nations alike, many people are quick to conclude that the aggressive nature of video games is detrimental to mental health. But is this the harsh truth, or is there more to it than the pixels that meet the eye?

Video games have become integral in today's world, affecting economies, social groups, entertainment, and other constructs. As game cabinets grew into arcades and further into esports arenas, the world has changed alongside technology, and the games we play followed. Furthermore, they have undoubtedly created a loyal and dedicated fanbase, as divided as the genres are. From tearing down alien forces from destroying your home (Doom) to building your adorable town and making new friends (Animal Crossing), game culture brings players together under one united umbrella with a common identity by allowing them to share experiences, create memes, and express creativity. Games also became esports, featuring roaring audiences, large investments, and various spectators within and outside the industry, proving to be a worthwhile investment almost on par with traditional sport.

Popularly known as 'Evo Moment #37', Evo held a Street Fighter 3 esports tournament in 2004. Daigo (playing Ken, right) went up against Justin (Chun-Li, left) and perfectly countered Chun-Li's combo move with just 1 Health Point, an incredibly hard parry to pull off with extreme timing. The crowd goes wild!

Community is undoubtedly what makes video games fun. While competition brings in motivational underdog stories from around the world and showcases sportsmanship with logical and mechanical skill, playing "cozy" games with self-paced gameplay and simple mechanics has proven to be an excellent coping mechanism and a practice of mindfulness. Socialization is also a cardinal aspect of human life, which gaming promotes through its chat features and bare nature. Video games are an art form that tells fascinating stories and educates others through the gamification of unexperienced and challenging concepts (such as The Last of Us, which deals with survival, loss, and differing human natures).

Initially, this rapid growth of the hobby brought some skeptics who noticed these high sales, starting with Death Race (1976), whose objective was to control a car and run over gremlins, which shared a resemblance to human pedestrians. This was little compared to games such as Mortal Kombat which contained amounts of gore, creating public outcries that further led to the rating system restricting players. However, this did not stop them - 50% of boys and 14% of girls aged 12-17 had at least one game rated 'Mature' on their favorite games list. With time, various hit games surfaced with aggressive and inappropriate themes, including simulating shooting, murder, and, tragically, sexual assault.

The competition that games brought, although it opened doors for new game concepts, created a stigma with it - its aggressive nature and predominantly male participation laid a foundation for belittling other players, increasing the divide between subcommunities and leaving out women within the gaming sphere. Inappropriate language and behavior online became the "norm" of esports and competitive gaming, exhausting many players out of the base and scaring away new ones. Furthermore, video games have tweaked little details within their games, simulating gambling or stimulating visuals, forcing players to get addicted to the entertainment form. Even worse, impressionable children who experience harsh interactions with game culture will carry on the behaviors they learned from their gaming environments.

But do video games affect mental health? We previously mentioned an odd outcome for this debate. The truth is that video games have proven to increase aggression in children. Although short-term aggression is expectable in adults, young minds are the most susceptible to becoming insensitive toward games that include adult concepts, increasing the risk of them committing and experimenting with these acts, regardless of societal norms or dangerousness. These impressionable minds are why ratings began; They probably shouldn't be playing the game in the first place. With time, multiple studies have found very little evidence supporting an increase in aggression in adolescence and beyond.

In adulthood, excessive and repeated exposure to violence might not increase aggression but instead may desensitize the adult to harmful behaviors, including killing, sexual exploitation, and gambling. Gambling might be the most prevalent as most games feature microtransactions through loot boxes or randomized skins that scale in rarity. An entire genre called "gacha games" revolves around a lottery-type purchase system, encouraging spending real money for rare in-game items, but largely for the adrenaline rush of opening your "gachapon", a capsule containing your prize. Still, these games are not legally considered gambling. With your own money to spend as an adult and all the time in the world to pursue your liking without external pressures, it is extremely likely for you to commit to the hobby's flaws without realizing it and hence slowly poisoning your mental health, affecting you and those around you. The aggression, craving for adrenaline, and desensitization combine to make a potion for disaster for any adult, let alone a child.

"Drops" or reward items from the lottery "gacha" system of Genshin Impact. Notice the stars and effects that attach value to the characters along with character designs.

Well, what do we do to stop it? Most gamers look for an escape, a means to socialize with kindness, or a story that impacts them, which are undeniably reasonable hopes in our harsh world. However, all addictions start with a choice that becomes almost unstoppable with time, a problem that ignorance cannot heal. Instead of attempting to distance ourselves from the hobby and demonize it, we must first approach it with some compassion and critical thought. What could be the reason why someone spends an unhealthy amount of time away from live interactions and with a game that feeds their understanding and cravings in the world? Although stripping away an addiction is not easy, recognizing it as one is crucial, especially during its early stages. Furthermore, we must consider what gaming (rarely) might exploit (attractive visuals, sex symbols, rare drops, etc.) to keep their audience hooked to the medium. Considering the time and the reasons spent on games is the first step to enjoying the hobby for what it claims to be - a video game.

Through the positives and negatives that video games represent to the world, a silver lining shines brighter than the flaws it presents. Today, we see an acceptance of video games as an addiction (also called internet gaming disorder) more than a stigmatized subject. Although this disorder is rare, there are commonly accepted definitions of what might be pushing the borders of an obsession with video games, such as overtly consuming aggressive content or creating oddly specific and inappropriate modifications. These definitions are beginning to be seen as unacceptable or shameful, changing the course of what is appropriate in the gaming community (since what we observed previously was more external than internal). We also observe more inclusion and diversity within gaming spheres, both casual and competitive - for example, various female leagues such as Valorant Game Changers and organizations like Women in Games have women entering the industry more than ever. When considering who consumes the content, we begin to understand how much it affects our mental states as a society and what we can do to improve it.

G2 Gozen, an all-female team, wins the first ever Valorant Game Changers tournament.

In conclusion, do video games, by nature, negatively impact mental health? The answer is no, but too much of anything can affect mental health adversely. Video games can make life a little easier while making it more difficult in the long run through isolation and addiction, or the complete other way around, where struggling on a fun game with your friends and family reaps better mental well-being and stronger relationships. From standing up against an in-game bully to funding a cause that a game speaks of, such as homelessness (seen in games like CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience) or natural disasters, video games can go a long way for someone's health. We must learn to protect our peace as gamers when interacting with others and our games. Restricting your time on games and even the genres you choose to participate in or reaching out for help with your addictions is key to having a healthy relationship and opinion with these games. If we consider how much we control in our consumption, we will begin to see how unfair it is that we combine all video games under a preconceived "aggressive" notion and just how much games can help us with our mental health - from tuning in after a long day or recovering from a mental issue. How much do you let pixels control you?

Art of 'Evo Moment #37' by @Som3what_Art