In the wake of the national debate over whether or not violent video games make players more prone to violence, I wanted to discuss a different, more happy side effect of video games; the bonding effect.
Anyone who has played a game can attest that there is a deep social bond created through the act of playing a game cooperatively with their friends and/or family members. While this may not be something science has put thorough research behind a recent study published by Benjamin Hickerson, an assistant professor of recreation, parks and tourism management at Penn State University, shows that not only do gamers create deep social bonds through their gameplay, they maintain those social bonds throughout most of their lives. Hickerson attended the Midnight launch for Call of Duty: Black Ops II to obtain data and “noted that gamers who attend these late night release gatherings tend to be behaviorally and psychologically committed to the activity.” So not only are these gamers creating relationships online, but they are extending the bonds they create to real life activities as well. The web series The Guild does a great job of exemplifying how video games create a sense of camaraderie and companionship through the player’s working together to reach common goals.
Some research being done suggests that players who play violent games cooperatively show less aggression than players who play single player modes in violent games. Whether or not you give the linked article credence is up to you, but it is an interesting read and in some ways makes sense. The context in which a game is played changes the mentality of the player and playing cooperatively almost cancels out the negative aspects of a violent video game. In fact, some people have created such deep bonds with each other over violent video games that they started dating before they even met each other in person, and later went on to get married. Not surprisingly this is not uncommon; another couple who met playing Halo went on to be in a Best Buy commercial because of their bond. Recently, someone pointed out to me that part of the reason their long distance relationship worked out was because of the couple’s ability to go online and play games together.
So what does this mean? To me this means that one of the greatest things about video games are their ability to bring people together. Whether or not you buy in to this campaign against video games because of their violence is almost irrelevant, the proof is in the pudding; video games bring people together in ways that they may have never been able to be together before. The couch and online co-op aspects of different games may be able to change people’s perceptions of video games for the better, maybe video game developers should be paying more attention to this positive aspect of their games.
You’ve heard us talk about how we play games cooperatively (whether it be on the computer, iOS devices, our consoles, or really any other gaming medium we can get our hands on) and even more recently you’ve read about how Sam plays games with her daughter strengthening their familial bond, so you know that we believe this is something video games accomplish. So, while the rest of the nation is fixated on blaming video games for gun violence I will be busy deepening relationships with important people in my life and creating new bonds with people I would have never met if not for games and gaming.
