by Frank Mainwaring

Created on: March 08, 2007   Last Updated: September 24, 2011

Everything that we do, and everything around us affects us in some way shape or form. The clothes we wear, the music we listen to and the friends we surround ourselves with all have an impact on our well-being, physically and mentally.

Video games are a culture all of their own: just like the mods and the rockers, there is a clash of values and what is considered "normal" between gamers and mainstream society.

To be a gamer is to be vilified by society: you are lazy because you aren't out in the sports fields playing sports; you are anti-social because you are in your room; pasty-faced, sociopathic and a murderer waiting to happen.

The media have decided, a la Hillary Clinton, that violent videogames are bad for society. Why? The perceived wisdom is that children shouldn't play them, so they need to tightly regulated and controlled. This euphemism means that the ordinary adult that plays games, is a productive member of society and enjoys killing pixels in his spare time will not longer be able to so.

So where am I going with this? So far I've not mentioned the effects of games on people, merely the effects of society on a sub-group.

To many people "beneficial" effects from games seem to be an oxymoron, that the two are mutually exclusive. Games are seen are a vast waste of time and energy that could be given over to other things. Games are often blamed for poor school performances and other outrageous behaviour.

Games themselves are a tool. A tool can be a force for good or ill depending on how it is wielded. They allow the developers to take a simple story and place the player at it's forefront, done well this immerses the player in the world that they have created and is a rich and pleasurable experience. Given the type of game it might be, it might have several effects: historic knowledge of beliefs, weapons, tactics, resource management and maths skills, concentration are all common as is the most criminally overlooked of all the common features of games: sociability.

Games are increasingly social, with the stereotypical loner hanging out in his room day in day out being increasingly wrong. The advent of the PC games such as Everquest, World of Warcraft et al show us a social community gathering together regardless of race, colour or creed. Geographical location is irrelevant in these games as they occupy a space of their own and, as such, because a different world.

Much has been written about the "addictiveness" of games. I believe that the word has been

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