Ryan Reding

Exploratory Draft

10/24/11

Writing and Rhetoric

In this paper, I plan on arguing that video games impact the social development, behaviors, and process of learning of children and that the time and the games that children play should be monitored. Video games are a recent phenomenon. My generation was one of the first to really grow up with the strong presence of video games. In less than four decades video games have gone from simple bouncing block graphics to a global industry of enormous proportions. In 2006 alone, the U.S. video game industry made a record $12.5 billion. Video games have become a powerful new media and I am interested to see the impact it can create in the development and growth of people. I am interested in this topic because as I have been growing up I have always been playing video games. All the way back to playing Donkey Kong on Nintendo 64 as an eight year old to playing very realistic games like Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, and FIFA today on my Xbox 360. Video game technology has certainly improved immensely just in my lifetime. I am interested to see what the impacts of spending hours and hours immersed in the interactive video games has on the development of a child. In everyday encounters I have heard a few common answers that video games improve dexterity in the hands and that the violent games make kids more violent and aggressive. I want to research more and view studies to see if these are true and if they are the only impacts video games have on the development of kids. I feel like my intended audience and the audience that my paper will most directly benefit is parents. Parents should understand the impacts of video games that could alter development of their children. I hope to persuade them by pointing to recent studies and other evidence to show what these impacts both positive and negative truly are. If video games can help kids with developing and learning or if video games can lead to behavioral and social problems, parents

will obviously be able to monitor their childrens use of video games. If you asked a parent if they would benefit from research detailing how to aid the development of their children, I think they would all say yes. So far I have found success in finding good sources. I was a little surprised because my topic is fairly recent I was not expecting to find too many sources. However, the Notre Dame Library led me to five books dealing with video games as a mode of media and its influence on the development of children. A few of them outline how video games help in the development of literacy and learning in general with children. The others detail how video games can affect children socially and behaviorally. Also, I have found two similar articles on ebscohost. I still would like to find a few actual scientific studies that found some data I could use as evidence. My audience will expect clear links to video games and the impacts that I will claim they have on children. I feel like my sources I have gathered should satisfy the audience. I feel like I can incorporate some class material because we have talked a lot about different modes of media. Video games are a very powerful type of media. Unlike watching television, you interact with the media. So far my research has presented two things. First, that video games can promote literacy and learning in children. This is a very positive impact. The second is that video games can promote aggression in some children or disrupt the social development of the child. These are both negative impacts. So right now I plan on presenting both the positive and negative impacts pointing to several different sources to let my audience understand both the good and the bad. Then I dont know really know what to argue from there. I believe that children should be able to play video games, but in moderation. Parents should limit time on the game consoles and computer and should also shy away from the violent games until their child is older. I feel like it

would be impossible to say either yes or no children should play video games. I guess basically my question is, can I argue that video games can be a positive media for children as long as parents filter the games and monitor the time spent on the games?