Did  you  know  that  the  highly  acclaimed  actor  Robin  Williams  is  one  of  the  greatest  gamers  in  the  world?  His  favorite  game  is  The  Legend  of  Zelda,  and  because  of  his  fana@c  feelings  for  the  series,  he  named  his  daughter  Zelda  Williams  aAer  the  game.  Him  and  his  daughter  eventually  appear  in  Nintendo  commercials.  Zelda  Williams  was  part  of  big  The  Legend  of  Zelda  announcements  and  part  of  the  latest  Super  Smash  Bros.  Tournament  in  the  Electronic  Entertainment  Expo  of  2014;  in  which  she  appeared  with  a  big  The  Legend  of  Zelda:  Majora’s  Mask  Shield  in  her  arm.    Image  Rights  Reserved:  hSp://www.flickr.com/photos/91228408@N00/428430749/  

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Video  games  don't  just  provide  relief  from  emo@onal  pain.  They  can  also  help  those  who  are  suffering  from  physical  pain.  Psychologists  at  the  University  of  Washington  developed  a  game  that  helps  hospital  pa@ents  suffering  from  immense  physical  pain  by  using  an  age-­‐old  mental  trick:  distrac@on.  The  virtual  reality  game  "Snow  World"  put  pa@ents  in  an  arc@c  wonderland  in  which  they  throw  an  endless  arsenal  of  snowballs  at  a  series  of  targets,  such  as  penguins  and  snowmen.  Military  hospitals  found  the  experience-­‐helped  soldiers  recovering  from  their  baSlefield  wounds.  The  soldiers  who  played  "Snow  World"  required  less  pain  medicine  during  their  recupera@on.      Image  Rights  Reserved:  hSp://www.flickr.com/photos/58675700@N04/11498776956/  

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Good  day  ladies  and  gentlemen.  I  am  Angel  Ochoa,  and  I  am  here  to  talk  to  you  about  why  video  games  are,  in  fact,  a  good  influence  for  today’s  genera@on.    Image  rights  reserved:  hSp://www.flickr.com/photos/78584817@N02/6889745338/  

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Video  games  are  one  of  the  best  and  most  used  ways  to  relief  stress  from  the  day-­‐to-­‐day  life.  We  need  to  take  out  that  stress  or  else  it  might  lead  to  great  sickness.  Video  games  are  also  the  best  way  to  raise  knowledge  and  crea@vity  in  a  fun  way.    

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I  am  a  Game  Ar@st,  and  the  thing  that  pushed  me  to  where  I  am  now  was  games  like  The  Legend  of  Zelda.  Games  like  that  are  more  than  games,  they  helped  me  to  develop  my  crea@vity  to  make  characters  and  stories  and  with  puzzles  in  games  I  gain  great  experiences  in  problem  solving.  They  became  part  of  my  life  and  my  heart.    Image  Rights  Reserved:  hSp://www.flickr.com/photos/91339841@N08/11951391136/  

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 Video  Games  are  a  huge  help  for  everyone.  We  all  need  a  moment  of  joy  in  our  lives.  Not  everything  has  to  be  about  working  and  being  serious.    

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1)  Video  Games  have  helped  in  medical  illnesses.  2)  Video  Games  help  people  in  the  development  of  the  brain.  3)  Video  Games  help  kids  to  network  with  other  kids.    Image  Rights  Reserved:  hSp://www.flickr.com/photos/47372930@N08/4403924226/    

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For  the  first  point,  I  will  talk  of  how  Video  Games  help  with  illness.  Video  Games  have  been  proven  by  several  doctors  and  hospitals  to  help  with  the  illness  in  pa@ents  and  accelerate  the  healing  process  on  them.  

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Professor  Johnny  Nhan  says  gaming  can  help  relieve  stress.  Video  games  do  not  always  hinder  studying.  Some@mes  they  can  help  students  relieve  stress  and  learn  class  material.  A  game  you  can  pick  up  and  then  stop  playing  any@me,  such  as  "Call  of  Duty,"  can  be  a  good  tool  to  release  stress  from  schoolwork,  he  said.  

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Playing  videogames  can  actually  change  your  brain  in  posi@ve  ways  by  improving  crea@vity,  memory,  decision-­‐making,  and  even  eyesight,  recent  peer-­‐reviewed  studies  suggest.  People  who  play  ac@on-­‐based  games  made  decisions  25  percent  faster  without  losing  accuracy,  according  to  one  study.  The  most  skilled  gamers  can  make  choices  and  take  ac@on  up  to  six  @mes  per  second;  four  @mes  more  quickly  than  average,  other  researchers  reported.  What’s  more,  experienced  gamers  are  the  ul@mate  mul@-­‐takers,  able  to  focus  on  more  than  six  things  at  once,  versus  four  for  most  people.    Image  Rights  Reserved:  hSp://www.flickr.com/photos/83358752@N00/2719837710/    

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On  this  second  point  I  will  explain  how  playing  games  helps  with  the  brain’s  development,  and  how  people  that  play  games  have  a  higher  “Problem  Solving”  skill  and  Mul@tasking  skills  than  people  that  are  not  gamers.  

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Daphne  Bavelier  is  professor  of  brain  and  cogni@ve  sciences  at  the  University  of  Rochester.  She  studies  young  people  playing  ac@on  video  games.  Having  now  conducted  more  than  20  studies  on  the  topic,  Bavelier  says,  "It  turns  out  that  ac@on  video  games  are  far  from  mindless."  Her  studies  show  that  video  gamers  show  improved  skills  in  vision,  aSen@on  and  certain  aspects  of  cogni@on.  And  these  skills  are  not  just  gaming  skills,  but  real-­‐world  skills.  They  perform  beSer  than  non-­‐gamers  on  certain  tests  of  aSen@on,  speed,  accuracy,  vision  and  mul@tasking,  says  Bavelier    Image  Rights  Reserved:  hSp://www.flickr.com/photos/8309149@N08/13254503705/  

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Gamers  beat  non-­‐gamers  hands  down  when  it  comes  to  everyday  eyesight  —  specifically,  the  ability  to  dis@nguish  between  different  shades  of  grey,  called  contrast  sensi@vity.  Gamers  are  also  quicker  at  shiAing  between  different  visual  and  aSen@on  tasks.  The  big  ques@on  is,  do  gamers  have  naturally  superior  skills  in  these  areas,  and  are  drawn  to  playing  video  games  as  a  result?  Or  are  their  skills  a  result  of  their  playing?  In  other  words,  if  non-­‐gamers  picked  up  a  console,  would  they  benefit  too?  Bavelier's  studies  show  that  if  you  put  non-­‐gamers  on  a  diet  of  regular  video  game  playing  (50  hours  over  nine  weeks  for  the  vision  experiment,  and  10  hours  over  10  days  for  the  visual  aSen@on  experiment)  their  aSen@on  and  visual  skills  will  improve.  What's  more,  she  says,  these  skills  seem  to  last  months,  if  not  years.    Image  Rights  Reserved:  hSp://www.flickr.com/photos/8700169@N03/5692844891/  

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Now  I  will  explain  how  Online  Video  Gaming  help  teenagers  in  networking  with  others  in  the  world.    

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According  to  a  study  from  the  highly  known  website  IGN,  gamers  are  more  social  than  non-­‐gamers  and  have  beSer  connec@ons  with  their  families.  The  report  said  that  72%  of  gamers  play  games  with  their  friends,  and  found  that  "spending  @me  with  their  families  (82%  vs.  68%)  and  parents  (67%  vs.  44%)  are  top  priories.”  Addi@onally,  the  study  said  gamers  are  more  likely  to  have  a  college  degree  (43%  vs.  36%),  are  more  op@mis@c  about  their  career  goals  (67%  vs.  42%),  and  are  more  likely  to  have  a  career  they  want  to  be  in  (45%  vs.  37%).  

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Research  has  found  that  games  offer  a  range  of  social  and  educa@onal  benefits  to  gamers,  Edith  Cowan  University  (ECU)  associate  professor  Mark  McMahon,  an  expert  in  gaming,  said.  The  key  is  to  ensure  the  game  is  appropriate,  both  in  terms  of  age  restric@on  and  game  content,  he  said.  Rather  than  being  an@-­‐social  and  @me  was@ng,  McMahon  said  gaming  can  actually  build  social  skills  in  children.  "Gamers  are  reaping  the  social  benefits  when  their  friends  come  over  and  they  play  computer  games  together.  They  are  oAen  strategising,  managing  complex  tasks  and  forming  and  managing  teams,"  he  said.    Image  Rights  Reserved:  hSp://www.flickr.com/photos/8437139@N08/13954924388/  

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Video  games  have  been  improving  kids  and  teenagers  since  the  beginning  of  them,  so  why  do  we  have  to  think  that  they  are  bad  just  because  we  have  fun  with  them?  There  is  nothing  wrong  with  having  fun  while  you  learn,  and  even  more  there  is  nothing  wrong  with  having  a  moment  to  relax.  We  need  that  moment  so  we  can  do  beSer  in  our  lives.    Image  Rights  Reserved:  hSp://www.flickr.com/photos/29518103@N06/8305724111/    

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Video  Games  have  helped  doctors  in  curing  pa@ents,  they  keep  helping  in  the  development  of  the  brain,  and  now  more  than  ever  in  this  digital  era,  it  is  the  best  way  to  socialize  in  a  healthy  way.    

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And  I  think  that  Video  Games  are  a  good  influence  for  today's  genera@on  because  all  of  this.    

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video  games  are  one  of  the  crucial  things  for  a  healthy  and  successful  life  these  days.    Image  rights  reserved:  hSp://www.flickr.com/photos/78584817@N02/6889745338/    

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