Video Games are a major factor in the entertainment world, and yet some question whether they are good for people or not. Melissa Wise’s purpose in “Are Video Games Bad For Kids?” is to inform the general audience on video games and the facts about them.

To inform the audience, Wise begins by giving a brief overview of video games in America. Each year it states that “enough video games were sold for every household in America to own at least two” (Wise, par. 1). This proves that video games are a large part in many Americans lives as so many are purchased each year. Video games are very diverse, and there are many types of different games out there. Wise states that readers should ask themselves the following questions, “What types of video games are my children playing?, How long are they playing?, and How is playing video games impacting their overall life” (Wise, par. 3).

First off, there are many types of video games. This list includes: RPG’s (Role Playing Games), maze and puzzle games, sports games and platform games, shooting and fighting games, and strategy games. This provides video game players with many choices for their entertainment. Wise then connects video games with other forms of entertainment with the sense that that they all have a variety of types, but “many adults don’t take the time to understand the different forms that video games take and assume that one is similar to another” (Wise, par. 5). Wise then goes on to explain that a main debate surrounding video game content and that it leads to the “same exact brain responses and chemicals as if they were physically holding a gun and shooting another individual” (Wise, par. 5). For video games, the ESRB (Entertainment Software Ratings Board) analyzes and then assigns game ratings for each video game that goes onto shelves. Those with higher ratings are restricted to certain buyers as they contain more mature game-play. Even with these ratings, adults can still go out and purchase these more mature games for their children. Wise provides an ESRB ratings chart to explain these ratings more in-depth. Next, Wise goes on to explain that adults should look more into the games that their children are playing. The adults should sit down and talk about these games with their children as it may be fun for their children to explain the game since they enjoy playing the game.

A major point that Wise brings up is the amount of time spent playing video games should be taken into account. As video games have become more and more popular, it has become at times an obsession for many children and young adults. Spending countless hours in front of a TV may be fun for them, but they need to find a way to restrict themselves to prevent an obsession. Every game has achievements to reach by obtaining a goal in the game, and these achievements can unlock other things in games. This part of each game keeps a person continuously playing games which leads to countless hours of playing a single game to obtain all of the achievements. This will make them not want to turn the game off, and this is where parents should step in and cut off their children from playing. If there is no guidance from parents towards self-discipline, Wise fears that it could be a major affect on the children’s future lives as they can “find it hard to keep a job, stay in college, or keep long-term relationships due to excessive gaming” (Wise, par. 8). Wise then explains the different ways to determine if there is an addiction. To keep a child away from an addiction, an adult must be able to balance out their daily activities so that they stay involved and so that they do not rely solely on video games for their only entertainment. If a person is too much involved in video games, it can affect their social life and future, and it can also lead them to putting off other daily activities. If they are cutting off their other daily activities, this can lead to being less active, and will lead to a very unhealthy lifestyle for them in the future.

Although Wise has stated some downsides to video games, she brings up some interesting research in the end. Video games can help with certain levels of intelligence, “memory, learning, pattern recognition, and problem solving” (Wise, par. 11). In many video games, children are presented with making decisions that affect them later on in the game, and these scenarios have been said to help them develop higher brain responses more quickly. Along with this, some research has connected “video games and increasing IQ in America” (Wise, par. 11) Overall, Wise has speculation for the good and bad that video games present for children and adults in life.

Wise serves as a guest author on this website, and there is no editor. Therefore her ethos appeal lacks the credibility of an expert writer, and so this article can be said to be of amateur credibility. Aside from the amateur status, Wise does well enough to get her point across through the article.

Wise touches very strongly on the pathos appeal. She appears to try to bring out the emotion of feeling of being cautious when it comes to video games. She encourages adults to be more cautious and pay more attention to what their kids are spending their time on and what games they are playing. If the adults are more cautions, they can prevent their kids from becoming obsessed and isolated from the real world.

Thirdly, Wise has some small connections through the logos appeal. She establishes a relationship with the audience by presenting some interesting statistics about video games. Wise also includes older examples of video games which appeals more to younger adults and the older generation since that was around during their childhoods. During the article Wise presents research linking excessive video gaming an obesity. That research can be proven true for some people. If a person were to just sit indoors and play video games all day and everyday, then he or she would not be getting the exercise needed to stay healthy and to stay away from obesity. Overall throughout this article, Wise provides simple logic to understand about video games and their world.

It appears that Wise is choosing adults as her target audience for this article. Video games are more directly involved with adults then most people realize. In their childhoods they themselves had video games to play. They should have learned through their own experience with video games. Wise reiterates that the adults need to continue to learn more about the more modern video games so that they will better understand what their children are playing. At the same time, the adults need to make sure they are keeping their children from an addiction.

In conclusion, Wise seemed to lean more towards providing an insight on video games and their potential bad side. She does display some helpful hints to help guide adults to understand video games. Video games will be in cultures now and in the future, and people need to be prepared. This article is a good start for those who do not properly understand video games and their effects on children. As the video game world evolves, adults should find ways to keep themselves informed, and at the same time balance out the daily lives of their children.