Rebuttal- yourfavoriteanon

The Opposition’s Game Over

Expectations are a bunch of risky beliefs. Lending your trust into something in which the result is unknown isn’t the smartest. If I were to expect that everyone would believe video games improved life skills and decision making, I’d be a fool. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, as the cliché saying states, but facts clear up opinions. Some could say video games deteriorate one’s decision making by causing impulsive reactions that cause the gamer to act rather than think before. You could also say they separate you from reality, resulting the inability to remember life skills or to utilize them correctly by causing addiction and nonstop play. However, these are both wrong inclinations about video games and though you can find some truths to these arguments, they are incorrect. The process is all affected by the player’s actions and what they choose to improve on from gaming.When playing video games, you are using a multitude of skills and thoughts as you are moving through the story line or trying to win the round. Every game has something that you can take from it, but the prospect of addiction comes in when these games are played too much, and the player is no longer capable of dissociating themselves from the games and real life. 

This is where the person’s choices come in as to how they wish to use their time to benefit from these games. Many of the games that are labeled as addictive also have good things that allow people to take aspects of the game and implement things that they took from them into their daily lives. This doesn’t include any of the violent matters that video games can be known for, this consists of the concept of learning life lessons that you wouldn’t have learned in your own life. In strategy games you must be able to think under mass amounts of pressure and after a while of learning how to do that in a video game your brain soon implements that into its abilities, allowing for that person to then be able to make decisions under pressure normally, without having had to go through that lesson in their life.“Playing strategy video games encourages setting clearly defined goals, thinking ahead and choosing strategic methods to achieve specific outcomes. Players have to evaluate and compare results with their goals, and evaluate their actual and future actions.” (Gabbiadini & Greitemeyer, 2017, p. 136) Think about how someone may improve on a certain skill. They have to keep working on it until they get better at it, right? Correct, but you also need to dissociate yourself from training on that skill for your brain to subconsciously mull over the subject for improvement. You will always have a problem with not being able to use skills learned from a video game if you never stop playing. Having the correct mindset that it’s only a game will help you disconnect from it but also reflect on how you can improve on it.

Effective decision making is important in the world because it’s what helps you land that perfect job or how your future could turn out. When playing a strategy video game, deciding what your next move is can cause you the game. Saying that video games causes impulsive decisions is incorrect. At the start of a game, one might be impulsive because they are learning the ropes but after they start to catch on to the game’s mechanics, they start to think on when or where they should take that knowledge to next in the game. In games that force the player to decide what their choice of action is next, players usually learn to think before they act so they don’t mess up their game. Multiplayer games are a big example of games that force the player to decide wisely on what their next action is. Playing with a team makes the players think about what is best for their team and what will lead them to a win.

            It is common knowledge that hasty decisions making doesn’t always create efficient outcomes. This can include how people spend money, or the increased impulsiveness or aggression in social environments due to not thinking through how to deal with certain issues. This is how some people think video games will affect people, but the truth is the increase in decision making time doesn’t actually affect the significance of the decisions made. We have seen that despite the lessoned amount of time that has been seen in the gamer’s decision making they are still using good judgement to make adequate choices. Mohan et al. (2017) conducted a research to see the difference in results given by educational video games versus traditional educational apps to conclude whether or not the tested physicians would have improved decision making in a trauma triage setting. (Mohan et al., 2017)  “In this randomized clinical trial, physicians exposed to a video game intervention were more likely to follow clinical practice guidelines in the triage of simulated trauma patients than physicians exposed to a traditional educational program” (Mohan et al., 2017) They are learning faster and deciding quicker without negative repercussions. The physicians showed positive results to the video games adding an easier way for them to improve on their triage decision making. Decision making in a clinical setting is an obvious importance, but we need it for most of our daily interactions. 

            Playing games for too long is obviously unhealthy. In order for your brain to improve or get something out of playing video games, you need to step out of it. It is up to the player to decide where or when to stop in their game and that should be their disconnect to reality. The only way you can reflect on the game you play and take something important from them is to stop playing. Playing all the time will give you no improvement because all you will become is better at the game. Video game addiction is a real thing and it does mess up your schedule, your relationships or your job but that addiction isn’t unlike an addiction to drugs. Drug abuse and video game abuse is the cause of addictions to these outlets but with the correct knowledge and handling, addiction will not be an issue. It’s always important to plan out your day and if you have free time to play video games, set a certain amount of time you would like to play for, so you don’t get carried away. After the amount of time is up, check to see if it would be alright for your schedule or healthy to continue playing before jumping in. 


  • Gabbiadini, A., & Greitemeyer, T. (2017). Uncovering the association between strategy video games and self-regulation: A correlational study. Personality and Individual Differences, 104, 129-136. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.07.041
  • Mohan, D., Farris, C., Fischhoff, B., Rosengart, M. R., Angus, D. C., Yealy, D. M., . . . Barnato, A. E. (2017). Efficacy of educational video game versus traditional educational apps at improving physician decision making in trauma triage: Randomized controlled trial. BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 359, j5416. doi:10.1136/bmj.j5416

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3 Responses to Rebuttal- yourfavoriteanon

  1. davidbdale says:

    Hey, Anon!
    Your post breaks the Ban against the 2nd person 35 times!
    You love to use YOU!

    If you need help breaking this habit and finding alternative phrasing for your preferred rhetoric, let me know. I’d be happy to help. But scour as many of them as you can.

    • yourfavoriteanon says:

      I picked up on it when I read it over but I’m definitely going to fix it :). It’s a habit of mine but an easy fix. Should we edit our arguments now or wait till the rewrites?

      • davidbdale says:

        Ordinarily, I would say there’s no point copy-editing sentences that won’t survive the rewrite, Anon, but in your case the habit is so pervasive you’d probably benefit from the exercise of purging the 2nd person first. Put the post right back into Feedback Please when you finish, then ask me specific questions if you want the best advice for revising your content and argument.

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