For Further Research

Even thought I provided you examples of different perspective upon games, I would like to recommend some links that might be useful for better understanding of this topic.
1) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nick-yee/video-games-media_b_4572231.html
This source is about how video games are portrayed in media. The problem is, that usually people have negative opinion about them because media frequently shows only how bad video games are for humans, however they usually get it wrong

2) https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/FFF-Guide/Children-and-Video-Games-Playing-with-Violence-091.aspx
This source provides us information about games' affection on children from psychological point of view.

3) http://www.rd.com/health/wellness/health-benefits-of-video-games/

In this one, we can see how games can be sometimes even more beneficial than books. This source provides 8 important reasons, which are: Games help break bad habits, Games reduce pain, Games give you control of your memory, Games reduce anxiety, Games can motivate you to exercise, Games fight depression, Games make you more resilient, Games make you get along better with strangers. I personally agree with every single reason from this source.

What Experts Say ||

   Beside negativity from video games, there is also a positive side. Video games allow you and your kid to play together and can be a good bonding activity.  Some games are attractive to kids as well as adults, and they could be something that they share in common.  When your child knows more than you, he can teach you how to play and this allows you to understand your child’s skills and talents. Quick thinking, making fast analysis and decisions.  Sometimes the player does this almost every second of the game giving the brain a real workout. According to researchers at the University of Rochester, led by Daphne Bavelier, a cognitive scientist, games simulating stressful events such as those found in battle or action games could be a training tool for real-world situations. The study suggests that playing action video games primes the brain to make quick decisions. Video games can be used to train soldiers and surgeons, according to the study. Importantly, decisions made by action-packed video game players are no less accurate. According to Bavelier, “Action game players make more correct decisions per unit time. If you are a surgeon or you are in the middle of a battlefield, that can make all the difference.” 
Also, as we can see from the picture below, it affects positively on our brain Below you can watch a video of a TEDx talk of miss Bavelier, where she  talks about video games' influence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FktsFcooIG8

What Experts Say |

   For many experts, gaming industry was quite a hot topic to discuss, especially violence in game and its influence on people. Most of the bad effects of video games are blamed on the violence they contain.  Children who play more violent video games are more likely to have increased aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and decreased prosocial helping, according to a scientific study. Also according to Dmitri A. Christakis of the Seattle Children’s Research Institute, those who watch a lot of simulated violence, such as those in video games, can become immune to it, more inclined to act violently themselves, and are less likely to behave emphatically. The effect of video game violence in kids is worsened by the games’ interactive nature.  In many games, kids are rewarded for being more violent.  The act of violence is done repeatedly.  The child is in control of the violence and experiences the violence in his own eyes (killings, kicking, stabbing and shooting).  This active participation, repetition and reward are effective tools for learning behavior. 
I got this information from his TEDx talk, which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoT7qH_uVNo

Current Events ||

   The gaming community is growing and so does Cyber Sports. It still quite new and does not have much popularity (yet, it still far more successful than Wife Carrying sport. Yes, it is actually a sport and I, in advance, sincerely apologize to all wife carriers who are involved in it), however it is growing rapidly, more and more tournaments are being created each year and prizing tools are getting bigger too. There are rumors that Cyber Sport might be a part of Olympic Games, but the idea, unfortunately, have not been come to reality yet. However, steps towards that are being done and according to BBC, Cyber Sports is going to become a part of Asian Games 2022 in China, Hangzhou. "E-sports generated $493m (£400m) in revenue in 2016, with a global audience of about 320 million people.Revenue is predicted to rise to $696m (£553m) in 2017, with 15% of that coming from China alone, according to e-sport analysts Newzoo.In 2014, more than 40,000 people attended the League of Legends (online RPG game) World Championship finals when they were held in Seoul, with about 27 million unique viewers watching online." ( http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-39629099 ) 
  Where did it come from? People playing computer games against each other is nothing new - gamers have been doing this for over 30 years. Around the year 2000, computers became cheaper and the internet became faster, which made it much easier for more people to get involved with computer gaming.It also became easier to connect with gamers around the world, so people could play against each other - and watch others. Now, players have become so skilled - and, in some cases, gained so many millions of fans, who support them, attend various events and sometimes even donate money, that computer gaming has become organised, competitive and professional.

Current Events |

   When it comes to video games community aka gamers, the stereotypical representative idea of such community is a bunch of nerdy people who just sit in front of their monitors with their hands on controllers/mice 24/7 without socially interacting with the rest of the world in real life and having poor chances on proper relationships. People do not take this community seriously, considering that such entertainment like video games is just a waste of time and this kind of people could spend it on more beneficial areas and be more productive in life. However, I can assure you, that video games are not just for fun. The vast majority of people actually make a lot of money on it. To be more specific I would like to provide an example of the game, which is one of the most famous games of shooter genre Counter-Strike Global Offensive.
   

    As you may probably know gaming is actually part of sports and it is called Cyber Sport. Each year, there are various C.S. Global Offensive tournaments, where various teams from different countries compete with each other for prize, which sometimes reaches millions of dollars.  For example, PGL Major Kraków 2017 tournament which is going to take place in Poland this summer. It is one of the biggest championships of the year and the prizing pool is $1,000,000. 16 teams are going to compete with each other and the duration of the tournament is 4 days. 

    

The fantastic part of this is that those players who are taking part in all these tournaments are doing what they love to do and earning quite good income not from just tournaments, but also from their sponsors, who financially help them a lot. They rent houses for them (big teams usually even have huge mansions) so they can practice ( they usually spend the whole day practicing without having day offs) and engage with each other to improve team work. They also pay for their flights and hotels.

Introduction

Hello, to everyone who is kind enough to spend few minutes of their time on reading my short blog. As you can see from the title, you are going to witness several articles that are linked to video games and mainly media's perspective on it.  The reason why I choose such topic is because gaming takes a huge part in my life. I started getting into gaming sphere as a child and it always would give plethora of various emotions. Games can make me feel emotional,  happy, satisfied, angry etc. In this blog, my main aim is to provide you with information about this industry, media's general opinion on it and how it is portrayed and what experts say.  Personally, video games are not just entertainment: they are a big part of my life. Before I dig into more detailed topics of this blog, which you will see in next posts, I would like to kindly thank you in advance for taking your time and reading about subject that matters to me the most.