can you write a college essay about video games

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don't write your college essay about video games

Before you write your college essay on video games

May 22, 2019 by Sara Nolan 2 Comments

Every year, I see a whole bunch of well-meaning students who want to write their college application essays about playing video games, their talent, bliss, hard-earned improvement over time, frustrations when they just can’t beat XYZ and– PSA , please rethink this college essay topic choice, friends.

Maybe the topic feels oh-so-right to you, and you’re perplexed why I (who am all about student choice) am handing the essay back to you to revise.

Yes, you can sometimes “lose all track of time” playing your favorite video games. And isn’t that exactly what Common App Prompt #6 is asking about?

Sure, the Common App want to know about your total absorption, such that the rest of life falls away ( who cares if it’s garbage pickup day?) , and all that matters is your passion. Right?

That is– until you’re stumped, stuck at Level 3 (Common App #6 asks, “Why does it captivate you? “ Because I need to get to level four, hello?) , and throw your controller at the wall. Maybe you call your cousin for help, the one who regularly locks himself in his room for three days straight with a jumbo size Mountain Dew – You-Ever-Even-Drink-Water (Common App #6 asks, “What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?”).

There has got to be more to your life and soul than this.

But shouldn’t you write your essay about what you love most? (Well, maybe!)

AND GAMING MAKES YOU FEEL ALIVE, you’ll argue! Yes, these video games are the most exciting thing to you since sliced bread (because, hey, when bread is already sliced, you can blindly pull two pieces out of the bag and put them right in your mouth!).

But it’s not a great idea to subject admissions readers to your level-upping problems and prowess. Maybe they’ll worry you’ll spend all your time at their school gaming too– versus, say, focusing on academics. Or maybe they will feel judgment about a student habit that doesn’t add a whole lot to the world.

I’m riffing here, and it has nothing to do with being for or against video games, generally. My job as college essay writing coach is to guide you toward the best topic for admissions purposes, and I say– your obsession with video games is unlikely to be a good topic.

I have had many bright, accomplished students with big goals– who devote hours weekly to their favorite video games, among other things they love. Most of us have some distraction we turn to for enjoyment or stress relief. It’s also exactly that– distraction, relief.

Reasons not to write about video games:

Rarely is there a good story in there (despite lots of action verbs). Your excellence at the game is likely only interesting to you (and fellow similarly obsessed folks: chat with them instead?). Any storyline belongs more to the games’ narrative than your life experience.
We rarely will learn enough about you as a person (vs as a player). The topic (prompt) is supposed to be an excuse to learn about you, a meaningful story, character trait, or value.
Honestly, the “obstacle” of beating a level or not is not that relevant, no matter how challenging. It’s virtual, just a game. You could be doing other stuff. Onward.
The writing is almost always predictable and cliched. Yes, of course you want to beat the game. Is that not why you play so much?

But when could you write about video games, if you were really, really sure this was the topic burning a hole in your heart?

If you can come up with a unique angle. Video games need to be merely a lens through which we learn about something else key to what makes you you, or vehicle to talk about something else you have lived through, or done.

Some Ways to Turn Your Obsession with Video Games into a better topic:

Hypothetical examples abound, friends:

You used a video gaming habit to help you overcome social anxiety–and it worked.
You came to an insight about something important you could do or create in real life from gaming–and you did it.
You developed important relationships through gaming you would never have found otherwise, ones that had relevance beyond the time you spent online.
You developed new video games yourself, and had real-world business experience.
You had a high stakes bet for a life-saving deal that was contingent on your beating a game–and you did.
You turned around an intense gaming habit and turned it into a new habit that added to your family or community.

All these possible topics give you something substantial to talk about from your real life. But these tweaks mean you are no longer answering Common App prompt #6.

AND I have never read a video game essay that worked well enough to keep (so I challenge you! Change my view!).

Still, descriptions of you playing the actual video games should be minimal. One sentence, maybe two.

So I advise: use your love of games as some needed down time from essay-writing (in doses, please!) but not as your topic. And if you’re the kind of person who does get so obsessed with games you “lose all track of time”– set a timer. Here’s one, the famed focus-enhancing pomodoro timer .

Help, I can’t tweak my topic on my own!

Need help figuring out if you can work your video game passion into a topic that tells us about you? Contact us for fast feedback! But be prepared for hard news. 🙂

We want to know what makes you you . Loving video games soooo much makes you like a whole bunch of other people– but doesn’t tell us a lot worth remembering.

And what your admissions reader wants is to read something memorable.

Reader Interactions

October 13, 2019 at 11:47 pm

Thank you for giving us – college applicants – advice by writing this article! Any information we can receive at this point is extremely crucial. I came across this article of yours when I was looking up college essays that talk about video games. You made some very good points throughout: I understood and agreed with most of them. However, I found it pretty intriguing how you said you haven’t read any gaming-essays that actually worked. (And it was really cute when you asked us to challenge your viewpoint!) Anyways, I am still planning on writing my essay on video games, only from a perspective different from the ones you talked about. Although I am a typical 5.0GPA/1600SAT student with multiple national championships, I spend A LOT of time playing video games… Especially MOBA and Battle Royale. There are so many things I gained from my gaming experience: meeting players from all over the world, developing in-depth relationships with them, establishing and leading groups/clans, help “noobs” learn, and etc. My favorite part about gaming is the strategic aspect: there are so many factors involved! The abilities of the in-game heroes you choose, teamwork, geographical factors, your opponents’ mentality/psychology, when to retreat and when to attack… Players need to put all of these things into consideration when coming up with an in-game strategy… Isn’t that pretty awesome? I wrote a ton of blogs with strategic plans of my own design (I uploaded the majority of them on WeChat, a Chinese social media app, which also gives me international experience!) some of them even got millions of reads, which I still can’t believe… Anyways, I am definitely not commenting JUST to tell you that I am confident in proving you wrong… I don’t think a lot of the other gamers had the same experience as me. However, I thought that it would be cool to share my perspective with you!

Sorry for this huge comment! Cheers! Samantha

October 14, 2019 at 6:46 am

I emailed you but of course I want to see this essay and I am sure my readers do too! Please share. 🙂

With heart SARA

4 Questions to Ask If You're Considering Writing Your College Essay About Video Games

Admissions officer reviewed by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University

Written by Ben Bousquet, M.Ed Former Vanderbilt University Admissions

Key Takeaway

The two main concerns I hear from students who are considering writing their college essay about video games are that the topic isn’t “academic” enough, and that the admission officer might think video games are a waste of time. I read many essays about video games as an AO for 8 years, and I found some compelling while others missed the mark. Here are four questions to ask if you are considering writing about video games.

A “no” to any of these questions doesn’t mean you can’t write about video games, but you might consider a different topic if at least some of these aren’t true for you:

Is this where I spend most of my time outside of school?

Your personal statement and supplemental essays don’t have to discuss the activity where you spend the most amount of time, but you should consider how many hours per week you spend on different activities. If video games (or any activity) is not at or near the top of this list, consider if there is another impactful activity you might write about that would offer greater insight into who you are.

Is playing video games something I do as part of a community, or solo?

Many gamers find a balance between solo play and playing with friends either in person or online. Some of the more effective college essays about video games discuss the game as engaging with a broader community. This was particularly true during peak COVID shutdowns.

Colleges are looking for students to join their social as well as academic community. Showcasing your community values, leadership, or organizational skills through a gaming community could make your essay more effective.

D o I have an unusually high level of achievement in gaming?

Colleges, especially highly selective ones, love to see students who have achieved success at high levels. This could look like debating in a national competition, winning a prestigious writing competition, or even being internationally ranked in a video game. The higher the impact and level of achievement, the more it pushes the admission office’s ratings of your file.

If you do have an unusually high level of achievement, spell it out for the admission officer! Students often make the mistake of assuming either that their achievement won’t be valued because it is in a video game, or that they can simply state their achievement without contextualizing it. Realize that your admission officer may or may not be familiar with the game, so you’ll want to give them some information to work with.

This could also come in the “additional information” section of the Common App. That’s a great place to add context to parts of your application that don’t fit as naturally in essays or your activities section.

D oes the school I’m applying to have an Esports program? If so, do I want to join?

If you are applying to a college with an Esports program, you already know the school and admission office places some value on competitive gaming. If you are interested in joining and writing a school-specific supplemental essay, you might even mention your intent to join in your essay. Beyond the essay, you might consider reaching out to the Esports coach to learn more about the program and how you might join.

So, do I recommend writing a college essay on video games?

Video games, like most topics, are fair game in your college essay. I think it can be tough to pull off a video game essay, though, given that there is so much nuance to games and you don’t know the level of familiarity your admission officer has.

Will your admission officer know anything about video games? Well, the average age of admission officers on my last campus was about 29. Most officers have some level of familiarity with video games, but you’ll want to make sure you are saying more about yourself than the game.

So, my advice is to focus on yourself, how you contribute to a community, or some extraordinary level of achievement you’ve had. If these don’t sound relevant to you, consider using a different topic.

Regardless of the topic you choose, you’ll want to make sure your essays are part of a larger cohesive narrative in your application. Your transcript and test scores provide the quantitative numbers the admission office needs. But your essays, activities section, and recommendations tell a story.

Create standout essays with some of our other resources. Start with our blogs on writing personal statements and supplemental essays .

If you really want to kick your essays into high gear, we offer an online course, the Essay Academy, where you will find hours of high-quality advice, dozens of examples of essays that worked, and key insights from top admissions offices around the US.

Liked that? Try this next.

How A Selective Admissions Office Reads 50k Applications In A Season

How to Write a Personal Statement for Colleges

12 Common App Essay Examples (Graded by Former Admissions Officers)

8 Outstanding UC Essay Examples (Graded by Former Admissions Officers)

"the only actually useful chance calculator i’ve seen—plus a crash course on the application review process.".

Irena Smith, Former Stanford Admissions Officer

We built the best admissions chancer in the world . How is it the best? It draws from our experience in top-10 admissions offices to show you how selective admissions actually works.

Writing Your College Essay About Video Games

When you’re thinking about writing your college essay about video games, you’ll be at a crossroads…

How you write your essay –and how it sounds– can make or break your chances at college. It can be the difference between UCLA and UC Berkeley, or Cornell and trade school. That’s why writing your college essay about video games can seem especially scary.

The world of college essay writing is brutal. The probability you’ll make at least one mistake is near guaranteed. It may have you asking a few questions.

Is it okay to write about my college essay about video games?
How do I write my college essay about video games without sounding inappropriate?
Will the admissions officers judge me if I write my college essay about League of Legends? Will they even understand the lingo?
What if I don’t have anything else to write about in my college essay? What if all I have is video games?
Will being Asian American and writing about video games negatively impact my admissions chances due to stereotyping?

This can be scary, especially when it jeopardizes your chances of attending college.

However, I have some wisdom that, as an admissions consultant, I believe will help you overcome all the “what-if”s that come with choosing video games as your college essay topic.

Long story short: It’s okay to write your college admissions essay about video games. Period.

I’ll say that again.

It’s okay to write your college admissions essay about video games.

Trust me on this. When I worked as an admissions expert in the general Southern California area before founding PenningPapers, I was bombarded with questions like “is it okay to write my college essay about video games/sports/movies” all the time. I’ve helped many students get into their reach schools despite lower test scores and GPAs. The same pattern repeats itself.

Students who write to impress the admissions officers have okay-ish essays.

Students who open up in their college essays have stellar essays that make a significant difference in the admissions process.

I’ve come across apprehensive people, both students and controlling parents, who were absolutely terrified of having video games in their college essays. Nonetheless, it is absolutely critical that you drill this principle into your mind: most college essay topics are just fine. It is less about the topic itself, and more about how you demonstrate yourself as a valuable asset to the universities.

Remember: universities are screening for the best students. It’s capitalist, roughly speaking.

So, when a university asks “what are your hobbies and interests”, they are really trying to dig into your brain. They need to deconstruct you. That’s how they see value in you as a student. It’s how they determine whether to invest time, money, and professors in you.

Thus, the question is not “can I write my college essay about video games”. Rather, the right question is this: “how do I write a college essay about video games that show my value as a potential candidate”?

In this article, we’ll be covering exactly that. We’ll be discussing how to write your college essay about video games, and more importantly how to do so in a manner that gets you accepted anywhere. Well, okay. Not everywhere, but at least more places than you normally would.

Table of Contents

College Essay Red Flags

Demonstrating value as a candidate through video games, stereotypes, asian american identity, and other considerations in college essays.

When writing your college essay on any topic, regardless of whether it involves sports, mental health, video games, etc, you want the essay to be about you. Sure, you’re talking about video games in your college essay. However, the overarching objective of the college essay writing process is to show the admissions officers’ qualities about you. The games are secondary, and they should only serve to qualify traits and characteristics about you.

Something else you should consider is that there is more to video games than the actual game itself. There is also the culture, development process, and personal meaningful attachment that goes along with it. These should be leveraged in your application.

Think about people who enjoy basketball. The value-free proposition is that basketball fans love seeing people toss an orange circle around a court and place them in nets. This doesn’t tell us anything about people who enjoy basketball. However, if you account for the long history of rivalries, the friends made along the way, and the sense of camaraderie developed through rigorous team efforts, there is much more to a basketball fan that we can see.

Okay. Now let’s take a look back at video games.

There’s the video game in itself; that includes the controls, rules, and functions. Outside of that is the culture surrounding the game, and the community built around it. So, if you are in love with the Super Smash Bros community, you may say that the community plays an important role. How would this manifest itself in an essay? Let’s take an example college essay structure about Super Smash Bros.

College essay outline structure

“Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.” Common App Prompt 7

I’ve always had a love for the Super Smash Bros series.
More than just the game, I’ve shared many memories playing with friends who had the same interest.
The game has helped me wake up a competitive drive that I never knew I had before.
Strangely enough, it molded me into a more disciplined person –unlike with other games.
The inside jokes and silly moments pulled me through tough times I never knew I could have pulled through.
The last few years have been peppered with academic adversity, grit, and determination. It has made pursuing a major in business a rigorous journey.
However, Super Smash Bros played such an important role in both my personal growth –both through the game and the community it threw me in– that it is the topic I felt would make my college admissions story incomplete without it.

Notice how in the example above we’ve demonstrated more about the person than the game itself?

This is the key to writing your college essay about video games. You need to make sure the essay reveals more about you as a person. In the example above, we talk about how the culture around Super Smash Bros, the inside jokes, the friends we’ve made along the way, and the community has molded you into someone more capable and determined. However, we also conclude with how this topic has a soft spot in your heart and makes up a great part of your experience. This helps the admissions office use your essays as a tool to understand you better and, more importantly, better understand why you deserve to attend their school.

Now, let’s talk about red flags when writing your college essay about video games.

For obvious reasons, there are certain video games that may not be appropriate to talk about in the college essay.

For instance, video games that clearly cover sexual abuse, child abuse, controversial topics, and questionable violence can make the college essay tread dangerous territory. There are exceptions. However, you want to make sure you are careful about which games you are covering specifically and what the underlying connotations are.

Another red flag that can come up with video games is the bad rep they get, especially in academic settings. It is often the case that students are told not to play video games if they don’t want to develop video game addiction. They may also want to avoid appearing like video games make them perform worse academically or pose a threat to their future performance at university.

People tend to be more accepting and understanding of video games in the modern era. However, the social stigma that comes with video game culture still lives on –especially in older audiences. Those who have a stigma against video games tend to believe “gamers” are…

unable to focus
inappropriate
prone to bouts of anger “gamer rage”
performing poorly in academics, or will be

It is important to dispel the bad impression of game culture as a whole when writing your college essay. You can do this subtly through subtext, or just dedicating one short paragraph specifying how you segregate yourself from the “toxic” side of gaming.

Some genres of video games also tend to attract a certain type of audience and, thus, cultivate an archetype of people in the community. For instance, Animal Crossing is often associated with people who take gaming casually. However, games such as the Doom series have received a bad reputation from social activist groups for their subtle jokes about social justice culture . This can also be lumped into the “gamer culture” in general.

Not every admissions officer is going to go into a deep dive into the types of video games that you play. However, it is always better to be safe than sorry. Make sure to do a background check on the video game that you will cover in your college essay, and ask yourself whether it would leave a good or bad impression on you if you were the reader.

This is the most important thing to consider when writing your college essay about video games.

We know we covered this briefly in the beginning, but we want to clarify this further. The goal of the college essay is not just to write about yourself, but also to provide the admissions officers with a tool to better understand you. They use this to measure how valuable of a candidate you will be for their school.

Think of the college admissions process as a capitalist format. Let’s say you own a university. Your goal is to create a space of higher learning that will fit the setting, create a haven of well-cultured and sociable students who feel welcome, and generate enough profit from said students to create a positive feedback loop. This requires you to accept students who would be the best fit for this sort of structure. Who would you like to spend your time, money, and professors on?

Someone who has an interest in video games.
Someone who has an interest in video games and shows how the video games influenced both their career path and their social group.

The second option gives us much more content. It helps us understand as admissions officers why they may be a great fit for the university. Although the topic is about video games, it still reveals to us that games played a big role in structuring their career path and how they make friends. We get to know more about the person, and not the game itself.

Thus, you may want to ask yourself this: how exactly do I want to look like in front of the admissions officers? Use those traits, and demonstrate how video games have nurtured that part of your personality.

This part is something that needs to be addressed very clearly.

Most universities will not directly discriminate against you based on your identity, race, or sex. However, there does exist very clear discrimination against certain groups. This includes specifically Asian and White students. This is because White and Asian students tend to perform higher in academic performance historically; so, to level the playing field, they will need to perform much better than average.

In terms of writing your college essay about video games, you may run the risk of being compared to the many other Asian Americans who will also write their essays on video games. When you have a topic similar or in the same vein as the rest, you effectively have to compete against everyone else who may have a better essay than you.

Remember: many people love video games. You’ll have to find a way to stand out amongst the rest of the applications. However, this will be especially true for students applying as Asian.

One last consideration you may want to, well, consider, is that it would be wise to talk to a college admissions essay editor. Writing your college essay about video games can be a fantastic idea, as long as you don’t fall into pitfalls that so commonly happen. We’ve seen both very strong and very weak college essays about video games. So, consider scheduling a free consultation with us . We can get back to you within 24 hours and provide you with feedback and advice on how to best improve your college essay. We’ve seen many college essays about video games, so we’ll know exactly how to make yours stand out amongst the rest to get you accepted.

2 thoughts on “Writing Your College Essay About Video Games”

This article helped me tremendously, I am very grateful you took the time to write and help many others like me. I would for you to someone else in your league to help me with my college essay. It is due on the 15th, so if you were to get back to me quickly, that would be wonderful.

Hi Azlan! Thanks for the response! It was a pleasure working with you!

Also, apologies! We sent an email but failed to respond in this article’s comment section. For all future applicants seeking services through the comment section, please feel free to request through this comment section or contact us with the link here! https://penningpapers.com/contact/

College Essay Editing Services From Professionals

How to Write an Essay about Video Games: Presenting Effective Arguments in Papers

can you write a college essay about video games

Gaming on video consoles is becoming more and more common. In actuality, the typical gamer plays for roughly six hours each week. There are many who claim that video games are harmful to one’s health since they promote inactive lifestyles like prolonged sitting and isolation from the outside world. On the other hand, some people say that playing video games is a good way to unwind and relax, and they are not wrong. So, what is the real story of video games? Are they good or bad? The controversy of playing video games presents an opportunity for students to either be proponents or antagonists of the issue through essays. Accordingly, this article discusses how a learner can write an essay about video games.

It would be best to do thorough research before writing an essay about video games

Research is often the most challenging aspect of preparing an essay. While writing your video games essay, you’ll have to employ the information you get from research to define video games, describe different genres, and give relevant examples to support your claims. Students must recognize that the amount of research they conduct totally affects how good their essays turn out. Your video game essay will benefit greatly from your careful attention to detail and thorough investigation. Just keep in mind that you are trying to convince your audience to see things from your point of view. This is why having a great deal of background information is essential. Researching your favorite video game would give you an added advantage. Additionally, to support your claims, you must include relevant examples and research-based data.

You should develop an introduction that captures your reader’s interest

The whole point of the opening paragraph is to capture the interest of the audience. To achieve this, it should pose an intriguing topic or provide a contradiction or paradox. You ought to add a good hook to grab the reader’s attention so they can’t help but keep reading your paper. Given that there are numerous motivations for why individuals engage in video games, the introduction is where you have to specify the reasons. Moreover, it would be best to incorporate your thesis statement in the introduction. A thesis statement is basically the writer’s primary concept, summed up in one or a few sentences. A well-formulated thesis statement expresses the work’s central argument in a way that makes sense in light of the inquiry or issue at hand. It would be the correct response to the question, “What is the primary theme of this essay?” from the instructor. Nonetheless, you should perceive your thesis as an opinion that may be debated at any time, rather than an established fact or objective reality. In other words, now is the time to speak your mind regarding the impact of video games on today’s youth.

You must present your arguments in the body paragraphs

The arguments are what learners utilize to support their thesis. A single contention and one or two examples must each have their own paragraph. It would be best to provide your reasoning for your video game position and be sure to explain why you firmly disagree with the opposing viewpoint. Examples include your own experiences and, where appropriate, references to data from studies, forecasts, and statistics. Students should provide answers to contentious topics like “Do video games promote addiction and violence among players?” The arguments you employ ought to back your main point rather than contradict it.

You may offer vivid illustrations as you write an argumentative essay about video games

Learners should offer evocative examples of the genres and video games under consideration. Instead of stressing about whether the material you discover online or the game’s publishers are legit, dedicate yourself to writing a fun and vibrant paper for the person who reads it. This approach piques the audience’s attention and facilitates their comprehension of the argumentative essay about video games. Additionally, these vivid examples assist you in conveying your ideas in a manner that words can’t. Even if you aren’t convinced that your assignment requires an example, using one might perk up your reader and provide your arguments additional weight.

You should write a conclusion for your essay

The last section is meant to sum up the college essay. You may accomplish this by restating the thesis statement and briefly mentioning the arguments you presented in your body paragraphs. This approach will help the audience understand how you systematically addressed the issue and made conclusions. For instance, suppose you had to respond to the question, “Do games negatively affect us?” A topic like that can’t be satisfactorily answered by psychology, particularly when it involves something as novel as video games. Consequently, it is actually way easier to just pick a side and support your position with some research. In the end, your readers don’t expect the argument to be elaborated upon but rather summarized. No new material should be introduced in the last paragraph.

Identifying the sources you employed would be best

When you are writing an essay about video games, it is essential to cite your sources. That means you got to make a list of every resource you used in your paper. References to diverse books, scientific studies, statistical data, and remarks made by well-known experts are acceptable. It would help to make sure your research is from the past five years.

Proofreading is vital for developing a top-notch paper

Students must make sure that their essays about video games have been edited and proofread prior to submission. So basically, you are going to check your assignment for spelling, punctuation, and grammatical mistakes. Completing an essay that is free of errors increases a learner’s likelihood of academic success. Here are some tips to help you proofread your work:

Read the text aloud. This will enable you to detect any mistakes.
Take your time proofreading and revising your work. Spend sufficient time on it to ensure you catch any possible oversights.
Concentrate on correcting a single mistake at a time. Avoid the hassle of searching for spelling and grammar mistakes at the same time. Prior to checking for punctuation and spelling problems, you may concentrate on grammatical issues.
You may also create a list of the most typical errors that students make while writing essays, then review your work for each one.

Using these suggestions will guarantee that your essay is devoid of all types of mistakes that might undermine how persuasive your argument is. Alternatively, you can delegate your “ write my essay ” request to online essay writing services like CustomWritings which may allow you to complete a high-quality paper about video games.

Extra tips for presenting better arguments in essays about video games

Today’s youth often engage in video gaming, and this trend will only spread in the coming years. Composing a paper about video games can help you learn more about the subject while also providing readers with information they can utilize in their lives. Just consider the potential for them to be inspired by and gain new knowledge from your essay about video games. Following this article’s recommendations should take you a step closer to achieving your academic goals.

Nick Sinclair

Nick Sinclair, a gaming aficionado since the Commodore 64 era, studied Creative Computer Games Design in university before founding his own gaming company. Discovering a passion for content creation, Nick now helps gamers squeeze every drop of fun out of their favorite gaming hardware

Essays About Video Games: Top 12 Examples and Prompts

Video games have revolutionized the way we have fun today. If you are writing essays about video games, check out our guide to inspire your writing.

Few can contest the fact that video games have taken over the world. From the basic, almost “primitive” games of the 1970s like Pong to the mind-bending virtual reality games of the 2020s, they have been a source of entertainment for all. Moreover, they have proven quite profitable; countries like Japan and the United States have made tens of billions of dollars solely from the video game market.

Despite their popularity, much has been debated over the potentially harmful side effects that video games may have, particularly on children. One side argues that playing certain video games can lead to people exhibiting violence in the future, while others believe that video games teach players essential life skills. Regardless, they will continue to be a part of our lives for the foreseeable future.

For engaging essays about video games, read the essay examples featured below for inspiration.

1. What electronic games can teach us by Kendall Powell

2. designers are imagining video games without guns by keith stuart, 3. playing video games all summer won’t make you feel worse by nicole wetsman, 4. violent video games bad by andrea newman.

5. The health effects of too much gaming by Peter Grinspoon

Writing Prompts For Essays About Video Games

1. video games: good or bad, 2. the benefits of video games, 3. what is your favorite video game, 4. do video games cause people to become violent, 5. video games in your life, 6. video games vs. traditional games, 7. is the video game rating system enough.

“In other studies, researchers found that gamers who trained on Tetris were better at mentally rotating two-dimensional shapes than those who played a control game. Students who played two hours of All You Can E.T., an educational game designed to enhance the executive function of switching between tasks, improved their focus-shifting skills compared with students who played a word search game.”

Powell explains a few possibilities of applying video games to education. As it turns out, certain video games can improve players’ skills, depending on the mechanics. Researchers are inspired by this and hope to take advantage of the competitive, motivational nature of gaming to encourage children to learn. New games are designed to help kids improve their focus, coordination, and resilience, and game designers hope they will succeed.

“Imagine a game where you’re a war reporter seeking to capture the most iconic, representative images in a battle environment: You’d still get the sense of peril that audiences expect from action adventures, but your relationship with the environment would be more profound. It would be Call of Duty from the perspective of a creative participant rather than a violent interloper.”

The graphic nature of some video games is said to make kids violent, so it is only natural that some creators try to change this. Stuart writes that it is possible to maintain the fun that shooter-type games induce without using guns. He gives examples of games where you do not kill your enemy, simply stunning or capturing them instead. He also suggests photography as an alternative to killing in a “shooting” game. Finally, he suggests basing video games around helping others, making friends, and doing more peaceful, creative tasks.

“Any role video games play in skewing well-being that did pop up in the study was too small to have a real-world impact on how people feel, the authors said. People would have to play games for 10 more hours per day than their baseline to notice changes in their well-being, the study found.”

Wetsman counters the widespread belief that video games “destroy your brain.” Research done with a sample of 39,000 players over six weeks has shown that whether one plays video games for long or short periods, their mental health is not impacted much. There are some exceptions; however, there are not enough to conclude that video games are, in fact, harmful.

“Some people believe that the connection between violent games, and real violence is also fairly intuitive. In playing the games kids are likely to become desensitized to gory images;which could make them less disturbing, and perhaps easier to deal with in real life. While video games aren’t about violence their capacity to teach can be a good thing.”

In her essay, Newman writes about the supposed promotion of violence in some video games. However, she believes this violence does not cause people to be more aggressive later. Instead, she believes these games expose children to certain atrocities so they will not be traumatized if they see them in real life. In addition, these games supposedly promote connections and friendships. Finally, Newman believes that these “harmful” can make you a better person.

5. The health effects of too much gaming by Peter Grinspoon

“Gamers need to be educated on how to protect their thumbs, wrists, and elbows, their waistlines, their emotional state, their sleep, and their eyes. Simple education around taking breaks, stretching, eating healthy snacks, and resting and icing your thumb, wrist, or elbow when it starts hurting can address injuries early, before they become significant. For the eyes, gamers can try the 20-20-20 rule: every 20 minutes, try to look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.”

Grinspoon discusses both the benefits and the health risks of gaming. Video games allow people to interact with each other remotely and bond over specific missions or tasks, and some research shows that they have cognitive benefits. However, some gamers may develop vision problems and hand and wrist injuries. Gaming and “staring in front of a screen the whole day” is also associated with obesity. Overall, Grinspoon believes that gaming is best done in moderation.

Looking for more? Check out these essays about hobbies .

Many parents believe that their children’s “bad behavior” is because of video games. Based on your experience and others, decide: are video games good or bad for you? Make sure to read viewpoints from both sides and write an essay based on your position. Would you encourage others to play video games? Discuss these pros and cons for an interesting argumentative essay.

Like anything else, video games have both positive and negative aspects. Explain the good that video games can do for you: the skills they can equip you with, the lessons they can teach, and anything else. Also, include whether you believe their benefits outweigh the disadvantages they may pose.

For your essay, write about your favorite video game and why you chose it. What is its meaning to you, and how has it affected your life? Describe the gameplay mechanics, characters, storyline, and general impact on the gaming community or society. You can write about any game you want, even if you have not played it; just ensure the content is sufficient.

Many claim that playing violent video games can make you violent in the future. Research this phenomenon and conclude whether it is true or not. Is the evidence sufficient? There are many resources on this topic; support your argument by citing credible sources, such as news articles, statistics, and scientific research.

Video games have been a part of almost all our lives. Recall a treasured experience with video games and explain why it is significant. How old were you? Why do you remember it fondly? How did this experience make you feel? Answer these questions in your own words for an exciting essay.

Essays About Video Games: Video games vs. Traditional games

There are stark differences between video and traditional games, such as board games and card games. For an engaging essay, compare and contrast them and write about which is more entertaining, in your opinion. Be creative; this should be based on your own opinions and ideas.

The video game content rating system is used to classify video games based on their appropriateness for specific ages. However, parents complain that they are not strict enough and allow the display of violent content to children. Explore the criteria behind the rating system, decide whether it needs to be changed or not, and give examples to support your argument.

If you are interested in learning more, check out our essay writing tips !

Tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead.

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, can my passion for video games shine through in my college essay.

Video games have been a huge part of my life, teaching me about storytelling and even coding. Do you think this could make for a compelling college essay, or should I avoid it since it might not be seen as 'serious' enough?

Absolutely! Your passion for video games can definitely be a compelling topic for a college essay. The key is not the subject itself, but how you reflect on your experiences and what you've learned from them. It's all about presenting your story authentically and showing how video games have shaped you into the person you are today. Discuss how storytelling in games has deepened your understanding of narrative structure or how coding in the context of gaming has sparked a passion for technology. These are serious and relevant topics. For example, one of my students wrote an essay detailing how solving puzzles in video games enhanced their problem-solving skills, and it was very well received by admissions committees. Just be sure to focus on the personal growth aspect and what you've taken away from your experiences with video games, rather than merely describing your interest. Colleges are always on the lookout for students who are self-aware and able to learn and grow from their interests.

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Chapter 6: 21st-century media and issues

6.5.4 Video games in the world of education (research essay)

Anonymous English 102 Writer

The relationship between education and new technologies, more specifically video games, has long been debated about and judged without a full understanding of the actual potential of the combination of the two. New methods such as using video games as an education tool are almost always overlooked by educators even though they may be missing out on a niche form of education that can keep students far more engaged in the subject they are learning while also encouraging them to continue learning because they are also having fun. It is also often overlooked that playing video games can potentially in some way increase the players’ skills in communication through the usage and improvement of communication required in some games. I share the belief that video games have great potential to be used as a tool for education if more educators would give them a shot and test them out. I also believe that video games have very high potential to improve the communication skills of those who play them. There are also many researchers and educators who share these beliefs and would like to see the use of video games as an education tool more widespread in the future. Many of these researchers and educators that believe in the use of video games as an education tool are of this opinion because they have tested this on students and found results that sway them to see the potential of this form of teaching. Though obviously video games could never become a primary education tool or mainstream form of communication, I think that video games could be utilized well as a form of education and that they could be used by many as a way to improve their communication skills.

Personally, I think video games have a good positive effect on the communication skills of those who play them. I have been playing video games for a large portion of my life and I think the form of communication within some of the more competitive games can have an effect on my communication skills. I think they do this by forcing the player to communicate in the typical form of the game which then have an effect on real world communication skills. In my experience, this increase in communication skill comes from the specific form of communication that happens in competitive video games. This includes games such as one of my personal favorites, Call of Duty Warzone. In order to communicate effectively, the players must communicate through quick and effective bursts of information. In Warzone, my teammates and I must communicate quickly to tell each other important information such as the location of enemies, or where to find valuable resources such as weapons, ammunition and armor. I can do this by either talking to the teammates through a microphone, or using a system called pinging. Pinging is an in game system where you look at an item or location you want to show to your teammates, then hit a button to place a ping there that is displayed to the rest of your team. The most effective way to communicate in Warzone is a combination of both pinging and rapid verbal communication. This way a player can verbally tell their teammates exactly what they are talking about while simultaneously pinging it to show their teammates visually. With the visual indicator on the screen from the ping, and the verbal description from teammates, it should be the most efficient way to tell a teammates something quickly. While some other games also have a pinging system, most force the players to be most reliant on communicating verbally with quick and information packed sentences. This is because while playing these games, the players do not have time to communicate with each other in long detailed sentences. They need to cut down the time it takes to relay information to teammates or often it will be too late for that information to be important anymore. In the time I have played video games I find most of this to be accurate and I believe it has had at least some effect on my communication skills in high stress situations. I also have personal experience with the use of video games education. When I was in elementary school, I frequently used a computer game to help me practice my speed of completing math equations. Even though I was learning the same thing that the teacher was teaching at school, I was much more engaged and interested because a game was more fun that simply doing equations on a sheet of paper. I think that this kind of education can be used much more often to keep students engaged with the subject they are learning. Overall, I have a good connection to this subject and feel confident in the positive relationship between video games and education as well as communication skills.

First, I will explore the research on the topic of the relationship between playing video games and communication skills. A question that I think is important to answer about this topic is how does video game communication effect real world communication skills. Many researchers have studied this relationship to examine video games effects on communication. One such researcher is Kenneth Horowitz in his article “Video Games and English as a Second Language: The Effect of Massive Multiplayer Online Video Games on The Willingness to Communicate and Communicative Anxiety of College Students in Puerto Rico”. In this article Horowitz studies a group of students from Puerto Rico who are attempting to learn English while using video games as one of their forms of learning. As they play these games it works on their English communication skills furthering their knowledge of the language. Horowitz regards new technology and the internet as a whole as a fascinating new potential form of education and more specifically a form of improving the communication skills in those who are learning a new language (Horowitz 379). Because this study revolves around students who are learning English rather than improving on the English skills they already have it is a slightly different situation than the research question asks but still mostly related enough to be relevant. The research was gathered through two questionaries given through the internet to the research participants further relating the connection to the internet and technology to education (Horowitz 391). This means there was a variety of ways for the participants of the study to express the affect the study had on them to diversify the results. While the participants played a wide variety of video game titles and genres, the results and levels of communication between the players did not change but stayed at a similar level relative to each other (Horowitz 398). While the messages players communicate to each other in these different games titles and genres may be different it still requires the same kind of communicative skill to get the message across to teammates effectively. Overall, the relationship between the time of video games played and the skill in communication is a positive correlation (Horowitz 398). When applied to the research question about Video Games correlation to real world communication skills, Horowitz’s research would seem to suggest that Video games do in fact have a positive effect on a person’s real life communication skills in a significant way. Another article that deals with this research question is “Games at Work: Examining a Model of Team Effectiveness in an Interdependent Gaming Task” by Sylvia Luu and Anupama Narayan. This article is another one that deals with how video games and gamification can help people work better as a team in other aspects of life other than video games. The term gamification is used frequently throughout the article, and I think this term is a great term to relate to this essay and the research questions within it as a whole. As stated in the article, gamification could be described as a way of applying skills and aspects of video game behavior into real life situations and circumstances as a way to more efficiently handle them when the need arises (Luu and Narayan 110). The gamification of everyday tasks or especially tasks that have to do with communication and education relates directly to the research question of video games having an effect on real world communication skills. In this article’s experiment a wide range of students volunteered to take part by working together in a video game designed to specifically bring out the teamwork and communication skills of those who played it (Luu and Narayan 114). In contrast to Horowitz’s study, this experiment uses its own game in contrast with Horowitz allowing the participants in the study to play whatever game they chose by themselves. This provides a different point of view and wider range of research data to support this main concept of improvement in communication skill. In the end of the study, it was shown that more communication between the players in the game lead to better performance overall and satisfaction between teammates (Luu and Narayan 116). When the players who participated in the study communicated more it led to a higher rate of success and level of approving between teammates which could be translated to communication in real life scenarios and demonstrates how the communication in video games is not all that different from communication in real life. Yet another article that deals with the ways video games have an effect on a person’s communication skills is “Using video game to enhance English communication skills” by Alex Roach and Yeski Utami. Once again, this article similarly dives into the gamification of education and communication and how video games can incentivize and reward the improvement of communication skills. The article goes over several types of games that can benefit from good communication skills including co-operative games which are directly related to the players working together and communicating as well as they can in order to accomplish their tasks effectively (Roach and Utami 202). Multiple different genres and types of video games have varying degrees of connection to communication and how it can be improved. The research done in this article was based on two different games played by several groups of students in order to diversify and expand the range of results possible to be shown in the data of the experiment (Roach and Utami 203). With multiple different games to play it becomes easier to show and more apparent that the results of one game are not an outlier to the hypothesis. In the results of the experiment, it is believed that the communication between players had a very positive effect on the success in playing the games and that good communication was very important and incentivized for a good performance (Roach and Utami 204). When the students in the experiment communicated better, they performed better in the experiment which shows the strong connection between playing video games and communication skills. Another, more specific article on this topic is “Can game-based learning enhance engineering communication skills?” by Cheyrl Bondar and Renee Clark. Obviously, this article is of a similar topic as the last few but is more specifically relegated to the topic of engineering students using video games in a similar way as the others. This article is based on a study on several hundred engineering students who were asked to write and deliver a presentation on a subject while first using video games as a way to see how the effect the skill in communication among these engineering students (Bondar and Clark 25-26). Though the final presentation these students are composing is not about video games or communication skills, the way video games are implemented into the study still creates an effective situation for the research to show how video games can affect communication skills in these students. The way the video games were used in this study was the students developed their own games specifically designed around different types of communication such as verbal, nonverbal and written communication. These games were meant to test each student in how well they can properly use these different types of communication to complete their assigned final presentations (Bondar and Clark 35). As the students play these several different games with varying objectives, they are also working together closely much like how they will need to for their presentations at the end of the year. In the final results of this study, it was discovered that the positive correlation in communication skills was only found in the level of out loud verbal communication skills (Bondar and Clark 39). This finding shows how playing video games improves the communication each of the players have with and between each other. It seems to show that as the players proceed through the games, they mainly communicate out loud with each other even when playing the games designed around other forms of communication therefor having a much greater effect on their verbal communication skills rather than non-verbal communication skills. Overall, this article and its research show that even when working towards an unrelated goal, video game players who are effectively communicating with each other will see a great improvement in their level of skill in that same kind of verbal communication. My second to last piece of writing on this particular research question is a CNN article titled “Video Games Help Children Improve Literacy, Communication and Mental Well-Being, Survey Finds” by Alaa Elassar. This article and its message are based on a survey administered to several thousand teenagers in a small range of different ages on how they believe playing video games effects their lives. They are asked about how they think playing video games has an effect on multiple different aspects including their skill in reading as well as their writing ability (Elassar). Many people including those in the age range of this survey know that playing video games and reading and writing skills are much more closely related than most would think. These teenagers who participated in the survey also report that the video games they play are a major topic of discussion between them and their friends when they talk (Elassar). While this particular finding may not show direct increase in communication skill related to video games, it does show that playing video games can increase the amount of communicating a person does throughout their day both while playing and when they are not. Many of these teens think playing their video games are a fun and entertaining way for them to build connections and friendships both with people they know in real life and with new people they meet online through the games (Elassar). This shows that playing video games creates and strengthens connections between those who play them together. In a somewhat unrelated note, the participants of the survey also report that playing video games helps reduce their stress and other negative feelings (Elassar). Overall, the playing of video games has a positive effect on most children who play them both in their ability to communicate and on their mental well being. Finally, I have one more online article titled “Video Games Level up Life Skills” by Kathryn Hulick. This article is a simple online piece of writing that conveys the message of how video games can build their valuable life skills such as communication and improvisation or resourcefulness (Hulick). As players play video games, they work on these skills by stimulating their minds in a casual and entertaining way. The article references a study conducted in Scotland about students who played video games during their school week to see if it had any effect on their school performance (Hulick). In comparison to the control group that played no video games during the study did not show as big of an improvement in the traits they were asked to report on, resourcefulness, adaptability and communication skills, as the group of students who did play video games consistently throughout the two months the study was conducted over (Hulick). All of these articles display a very strong connection between communication skills and the amount of video games the players play.

The second part of this essay will be focused around a different connection to video games. The research question for this portion is can video games be used as an effective education tool. The first source I would like to use for this topic is “Video Games Can Develop Graduate Skills in Higher Education Students: A Randomized Trial” by Matthew Barr. This article is based on a trail to show how video games can be used as an education tool. The study is about a group of subjects who were asked to play video games and report how they were affected in a cognitive and social context (Barr 86). The participants play a wide variety of games that have the potential to have educational value to explore many different methods of teaching from a video game. By the end of the research, it was shown that the students involved in the study did show good results for a test administered by the researchers possibly indicating a link between video games and effective communication skills (Barr 90). This shows what my research question aims to ask that video games while not a main source of education can be used as a tool for educating in some instances where it applies and for specific skills. The next source for this research question is titled quite simply “Gaming as a Teaching Tool” written by Brandon Baker. This source is another website article that aims to point out a positive connection between video game playing and engaging education for students. The article discusses many ways video games are being used in various different environments including the military, fitness, and of course schools themselves (Baker). With such a diverse range of games and genres it is possible for video games to be used in hundreds of different contexts and environments as an educational tool in one way or another. Professor Yasmin Kafai certifies that video games have a long extensive history in education and that their modern surge in use is nothing new as Professor Kafai verifies with the course she created titled Video Games and the Virtual World which deals extensively with how video games can be used for educational purposes in many different scenarios (Baker). As Professor Kafai’s course most likely verifies, video games have had a long history of educational purposes even when it may not seem very obvious or apparent. There are many games that have very specific educational values and themes that were made exclusively for classroom education purposes rather than for entertainment purposes such as a game titled Math Blasters (Baker). Although there are some games that are made specifically for educational purposes and not for entertainment purposes, it is still possible and even likely that more entertainment focused video game titles are capable of having educational value whether it is intended or not. Recent events, especially the COVID-19 pandemic, have shown that video games and other technology based methods can be extremely effective and sometimes vital to a learning environments benefit (Baker). When the world of education suddenly became almost entirely reliant on technology to administer its lessons to students it is possible that many educators became at least somewhat aware that video games have a much higher potential of educational use than many would have previously thought. In summation, Baker’s article is very aware and expressive of how the world of education is already very much connected to video games and that they have a bright future in the educational field now that technology has taken on such a crucial role in the field. Another source that deals with this topic is “A New Venue for Video Games: K-12 Classrooms” written by Carolyn Jones. This article begins by describing a teacher who struggled to keep his students engaged and interested in the subject matter until he instituted video games as a way to make his class more engaging and fun for the students. He began to use Minecraft: Education Edition as a part of his history class and witnessed as it drastically increased his student’s engagement with the course material (Jones). When students are given a more entertaining way to learn the same material as a more traditional classroom experience can offer, the entertaining option will usually be much more appealing and effective at keeping the students interested in the material. Other educational games such as Dragon Box focus around other school subjects such as math to provide a wider range of teaching ability across multiple different possible forms of presentation (Jones). Many games have specialty areas of education just like different teachers are more informed on certain subjects. My last source for this question is “The Benefits of Gaming in Education: the Build A World Case” which has no listed author. The article states that gaming has numerous social and psychological benefits to its players and that these benefits have countless positive effects even in the area of education (The Benefits of Gaming). These benefits are often somewhat overlooked but have a very great impact on students and other young people who play video games. As students play video games they are idly and subconsciously improving their critical thinking and technical skills due to the quick snap decisions and puzzle solving that many games have included within them (The Benefits of Gaming). Video games are not often made purposfully with the goal of education in mind but they very often include puzzles and other stimulating challenges that require the player to think critically. Overall These sources all seem to indicate that there is a strong relationship between video games and the field of education.

Works Cited

Horowitz, Kenneth S. “Video Games and English as a Second Language: The Effect of Massive Multiplayer Online Video Games on The Willingness to Communicate and Communicative Anxiety of College Students in Puerto Rico.” American Journal of Play , vol. 11, no. 3, Jan. 2019, pp. 379–410. EBSCOhost , search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1220304&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Luu, Sylvia, and Anupama Narayan. “Games at Work: Examining a Model of Team Effectiveness in an Interdependent Gaming Task.” Computers in Human Behavior , vol. 77, Dec. 2017, pp. 110–120. EBSCOhost , doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.08.025.

Barr, Matthew. “Video Games Can Develop Graduate Skills in Higher Education Students: A Randomized Trial.” Online Submission , vol. 113, Jan. 2017, pp. 86–97. EBSCOhost , search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED608315&site=eds-live&scope=site.

Roach, Alex, and Yeski Utami. “Using video game to enhance English communication skills.” Proceedings of ISELT FBS Universitas Negeri Padang 5 (2017): 200-204.

Bodnar, Cheryl A., and Renee M. Clark. “Can game-based learning enhance engineering communication skills?.” IEEE transactions on professional communication 60.1 (2017): 24-41.

Squire, Kurt. “Video games in education.” Int. J. Intell. Games & Simulation 2.1 (2003): 49-62.

Baker, Brandon, “Gaming as a Teaching Tool.” Penn Today , 6 May 2020, penntoday.upenn.edu/news/gaming-teaching-tool.

Jones, Carolyn. “A New Venue for Video Games: K-12 Classrooms .” EdSource , EdSource, 7 May 2018, edsource.org/2018/a-new-venue-for-video-games-k-12-classrooms/597100.

“The Benefits of Gaming in Education: the Build A World Case.” Acer for Education , 27 Jan. 2017, acerforeducation.acer.com/education-trends/gamification/the-benefits-of-gaming-in-education-the-build-a-world-case/.

Elassar, Alaa. “Video Games Help Children Improve Literacy, Communication and Mental Well-Being, Survey Finds.” CNN , Cable News Network, 5 Sept. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/09/05/health/video-games-literacy-creativity-children-trnd/index.html.

Hulick, Kathryn. “Video Games Level up Life Skills.” Science News for Students , 3 Dec. 2019, www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/video-games-level-life-skills.

Fishman, Andrew. “Video Games Are Social Spaces: How Video Games Help People Connect.” Video Games Are Social Spaces: How Video Games Help People Connect | ResponseCenter , www.jcfs.org/response/blog/video-games-are-social-spaces-how-video-games-help-people-connect.

Understanding Literacy in Our Lives by Anonymous English 102 Writer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How To Write an Essay on Video Games in The Best Way?

It is often the case that students have a lot of different hobbies to spend time on during their college or high school period. It is something that circles their youth and represents an inevitable part of it. Through that stage, people usually like to explore more and learn as much as possible new things. One that has particularly been interesting to students in the last decade, especially, is playing video games. Since they started to appear in the world of hundreds of possibilities, the fun, joy, and entertainment they bring to their users have been easily detected. Today, we can witness many video games that are popular and adaptable to multiple platforms like PCs, laptops, mobile phones, Xbox, or Sony PlayStation. With that in mind, it is a call that can’t be neglected for the students who like spending thrilling moments on such activities. As writing essays are commonly part of students’ lives, questions about how to combine it with playing video games frequently come to mind. If you have the same issues, we are here to provide you with the best ways on how you should write essays about this topic.

State Definition of Video Games

If you are planning to write essays on video games, one of the first things you should do is to state a definition of it. According to the Globenewswire , this activity represents one of the most used ways for students to relax and have some fun. As this website offers plenty of useful information about multimedia content, it is often being visited by them. And, if we know that video games belong to multimedia, perhaps you should be writing about that theme first. It would be beneficial if you start researching data about multimedia in general and find out some additional information that can help you in writing your essay. The more you know, the better the outcome will be. So, do your own exploration and don’t hesitate to visit websites that offer such info. Multimedia can sometimes be misunderstood by the students, especially by the ones that are not specifically interested in this field. However, that doesn’t stop them from playing video games, right? After all, what can persuade them not to play some PES, FIFA, or Counter-Strike with their friends?

Collect The Data About Genres of The Games

As the use of technology and its features increases by each day, it usually implies bigger amounts of video games on the market. As every year often comes up with some new game or exciting update of the ones that already exist, something that your essay should cover are the genres of it. Every individual has their own preferences. Some people like to play adventure-based games while others like sports, for example. It is all-natural. But if you want your essay to be top-notch, you must get knowledge about genres of video games. It wouldn’t be necessary to write about every single one of them though. In the sea of genres like RPG (role-playing games), first-person shooter, horror adventures, survivals, and many others, you can select a few of the most popular ones and focus on them. Write about them in general. What is their purpose? What do they bring to the players? How have they been founded? Make sure to provide brief answers to those questions.

Don’t Forget to Mention Games’ History

It is well-known that in the modern world students like to hire professional writers online that will do the job for them. Pre-written essays for sale are becoming more and more wanted. But do you wonder how those writers are able to offer their services with such confidence? Despite their probable education level or experience, they always make sure to dig out all information available about the topic they will write about. If we take video games, for example, something they definitely wouldn’t skip to search is their history. So, you should do exactly the same. Make sure to reach the deepest places on the Internet and sites that are displayed even on the 5th or 6th page in the Google search bar. If the website is not well advertised or shown on the 1st page, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t contain useful data. You can always find valuable info only if you research it in-depth. Don’t forget to mention different eras of video games and how they have developed throughout history. From the beginning of the 2000s and Console Wars, across the Network Games Era in the 2010s, all the way to currently present ESports and VR games in the 2020s.

Use Colorful Examples

Something that is constantly present in today’s world is a sense of fear and doubt in the credibility of things online. As you know, writing services are legal , the same as many well-rated websites on the Internet. So, instead of having doubts about games’ reliability or their publishers, focus on including some colorful examples in your essay. It will make your work much easier to understand and boost its authentication. Providing information through examples is never the wrong way to express your thoughts. Make sure to illustrate interesting parts from the games that need such a presentation. If they don’t need it, it will surely increase the readers’ mood and make them able to see the actual gameplay. What more can they ask for?

Playing video games is an activity that will be present for many future generations. Writing essays about them will not only increase your knowledge about this topic but also provide others with useful data. Just think about how your work can inspire them and allow them to learn something new. Cool feeling, isn’t it?

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Essay on Video Games

Students are often asked to write an essay on Video Games in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Video Games

Introduction.

Video games are interactive digital entertainment platforms. They are played on devices like computers, consoles, or mobiles.

Types of Video Games

There are many types of video games. Some are educational, others are adventure-based or sports-themed.

Benefits of Video Games

Video games can improve hand-eye coordination, problem-solving skills, and strategic thinking. They can also be a fun way to relax.

Drawbacks of Video Games

Excessive gaming can lead to health issues like eye strain and lack of physical activity. It can also impact social skills if not balanced with real-world interactions.

Video games can be both beneficial and harmful. It’s important to play responsibly and maintain a healthy balance.

Also check:

10 Lines on Video Games

250 Words Essay on Video Games

Video games, a form of interactive entertainment, have evolved dramatically from their rudimentary origins in the 1970s. They have penetrated almost every aspect of modern society, becoming a significant part of our culture and a powerful force in the entertainment industry.

The Evolution of Video Games

In their inception, video games were straightforward, consisting of basic graphics and gameplay. However, as technology advanced, so did the complexity and visual appeal of these games. Today, video games are immersive experiences, boasting high-definition graphics, complex narratives, and intricate gameplay mechanics.

The Impact on Society

Video games have a profound impact on society. They have transformed how we spend our leisure time, and have even created new professions, such as professional e-sports players and game developers. In addition, video games have educational potential, as they can develop problem-solving and strategic thinking skills.

Controversies and Criticisms

Despite their popularity, video games have attracted controversy. Critics argue that they promote violence, addiction, and social isolation. However, research on these issues remains inconclusive, and many argue that the benefits of video games outweigh potential negatives.

In conclusion, video games are a multifaceted phenomenon that has significantly influenced our culture and society. Despite criticisms, their popularity continues to rise, indicating their enduring appeal and potential for future growth. As technology continues to evolve, so too will video games, promising exciting developments for this dynamic medium.

500 Words Essay on Video Games

Video games, a form of digital entertainment that has dramatically evolved over the past few decades, have become a significant part of contemporary culture. They offer a unique blend of interactive storytelling, art, and technology, engaging players in a way that no other medium can. Video games are more than just a pastime; they are a platform for expression, learning, and innovation.

The history of video games is a testament to the incredible technological advancements of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. From the rudimentary pixel graphics of the 1970s to today’s immersive virtual reality experiences, video games have continuously pushed the boundaries of what is technologically possible. They have transformed from simple, solitary experiences into complex, social phenomena, connecting people from all walks of life.

The Impact of Video Games

Video games have a significant impact on society, influencing various aspects of our lives. They have revolutionized the entertainment industry, becoming a multi-billion dollar sector that rivals and often surpasses traditional media like film and music. Beyond entertainment, video games have found applications in education, healthcare, and even military training, demonstrating their versatility and potential.

The Benefits and Concerns

Despite the criticisms often associated with video gaming, such as addiction and violence, numerous studies have highlighted the potential benefits. Video games can improve cognitive skills, such as problem-solving and spatial awareness, and can also foster social interaction and cooperation when played in groups. They can serve as therapeutic tools, helping to manage conditions like anxiety and depression. However, it is essential to maintain a balanced perspective, acknowledging the potential risks and promoting responsible gaming.

The Future of Video Games

The future of video games is as exciting as it is unpredictable. With emerging technologies like virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and cloud gaming, the possibilities for innovation are limitless. Video games are poised to become even more immersive, interactive, and personalized, offering experiences that were once the stuff of science fiction.

In conclusion, video games are a dynamic and influential part of modern society, reflecting our culture, advancing technology, and impacting various aspects of our lives. They are a testament to human creativity and innovation, offering unique experiences that entertain, educate, and inspire. As we move forward, it is crucial to continue exploring the potential of video games, addressing the challenges they present, and harnessing their power for positive change.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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How to write College Essays about Video Games like Minecraft

Writing your College Essay about Video Games

Video games are one of many topics on which you can write an essay. A video game is an electronic game. The player interacts with a user interface to receive visual feedback on a video device.

Video games are becoming more popular these days. And, more children are joining the craze of playing them.

The gaming business must conduct a thorough investigation and develop more inventive and useful games. It is essential to have games that bring good to future generations and prevent harm and behavioral pattern changes.

However, it isn’t advisable to use a video game essay to write your college application .

As you may be aware, most schools, including leading public universities use the holistic admissions approach. It means that admissions officers will consider the applicant’s accomplishments in addition to their GPA and test scores.

And, as you might expect, an app that focuses solely on your gaming prowess will likely work against you, limiting your options significantly.

Why is Video Games a Good Topic for College Essay

Video games are the current craze, and people of all ages enjoy them. Playing video games may enhance visual abilities and cognitive function.

Video games can also help people become more spatially aware.

When a person’s eyes concentrate on a video game, they are more likely to have various eye strengths following brain training.

Action video games teach the brain how to handle visual information more efficiently. When people play action video games, they alter the visual processing pathway in their brain.

Video games can modify brain functioning. According to new research, video games can be helpful for therapeutic purposes, stress relief, exercise, positive interactive learning, weight loss, and various patient therapy for individuals worldwide.

On the other hand, harmful computer games have captured the media. Every channel now deems it their responsibility to educate people about the harm that games may bring to children and adults. The growing number of games with violent sequences irritates society and makes it acutely aware of them. Violent video games cause people to become violent.

The vast majority of people do not even question this truth. Everyone else claims that the cause is that games are too close to reality.

There is a common belief that video games normalize violent behavior in the player and make the player pitiless. In this situation, the game is the source of violence. The act of violence is due to the game.

A psychologically healthy individual will never mix these two worlds or connect them. A game is a virtual environment with visual images similar to real life.

These graphics are nothing more than simple game obstacles on their own. A game may provide the possibility to “destroy the obstacles” that are not allowed to be destroyed by the rules.

Yet, it is more a matter of personal preference whether or not to do so. As a result, we might conclude that violence is not an outcome but a cause.

Naturally, violent people may become frustrated by games and act violently in the “real world.” However, in such a case, the game violence is simply a projection of the player’s aggressive personality.

How to Write a College Essay about Video Games

An essay on this topic will assist you in demonstrating a different perspective while also delivering vital information. It would be a terrific topic if you could provide a unique perspective on your function as a game leader.

Simply ensure that your links are distinct. If you write it in a way that is particular to you, you should be fine.

1. Describe your Role

Many of these games are more complicated than most adults believe.

However, someone who has never done anything like this before may experience a challenge grasping the notion.

Be specific but concise, and keep the details to yourself. Gather information from your friends, as many are interested in this type of gaming.

2. Highlight key Points

You can talk to them about the most crucial points in your paper. Be realistic when writing, even if you disagree with the facts.

There will be instances when you have to recognize that games are not always appropriate. Present some of the benefits, even if adults find them harmful.

3. Use Statistics

Many video games can be beneficial if people use them moderately. When you want to make a point, use statistics. If you use official statistics and graphs, you will appear more trustworthy.

Examine the topic from a variety of angles. You can discuss the concept of instructional video games that are more appropriate for young children and teenagers.

4. Show the Benefits to Children

Is this beneficial to kids who suffer from anxiety or depression? Remember the influence of the media on the video game industry.

Video games are produced and sold with the financial might of some of the world’s most powerful corporations.

Learn how to write a college essay on Music

How to Write College Essay about Minecraft

Minecraft is a popular video game among both kids and adults. Minecraft has grown in popularity because it fosters creativity and adventure.

It has many servers open to the public, allowing you to play with people from all over the world. Players employ blocks to build structures and worlds.

1. Examine the Diverse Angles

You can discuss the game from a variety of angles. The game’s popularity continues to rise at a quick rate.

Thousands of people buy the game daily, and millions have it.

What aspects of the game contribute to or make it appealing to both youngsters and adults? Minecraft is a user-friendly video game where players construct construction and planets out of bricks.

2. Touch on Benefits

Children can use their imaginations by allowing creativity in video games like Minecraft. In real life, most children do not have the opportunity to build castles, zoos, or other similar structures.

Minecraft’s creative mode, on the other hand, allows children to create worlds. You can highlight the opportunity to learn how to survive via hunting, building shelters, and fending off monsters and mobs. It is another component of the game’s creative use of inventiveness.

3. Ideal Players

Minecraft is the ideal game for anyone who enjoys being creative. It features an extensive server network that allows you to play with people from all around the world.

Minecraft has grown in popularity due to its appeal to gamers of all ages. Its numerous player options offer players the impression that they can do and be whatever they want at any time.

How to Write a League of Legends College Essay

League of Legends is a free-to-play game of the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre. This popular and competitive online game pits two teams against one another vying for a map.

Players select champion characters with vastly varied abilities and team up to defeat a group of other players.

1. Give an Overview of the Benefits

League of Legends is a game that teaches players how to work together as a team. Gaming has evolved, motivating people to push themselves beyond their comfort zones or become better versions of themselves.

Video games provide players the courage to move forward in their own life by telling them about their characters’ hardships, pain, survival, and dreams.

2. Describe the Skill Set

League of Legends is an excellent positive psychology tool since it requires players to use critical thinking abilities. Because it is an online game, parents should monitor their children’s interactions with other players.

League of Legends is only advised for youth 14 and up due to moderate fantasy violence, blood-like images, online interactions, and the game’s complexity.

3. Explain the Benefits to Children

You can describe the benefits the game offers children who require assistance with planning by creating a logical approach to goal-setting and achievement.

It can also enhance flexibility by helping with adapting and adjusting to new circumstances and expectations. Moreover, all players develop self-awareness and social abilities by understanding their ideas, feelings, and behaviors.

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Persuasive Essay: Video Games

Teenagers today often spend a great deal of time playing video games. These games are fun and engaging and young people often feel like playing games is a great thing to do in their spare time. However, you shouldn’t spend too much time gaming and there are a number of reasons for this: it’s unhealthy, you should spend more time studying, and you need to socialize more.

The primary reason to cut down on gaming time has to be that youths that spend a long time on computers and games consoles are often not getting enough exercise. With high obesity rates, it’s very important for young people to spend as much time being active as possible, especially since studies show that people who are overweight during childhood and adolescence are far more likely to become overweight adults than those of a healthy weight when they’re young. There is just as much, if not more, fun to be had in getting out and about and being active. This doesn’t have to mean going for long runs if that’s not your thing; team sports are both fun and great exercise. Dance or fitness classes are also a good option for those not into sports.

Secondly, getting a good education is that best thing that you can do for your future. If every teenager cut down on their gaming time by 30 minutes per day and used this time to study, the whole of that generation would achieve better results and be more likely to have the career that they want. With education, you get out what you put in, so it’s really up to you to put in the additional effort. If you want to go to a good college, extra study in your own time will be completely vital, but gaming can reduce your concentration span and make this more difficult.

The third main reason that playing video games too often is that it’s no good for your social skills. Some teenagers may argue that because they can now play their games online with friends, they are socializing in their own way. However, you can’t beat face-to-face contact, and if you want to succeed in interviews and build good relationships in later life, you need to develop some proper communication skills. This shouldn’t be a chore, or difficult, because hanging out with friends is far more fun than sitting indoors playing on games all day anyway!

In conclusion, there can be no doubt that spending too much time gaming isn’t good for you. You don’t have to stop all together, but it’s all about moderation. Cut down and allocate your additional free time to doing things that are good for you, and you definitely won’t regret it in later life.

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Apr 1, 2021

Interesting College Essay Topics: Video Games & Esports Part 1

Updated: Jul 12, 2023

I'm a nerd, let's get that out of the way. I grew up immersed sci-fi, fantasy, movies, television shows, anime, video games, board games, tabletop games, and even read certain textbooks for fun (still do, looking at you A Modern History of Japan: From Tokugawa Times to The Present ). My childhood pre-dated critically and commercially acclaimed comic book movies, the ability to make a living by streaming video games online, and the widespread adoption of video games for everyday audiences (think mobile phone games, or the Nintendo Wii in the mid-2000s). To put it simply, it's a lot easier to openly embrace nerdy culture now than it was during my childhood.

The social stigma and ostracization of being a "nerd" led me to hide many of my hobbies and interests from friends and family for most of my life. Sadly, I still hear echoes of these feelings in students I work with today. It's not uncommon to hear a student say, "It's easier to just say nothing than try to explain my interests, hobbies, or passions." This breaks my heart, and for this reason I've become more open about my nerdy side and encourage students to do the same.

So what does all this have to do with the college search and application process? As an admission officer and a college counselor, I've read too many essays and applications focusing on students telling me what they think I want to hear. What they don't realize is that the thing I want to read about is an authentic, introspective, and self-aware portrait of who they are as a person. Families tend to reinforce this censorship of a students personality, often both knowingly and unknowingly. We all see the stories of the 4.0 GPA, 1550 SAT, honor society student and that's what has become the standard of success. What most families don't see, but I have, is the student with an average GPA and test score that can successfully articulate why they actually participate in extracurriculars; explain their values; describe what problems they want to solve in the world; and write a unique essay that reflects who they are as a person, not just what they've accomplished. I've read thousands of essays by this point in my relatively young career, and the handful that have stuck with me had nothing to do with the students' grades, test scores, or accomplishments.

So, over the next few blog posts, I want to write about a topic that seems to grow more common each year I work with students and families: video games. It's a tale as old as the ~1980s: a parent is concerned because their student is spending too much time playing video games and not engaging with the world. I'll be the first to concede that not all students who play video games should be writing a college essay about them, and sometimes video games are just a temporary escape from the stress of life (same as movies, television, books, and any number of other hobbies). However, I'm going to posit the idea that there are a lot of students out there who have a true passion for video games and, with a little introspection, can turn that passion into a powerful asset for their college application.

During this multi-part college essay blog series, I'm going to review a few different ways to tackle the topics of video games:

The Personal Impact of Video Games

Artistic, Emotional, or Developmental Impact of a Single Player Game ( You Are Here )

Impact of a Competitive Multiplayer Game

Impact of a Social or Cooperative Multiplayer Game

The Impact of Video Games on a Student's Professional or Academic Path

Video Games as a Catalyst for Pursuing a STEM Education

Video Games as an Interdisciplinary Collaborative

As a reader, I want you to keep in mind two more universally understood concepts into which we can distill these essays:

An introspective look into how a form of culture has shaped a student's ideas, beliefs, values, and personality.

An introspective look into how a student began a journey to help shape others through the act of creation or innovation.

Yes you, the person reading this blog!

I want you to stop everything that you are doing (including reading this blog) and sit silently thinking about something for at least 30 seconds:

I want you to think about a piece of culture that helped make you who you are today. This can be a piece of music, a movie, a book, a video game, a family tradition, or even a story passed down generation to generation.

Let's go.

Ok, now that we've all had our small serving of guided mediation for the day, let's continue forward. I will start by sharing what first came to my mind:

The year is 1999, I'm wandering up and down the stacks at my local Movie Gallery. I'm still young, only seven, but trips to Movie Gallery have become significant to me because they mean either a new video game in which I can escape reality OR a new movie that will create a short, but much-needed, moment of "family time" in the household. As I lurk through the copious VHS tapes and video game cartridges, a holographic shine catches my young eye and I am introduced to an unknown movie called Princess Mononoke. On the cover, a young man clashes holographic pearly swords with an unknown enemy and in bold letters at the top it reads:

One of Roger Ebert's Top 10!

"The Star Wars of Animated Features"

-New York Post

Now that's a lot for a seven-year-old. As much as I'd like to claim I was some young cinephile and the prospect of an animated film on "Roger Ebert's Top 10" motivated my selection, that would be a lie. The selection process was much simpler: I like Star Wars, the blades on the front of the tape shined like light sabers, the cover mentioned Star Wars and animated films, thus I thought I had discovered a Star Wars animated movie. I had no idea that this movie would become my favorite film of all time and a defining cornerstone of the person I would grow to be.

Now I don't want to give away much of the movie, as I believe every person should at least give it a chance (Disney has bought the rights for physical distribution and HBO Max has it available for streaming). The film focuses on a young prince from a small village of a disenfranchised ethnic minority. He is magically cursed defending his village from a monster and must be excommunicated and travel westward to find peace between an expanding industrious humanity and a spiritually rich forest full of ancient animals (the most literal man vs. nature theme one can think of). It is a film that deals with coming of age themes, confronting stereotypes, the relationship of humanity and nature, the idea of early religion, themes of racism, sexism, disenfranchisement, environmental issues, the all-consuming power of greed, discovering compromises between opposing ideologies, determination, grit, bravery, and sacrifice. Good and evil are not so clear-cut, rather they are ambiguous and exist on a spectrum with a tremendous amount of overlap (much like life). As a child being raised by a single mother, perhaps one of the most important aspects of the film was the multitude of strong, smart, and capable female characters which defied the "damsel in distress" archetype seen in most children movies. Growing up, this film became an integral piece in forming my sense of ethics, morality, values, and who I wanted to be in the world.

I present this exercise because I could easily write a book about the impact this movie has had in my life. More often than not, proper guidance, support, and an attentive ear can shepherd students to discover or expand upon their own piece of cultural media that has helped shape them in some way.

If any of this sounds remotely interesting, look into the rest of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's filmography [aside from Princess Mononoke , I'd also highly recommend the 2003 Academy Award Winning Best Animated Feature Spirited Away ). Many critics hail Miyazaki as the "Walt Disney of Japan," but I think this is underselling his works (not to mention the problematic nature of forcing a comparison of an Eastern animator to a Western animator to give him legitimacy to international audiences....).

Artistic, Emotional, or Developmental Impact of a Single Player Game

The story begins during a global pandemic. A single father and daughter are attempting to escape Austin, TX as society begins to collapse into chaos. The plan fails, the father is injured, and the daughter is killed. Fast forward 20 years: the father is weathered, downtrodden, and hides his deep-seated emotional trauma and guilt behind a gruff persona who uses survival as a justification for his extreme, violent, and criminal actions. Once a construction worker, he now works as a smuggler bypassing government quarantine measures to transport goods for payment. His life is devoid of joy, filled with savagery, and ultimately without any hope for a brighter future. This all changes when he is tasked with smuggling a 14-year old girl out of Boston to a research facility in Colorado, because her immune system might hold the secret for a vaccine. So begins an extended journey across the United States, where the father must confront his repressed guilt for his daughter's death, come to terms with his history of violence, and restore his faith in the possibility of a brighter future.

No, I'm not describing the newest Oscar-nominated drama or popular indie film from SXSW. This isn't the description of the hottest new post-apocalyptic young adult novel sweeping the nation. This is a rudimentary description of The Last of Us (2013), arguably one of the most critically and commercially acclaimed single-player video games of the past decade, developed by the gaming studio Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment on their popular PlayStation videogame consoles. The game is emotionally powerful, performances are sublime (both voice acting and motion capture), Guastavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain, Babel, Making a Murderer, Jane the Virgin) composes a harrowing and heartfelt soundtrack, and the writing is top-notch from beginning to end. In fact, HBO is currently developing a The Last of Us television series written by Neil Druckman (writer/director of the video game) and Craig Mazin (HBO's Chernobyl) starring Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones, Narcos, The Mandalorian) and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones, Hilda). When I think of a game that can create a personal impact on a person through storytelling, it's hard to think of a better example than The Last of Us.

( UPDATE 2023 : For those interested, HBO has premiered The Last of Us (2023) beginning with the first episode on January 15, 2023. The premiere of the show received a staggering 4.7 million viewers and within two days of release reached nearly 10 million viewers. The show is also looking to be critical success with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 99%, 9.4/10 on IMDb, and a 95% positive ration among Google users. Needless to say, as a fan of television and video games I'm very pleased to see such an amazing story be brought to life for a larger audience. I've added an additional photo below to showcase Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as their respective roles in the show compared with their characters in the image below. )

When writing about the artistic, emotional, or developmental impact of a video game, the essay is going to focus on bridging the experience of a video game with its personal impact on a student. In this scenario, it is important to remember that the video game is not the star of this essay. Instead, a student needs to dig deep and find a meaningful connection with the video game and how it has helped them grow and develop as a person. Even then, a student will need to go a step further and not only talk about how this development is connected to a video game, but how they have adopted, adapted, and integrated those thoughts, lessons, and beliefs into their everyday life . This is the time when a student will need to provide evidence of this personal impact through examples in their life: academics, extracurriculars, life lessons, meaningful hobbies, important relationships with friends/family, etc. Lastly, the student needs to be mindful of how their growth and experience will impact their future, especially when thinking about their participation on a college campus, and their academic, professional, and life goals.

By the end of this essay, the student has displayed their way of thinking, level of introspection, journey in forming their beliefs/values, and ultimately connected the video game to how they live their life and what they hope to accomplish. Here are some suggestions for outlining this type of essay:

What is the history of the student with the video game?

When did the student make this connection?

What was going on in the student's life at this time?

Why did this particular video game affect them on a personal level?

How has the video game impacted them on a personal level?

How has a student taken this impact and integrated it into their life, beliefs, value system, etc.?

Moving forward, how has and how will the student take agency of this impact and affect the world around them (e.g. their school, community, family, friends, clubs, organizations, etc.).

I hope that after reading this students feel a little more empowered to be vocal about their passions and families feel a little more comfortable with the prospect of their student writing about the personal impact a video game might have had on them. In part 2, we'll take a look at how a student can take their experience from competitive multiplayer games and turn them into an interesting essay topic.

Subscribe to our newsletter to stay up to date on this blog post series and receive free monthly newsletters about higher education and college admissions news and advice. As always, if you have questions or a topic you'd like to hear more about, please don't hesitate to reach out to us directly.

With all my support,

Sawyer Earwood

Independent College Counselor

Co-Founder of Virtual College Counselors

[email protected]

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Video Games and Their Impact

Categories: Cognitive Development Video Games

About this sample

Words: 433 |

Published: Feb 12, 2024

Words: 433 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

References:

Barr, Matthew. “Video Games Can Turn University Graduates into Better Employees.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 2019.
Etchells, Pete. “Five Damaging Myths about Video Games – Let’s Shoot ‘Em Up.” The Guardian, 2019.

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Should Video Game Passion Be Shared on College Applications?

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My son is a strong student who got almost a perfect score on his PSAT but hasn't had a chance to take the SAT or ACT yet. His grades are all A's. So I think he has some good opportunities in terms of college choice, except for one thing: His only interest is video games. He doesn't have any extracurriculars, and he never went out on weekends, even before COVID. No school football games, no parties, no homecoming float, no school plays. Sometimes other kids will come over and play video games with him, but other times he will just play against other people online. We are talking about his college essay and he wants to write it about video games, and then for his activities list, he wants to list winning a video game tournament. Will it be a problem for him to highlight video games so prominently in his college application? I should add that he is not majoring in anything having to do with video games — he wants to major in education.

With excellent grades (although you didn't mention the rigor of the classes) and potentially high test scores, your son will certainly have college options. However, as you probably already know, the vast major of institutions — even large public universities — practice " holistic admissions ." This means that admission officials will look beyond the GPA and test results to see what else the applicant has accomplished. And, as you can imagine, an application that highlights just your son's prowess as a video gamer will probably work against him and will thus limit those options considerably.

Granted, there are folks out there — even in admission offices — who tout video games as a way to develop myriad skills or as a much-deserved stress-breaker for harried teens. But the fact that playing these games is your son's only extracurricular endeavor is going to be a greater negative than if his sole devotion were, say, volunteering at a community soup kitchen or leading the marching band. Yet any candidate who lists just one activity, however worthwhile it's perceived to be, is going into the potentially competitive selection process with a couple strikes against them.

It's fine for him to include winning a video game tournament on an Activities List . But if that victory isn't accompanied by other ventures outside of gaming, it will raise a red flag for admission officials. Likewise, while "The Dean" isn't quick to endorse an essay about gaming, of greater importance is how well your son writes and what, specifically, he writes about. More on that in a minute.

You say that your son wants to major in education. So how does he know this? Has he volunteered in a school? Tutored other students? Assisted a teacher? Even during these crazy times, he could test-drive his ambitions by providing online academic assistance to struggling elementary children or peers. Even better, he might design and present a summer Zoom class on a topic that will engage youngsters (yes, even video games, although that wouldn't be the ideal choice!).

I would also suggest that your son pursue a paying job that gets him out of the house and away from those controllers, if you're in a place where it's safe and pragmatic to do so. (Grocery stores and fast-food restaurants are hiring teens in many areas.) If working isn't practical or wise, it's time for your son to find an activity other than gaming that he can do at home. In fact, this "activity" could even be tied to his interest in video games ... as long as it's not more video games (e.g., he could read about a certain historical period that is featured in his games or teach himself graphic design/coding). Then, when it's time to write a college essay, he could amuse admission committees with a topic along the lines of "Coming Up from the Cave," which begins with his passion for gaming but then explains how it led him to new pursuits.

If, on the other hand, your son is skilled at eSports, that's a whole separate conversation. (You don't mention this, so "The Dean" is assuming that it's not the case, but I also know what's often said about those who ASSume!). Because I grew up in an era when Mr. Potato Head was considered a technological marvel, I never thought I'd live to see colleges recruiting eSport "athletes." Yet today over 200 schools not only field eSports teams but also offer scholarships. (These range from about $1,000 up to $25,000, but with most toward that lower end.) A Google search can provide an abundance of information or you can read more here . So if your son seems qualified to compete on a collegiate level and he contacts coaches and lands on their recruit lists, then his limited extracurricular life shouldn't be a negative after all.

Nonetheless, I'll give him the same advice that I would give to any prospective college athlete: "It will be clear from your application that you have achieved success in your sport. Yet, although a coach may advocate for you, it's ultimately the admission staff members who determine your fate. So you'd be smart to write your primary essay about something different, just to show them that you have other experiences, interests or ideas."

Hopefully, if you encourage your son to expand his horizons this summer, this will be true for him as well.

About the Ask the Dean Column

Sally Rubenstone is a veteran of the college admissions process and is the co-author of three books covering admissions. She worked as a Smith College admission counselor for 15 years and has also served as an independent college counselor, in addition to working as a senior advisor at College Confidential since 2002. If you'd like to submit a question to The Dean please email us at [email protected].

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Sally Rubenstone

Sally Rubenstone knows the competitive and often convoluted college admission process inside out: From the first time the topic of college comes up at the dinner table until the last duffel bag is unloaded on a dorm room floor. She is the co-author of Panicked Parents' Guide to College Admissions; The Transfer Student's Guide to Changing Colleges and The International Student's Guide to Going to College in America. Sally has appeared on NBC's Today program and has been quoted in countless publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Weekend, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, People and Seventeen. Sally has viewed the admissions world from many angles: As a Smith College admission counselor for 15 years, an independent college counselor serving students from a wide range of backgrounds and the author of College Confidential's "Ask the Dean" column. She also taught language arts, social studies, study skills and test preparation in 10 schools, including American international schools in London, Paris, Geneva, Athens and Tel Aviv. As senior advisor to College Confidential since 2002, Sally has helped hundreds of students and parents navigate the college admissions maze. In 2008, she co-founded College Karma, a private college consulting firm, with her College Confidential colleague Dave Berry, and she continues to serve as a College Confidential advisor. Sally and her husband, Chris Petrides, became first-time parents in 1997 at the ripe-old age of 45. So Sally was nearly an official senior citizen when her son Jack began the college selection process, and when she was finally able to practice what she had preached for more than three decades.

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Can I write an essay on video games (or their history) for the new Common App essay prompt #7?

NOW, BEFORE you straight-off reject the idea, calling it childish, I don’t want to write about my game collection or online streaks, I want to write either about the history of video games or how games got me interested in coding/computer science for the new any-topic-of-your-choice prompt on Common App. I am an international student taking a gap year and I am going to apply to some selective colleges, for undergrad in C.Sc. So I am wondering whether I could use video games and concepts/technologies that go into making them to show how it made me interested in this major/career, since I think that such an essay could stand out from those of other C.Sc. applicants. I am interested in writing on other topics like mythology, too, but would be happier if I can write on games. Can any of you advise me on this, please?

P. S. : Could this type of essay be suitable for other Common App (or non-Common App) essay prompts?

The essay is supposed to be about you. It is supposed to highlight something in your personality that makes a college want to accept you. If you can do that by writing about your relationship with video games then that is OK, but don’t make video games be the main topic of the essay. After reading it the person should think that they now understand you better, not that they understand video games better.

I think I would reconsider.

The point of this essay is NOT to educate-- on computer game history or mythology. It’s to show the reader a little about YOU, to give them a reason to say yes to your application.

You have a mere 600 words to show them that you would be a great addition to their campus. I’m not sure that a history of video games is making the best of those 600 words.

No, my reading comprehension is good thanks. No need to shorten your sentences. We simply disagree.

It’s your essay, write it as you choose.

If you want to stand out from the other CS applicants, wouldn’t it make sense to write about something other than CS? (assuming that your interest in CS is clear from other parts of the application)

I don’t think it’s a bad idea, but I just don’t see the idea itself as unique for someone wanting to study computer science.

Don’t write about a history paper on video games for a college admissions essay! They should be learning about you, not the video game. I know plenty of gamers majoring in computer science, electrical engineering, software engineering, and the other related majors. In fact, it’s hard to name a male engineering major who doesn’t have games on their laptops. Being a gamer won’t make you unique, especially in computer science. Do you build your own pc gaming rigs? That could be a more personal topic. Talking about your experience building a custom RGB water cooler to maximize performance by eliminating thermal throttling, only to have it leak and turn your system into a brick is an interesting read. The history of Call of Duty and how it made you love computer science? No. But it’s your essay, do what you want.

Don’t be condescending to someone whose advice you want.

Thanks a lot everyone! I am sorry to be a bit rude @bjkmom . Forgive me, I was just confused about what I should do. Btw most of my activities are related to art, so I guess should write an essay on that. @soontobecolleger I was just considering video games because I have hardly any ECs related to comp. sc., except the Google Code Jam (in which I didn’t go quite further).

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COMMENTS

Before you write your college essay on video games
Change my view!). Still, descriptions of you playing the actual video games should be minimal. One sentence, maybe two. So I advise: use your love of games as some needed down time from essay-writing (in doses, please!) but not as your topic. And if you're the kind of person who does get so obsessed with games you "lose all track of time ...
4 Questions to Ask If You're Considering Writing Your College Essay
So, do I recommend writing a college essay on video games? Video games, like most topics, are fair game in your college essay. I think it can be tough to pull off a video game essay, though, given that there is so much nuance to games and you don't know the level of familiarity your admission officer has.
Writing Your College Essay About Video Games
When writing your college essay on any topic, regardless of whether it involves sports, mental health, video games, etc, you want the essay to be about you. Sure, you're talking about video games in your college essay. However, the overarching objective of the college essay writing process is to show the admissions officers' qualities about ...
How to Write an Essay about Video Games: Presenting Effective Arguments
Identifying the sources you employed would be best. When you are writing an essay about video games, it is essential to cite your sources. That means you got to make a list of every resource you used in your paper. References to diverse books, scientific studies, statistical data, and remarks made by well-known experts are acceptable.
Essays About Video Games: Top 12 Examples And Prompts
If you are writing essays about video games, check out our guide to inspire your writing. Few can contest the fact that video games have taken over the world. From the basic, almost "primitive" games of the 1970s like Pong to the mind-bending virtual reality games of the 2020s, they have been a source of entertainment for all. Moreover ...
Can my passion for video games shine through in my college essay?
Absolutely! Your passion for video games can definitely be a compelling topic for a college essay. The key is not the subject itself, but how you reflect on your experiences and what you've learned from them. It's all about presenting your story authentically and showing how video games have shaped you into the person you are today. Discuss how storytelling in games has deepened your ...
Interesting College Essay Topics: Video Games & Esports Part 2
Welcome to part 2 of our blog series about video games and esports in the college application process. If you've already read part 1, feel free to skip to the new material focusing on competitive multiplayer games.If you haven't read part 1, I highly recommend reading that post first, as I tackle some foundational ideas about how a single piece of culture can affect a person's values.
So You Are Writing About Video Games for Your Eng 101 Paper ...
In the companion essay to this, I discuss essays on video games you should avoid and one of those is not-to-dos is about the causation of violence from video games.
How to Write an Essay on Video Games in the Best Way
The first thing you should do when writing an essay about video games is to try and define what a video game is. Video games are a good activity for students to have fun and relax. They are also under multimedia, so it might help to do some research about multimedia generally and get additional information that you can use in your essay.
Interesting College Essay Topics: Video Games & Esports Part 3
Independent College Advising. It's a tale as old as the ~1980s: a parent is concerned their student is spending too much time playing video games. However, with a little introspection, a passion for video games can be a powerful asset for their college application. In part 3, we take a look at cooperative online gaming experiences.
Interesting College Essay Topics: Video Games & Esports Part 4
Welcome to part 4 of our blog series about video games and esports in the college application process. If you've already read part 1, feel free to skip to the new material focusing on competitive multiplayer games.If you haven't read part 1, I highly recommend reading that post first, as I tackle some foundational ideas about how a single piece of culture can affect a person's values.
6.5.4 Video games in the world of education (research essay)
1.2 Guide to "writing about writing" essay sequence; 1.3 Essay 1: argument from experience (with multimodal aspect) walkthrough and instructions ... The Effect of Massive Multiplayer Online Video Games on The Willingness to Communicate and Communicative Anxiety of College Students in Puerto Rico". In this article Horowitz studies a group of ...
How To Write an Essay on Video Games in The Best Way?
In the sea of genres like RPG (role-playing games), first-person shooter, horror adventures, survivals, and many others, you can select a few of the most popular ones and focus on them. Write ...
Essay on Video Games
Students are often asked to write an essay on Video Games in their schools and colleges. And if you're also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic. ... Video games can improve cognitive skills, such as problem-solving and spatial awareness, and can also foster social interaction and ...
Essays on Video Games
If video games and the health risks associated with them are a topic you have to write about, we have a variety of video game essay topics you can use as templates for your work that include well-written introductory and concluding paragraphs. Also, these samples of papers of video games essay topics could help with some inspiring topics or ideas.
How to write College Essays about Video Games like Minecraft
Video games are one of many topics on which you can write an essay. A video game is an electronic game. The player interacts with a user interface to receive visual feedback on a video device. Video games are becoming more popular these days. And, more children are joining the craze of playing them.
Writing About Video Games in College Essays : r/ApplyingToCollege
Many colleges ask about activities in supplemental essays and you can do it there. That said, I've read quite a few really amazing essays about personal growth from video games. Still I prefer to see the essay to be about you — not the activity. So make sure you figure out what it is you want the admissions officers to learn about you.
Persuasive Essay: Video Games
Persuasive Essay: Video Games. Teenagers today often spend a great deal of time playing video games. These games are fun and engaging and young people often feel like playing games is a great thing to do in their spare time. However, you shouldn't spend too much time gaming and there are a number of reasons for this: it's unhealthy, you ...
Interesting College Essay Topics: Video Games & Esports Part 1
During this multi-part college essay blog series, I'm going to review a few different ways to tackle the topics of video games: The Personal Impact of Video Games. Artistic, Emotional, or Developmental Impact of a Single Player Game (You Are Here) Impact of a Competitive Multiplayer Game. Impact of a Social or Cooperative Multiplayer Game.
Video Games and Their Impact: [Essay Example], 433 words
Let us write you an essay from scratch. 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help; Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours; Write my essay. ... Investigating if Video Games Can Make You Smarter Essay. Can video games make you smarter is a question that has sparked considerable interest and debate in recent years. Video games, once regarded ...
Writing About Video Games : r/CollegeEssays
Video games used to have a bit of a stigma; but, it's clear that there are productive ways people can enjoy video games past simple instant gratification. (Examples: coding, game design, digital art, 3d, story writing, concept design) If you have any questions about writing your essays about video games, feel free to let me know! Thanks!
Should Video Game Passion Be Shared on College Applications?
Sometimes other kids will come over and play video games with him, but other times he will just play against other people online. We are talking about his college essay and he wants to write it about video games, and then for his activities list, he wants to list winning a video game tournament.
Can I write an essay on video games (or their history) for the new
The essay is supposed to be about you. It is supposed to highlight something in your personality that makes a college want to accept you. If you can do that by writing about your relationship with video games then that is OK, but don't make video games be the main topic of the essay.