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Are sports video games significantly negative or positive towards gamers? If so, how?

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Sports video games and competitive esports have a negative psychological and physical impact on casual and competitive gaming communities, such as depression, harmful bodily transformations, and these can result in gamers’ lives having worse real-life interactions and conditions.

Some physical effects I hope to talk about: Vision issues, Overeating(weight gain), Carpal tunnel or issues with muscles, etc.

Some psychological effects: Depression, anger, sadness, lower self-esteem/confidence, worse social skills, etc.

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What are these negative psychological effects?

What are these negative physical effects?

How specifically do they negatively affect relationships or work-life/school-life balances?

Examples of how it does negative affect real life?

Any experiments or studies that talk about these negative psychological and physical effects?

How do regular gamers from the community respond to this?

Is it different for casual gamers vs. competitive gamers? If so, how?

How do the microtransactions play a role in the psychological effects that these sports video games have?

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Playing less than a hour a day of video games showed positive effects on life satisfaction and social skills. If it is limited, then it does help.

Sports video games can teach you to work together with people online and learn how to strategize and cooperate.

Positive effects may outweigh negative effects.

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I agree that 2k and other sports games don’t work on improving their games in some aspects despite making record-breaking sales every year. So, a problem that has been going on with 2k is that there is excessive amounts of server delay/lag online. There will always be lag online but with 2k and some other sports games, it is excessive and there is potential to reduce it but it is never done. Also, with crossplay added this recent year, it is even worse as servers between two consoles are combined. Not being able to time their shots or animations because of the servers lagging and the game makes people feel depressed in a way because it makes them feel as if they are bad at the game despite it not being completely their fault. They also feel as if their autonomy is limited which worsens self-esteem.

Also, while many PCs have more processing power than consoles, they are forced to be on the last generation with older consoles and suffer through worse versions of games because 2k does not want to work to make PC next gen, despite many other genres of games doing this already. This leads to FOMO and can lead people to having to waste money on a console they don’t need, just for one game, which isn’t a wise financial decision.

“2K Is Depressing.” Reddit, 13 Nov. 2019, www.reddit.com/r/NBA2k/comments/dw34vl/2k_is_depressing/.

“It’s Depression 🥲.” Reddit, 14 Sept. 2022, www.reddit.com/r/NBA2k/comments/xe7w0a/its_depression/.

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I agree with how many people and I get angry at the game when it isn’t going our way. It is a common occurrence for people to be toxic in voice chat but some people get too involved in the game and end up taking it too far by destroying their controller or TV/PC through physical violence. In that moment, it doesn’t just feel like a video game for them, but it feels clear that they are taking the losses personally. They believe that it makes them less worthy if they do bad in the game. They start to lose all sense of control in their emotions and this is also a violent outburst even though it is small compared to the Madden shooter incident. Some people even inflict pain on themselves for losing which is a big problem as well.

Also, a big part of the game is that there is a very toxic community. While it may not be known to be as toxic as one of the most toxic game communities in the world(League of Legends), it is certainly near the top. In peoples’ opinions, NBA2k isn’t working hard enough on implementing a better matchmaking system, which in turn causes a lot of games with uneven teams and this makes it unfun for players. The teammate grade system in 2k also doesn’t punish players enough online for “throwing” the game and lowering their teams’ chances to win. Usually, you have to get to a F teammate grade to get kicked out but the teammate grade has been very lenient. This fuels toxicity and trolling for the most smallest and trivial matters which fuels an evergoing cycle.

“2K Is a Bad Game but the Community Makes It Truly Depressing.” Reddit, 29 Mar. 2021, www.reddit.com/r/NBA2k/comments/mfykc9/2k_is_a_bad_game_but_the_community_makes_it_truly/.

“Why Does This Game Make Me so Angry?” Reddit, 19 May 2020, www.reddit.com/r/NBA2k/comments/gms4se/why_does_this_game_make_me_so_angry/.

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Conducted an experiment and surveys and found data regarding how esports can lead to many physical issues such as eye fatigue. These players end up practicing countless hours as a day because for some, this is their main source of income. They also tend to have computer vision syndrome with symptoms such as blurry vision, low back pain, and tension headache. Found in a lot of gaming individuals playing more than three hours a day, which aligns with the medical news article that I spoke about earlier. Also, as esports involves the most professional gamers in games with a high skill level and skill gap, these players have to make quick movements which can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome(as stated before) and hypertrophy. I hope to talk more about these negative physical effects as well as mental effects discussed in the article as well.

I think that video games do not have a significant positive or negative effect unless they are played for a long time. While this article says that children who play video games for less than an hour a day have improved life satisfaction and social skills, it also mentions that these differences in data between this treatment group and the control group is not enough to say whether there is a significant causal relationship. Hence, I disagree that this relationship exists. I do agree that as children start to play more than 3 hours a day, it starts to get into a more negative territory. This is because this is also likely not to be the only amount of screentime as the education system in today’s age has been involving more technology as well. Like this article says, it negatively affects social skills and life satisfaction which affects mental health. I hope to touch upon this more as negative social skills and life satisfaction usually reduce low self-esteem which can catapult to far more negative behaviors.

Palanichamy, Thamilselvan, et al. “Influence of Esports on Stress: A Systematic Review.” Industrial Psychiatry Journal, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2020, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8188925/.

Ellis, Marie. “Could Playing Video Games for Short Periods Be Beneficial for Kids?” Medical News Today, 4 Aug. 2014, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/280567.php#4.

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Talks about microtransactions, which are highly prevalent in modes within sports genre games like MyCareer and MyTeam within NBA2k, Madden Ultimate Team within Madden, and Ultimate Team within FIFA. Prices of these microtransactions have been increasing every year and are costlier now than ever. These models usually are for F2P(Free to play) games but the greediness of the corporations involved in producing these games caused them to produce an annually released game that you have to pay for and also the costly microtransactions combined into one product. This article talks about how these microtransactions manipulate human behavior and brain chemistry. Reason I intend to talk about this is because a problem involved in these game models with microtransactions is a term called FOMO(Fear of missing out). These companies are termed as predatory because they try to get a group of people to buy these expensive transactions and then hope other people will feel jealous or uneasy that others are getting a headstart, which will in turn make them buy it as well. This has to do with the manipulation of human behavior and brain chemistry.

This article has done an experiment with three treatment groups involving people interested in the sport of basketball. It has three separate groups involving consumption of the real life NBA, NBA2k, and esports. Emotional motivations like enjoyment and entertainment were higher for real life basketball compared to the virtual forms of it. I plan to dive deeper into all of the results and explain why exactly there are significant differences shown in some categories of the results, like enjoyment and entertainment.

Hardy, Matt. “Predatory Microtransaction Regulations: An International Comparison.” Redirecting..., heinonline.org/HOL/Page?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals%2Fscjilb17&id=247&men_tab=srchresults.

Rogers, Ryan, et al. Motivational Differences among Viewers of Traditional ... - Sage Journals, Sage Journals, journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2167479520942738.(Likely going to be used as a backup source or not at all if not necessary)

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Reflecting on my own experiences throughout playing these games like NBA2k,  Madden, FIFA, Cricket 22. Play these games more again to just refresh my experiences and also get an opportunity to talk to newer players about their thoughts.

Continuing to research other people's experiences(have done so on reddit so far but planning to branch onto other social media websites and also for more competitive players)
- Competitive players from MCS(Madden Competitive Series) or NBA2kL (NBA 2k League)

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The first source talks about how video games in general can cause a negative effect on mental health by causing low self-esteem, flawed coping strategies, loneliness, and more. I also agree with how it talks about how negative emotional states can influence people into making worse decisions which impact relationships in life, or work-life or school-life balance. In sports video games, people also feel like the player actually represents them, so losing to other players online makes them feel inferior in real life even though there should be a clear distinction between video games and real life. This low self-esteem can also affect motivation to do other important things in life. I would know because I have also experienced some problems with this matter in the past.

The article also talks about the harmful effects on eyes and how excessive strain time with video games can cause eye strain. Certain game modes in these sports games have games that take up to an hour so it isn’t a very quick game that can be played and finished within 10-15 minutes. It also is an online game so it can’t be paused. These longer games and longer screen times cause gamers to have to play longer and hurt their eyes in the process, and sitting too long in one place doesn’t help either. Also talks about how these games can cause carpal tunnel syndrome and musculoskeletal pain.

Both articles discuss how being forced to lock into one character or one storyline does not allow for much autonomy as they either cannot create their own character or once they do create their own character, the specific characteristics of their character does not have any bearing on the storyline. The point of video games are to be able to make your own decisions along the journey but NBA2k16’s storyline prevents you from doing so. The storyline also locks you into being with a black family and by doing so, it presents a stereotype that black people are superior athletically compared to other races, which may make some people feel inferior and have low self-esteem.

I think that this is a very important real-life experience showing the negative effect of sports video games/esports on mental health and enlightens people about how serious this problem is in young adults, teenagers, and children. David Katz was a 24-year-old professional Madden player from Baltimore and he came to the Jacksonville tournament as a participant. Throughout his esports gaming career in Madden, David had been previously hospitalized for mental illnesses, and was also entered into psychiatric facilities to help deal with his mental health problems. He had to get medication through court records as well, which indicates the severity of the problem. He ended up losing a few rounds of the competition and he was annoyed from the start, as he refused to show sportsmanship, ended up leaving the tournament area, and coming back with a gun to try and shoot as many people as possible. It seems like he could not handle losing as it hurt his ego so he wanted to make as many people feel as hurt as he was before committing suicide. I will look into both sides and ensure that I form an unbiased judgment on whether the tournament loss in Madden is the main factor in sparking the violent outburst.

Barden, Anna. “Are Video Games Bad for Your Health?” All About Vision, 2 June 2022, www.allaboutvision.com/resources/human-interest/video-games-and-your-health/.

Russworm, TreaAndrea M. "Close-Up: Sports, Race, and the Power of Narrative: Computational Blackness: The Procedural Logics of Race, Game, and Cinema, Or how Spike Lee's Livin' Da Dream Productively "Broke" a Popular Video Game." Black Camera, vol. 10, no. 1, 2018, pp. 193-212. ProQuest, https://ezproxy.bu.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Fclose-up-sports-race-power-narrative%2Fdocview%2F2444992400%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D9676, doi:https://doi.org/10.2979/blackcamera.10.1.12.

Tacopino, Joe. “Madden Shooter Had Been Hospitalized for Mental Illness.” New York Post, 28 Aug. 2018, nypost.com/2018/08/27/madden-shooter-had-been-hospitalized-for-mental-illness/.

Background info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacksonville_Landing_shooting

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Argument:

Sports video games and competitive esports have a negative psychological and physical impact on casual and competitive gaming communities, such as depression, harmful bodily transformations, and more. These can result in gamers’ lives having worse real-life interactions and conditions.

Counterargument:

Gaming related to sports video games and esports has more of a positive impact in terms of psychological health compared to its negative impact. One of the studies shows that playing less than an hour a day can lead to higher life satisfaction and social skills, which are positive psychological benefits.

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Personal Experience(may build upon and add and use)

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Personal Experience(may build upon and add and use)

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I have been playing 2k since 2k9(2008) and I have also played other video games relating to sports and other genres. I feel that allows me to have more detailed info on certain things due to my experiences.

I remember how the games have changed over the past decade in important ways. I feel like I can explain how, while the AI is more realistic in terms of movement, your AI teammates can still be awful due to mere changes in sliders to create higher difficulty. 2k has not really figured out how to make the game harder without making your AI teammates useless. It is annoying because in real life, even if one player has a great game, that player's teammates should still be contributing in a meaningful way. 2k has gotten better at accounting for this but it is still a problem. It could be seen as if they are taking the easy out by just relying on the main adjustment being changes in sliders.

I also feel like I can explain certain glitches in the game that have caused the NBA2k community outrage over the years because it impacts our gameplay experiences. For example, in NBA2k19 online gameplay, there was an overpowered gameplay mechanic of just pushing people on the court when you don’t have the ball, which would just be a foul unless you were setting a screen without using too much force. It just made the game unfun and angering because people were abusing the pushing and shoving glitch, and people could not play realistic basketball in a simulation game.

May also tie in real-life academic-gaming balance when growing up

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May remove part of the thesis because I don't think I need to always connect to how some negative effects affect a person's real-life relationships. That isn't always the case. Still thinking whether I should keep or remove this. Maybe that can just be used as an additional point for an explanation instead of using it as a "always happens" point in my thesis.

Also, I think my main reasoning is to just educate sports video gamers on this topic so that they can make their own decisions and possible limitations on their interactions with these games.

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https://quoramarketing.com/nba-2k23-build-prices-compared-to-previous-years/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8188925/

^ Table 1 Results