Pros and Cons of Gaming
We can foster safe and responsible use of online games for fun and for learning if we limit the amount of social interaction available. A lot of the toxicity comes from chatting or talking with someone online. Some of the best online communities that fosters a healthy community is Pokemon GO. This game does not allow quick chats or any sort of chatting between players, however there is still a social aspect where you can play with your friends and get better at the game because of it. This game also allows us to be more active and make healthier choices in our lives by walking or working out more. Some of the games with the most social interactions are the games with the most toxic communities. For example, Call of Duty allows people to talk to strangers while playing the game. Some people have no regard for the well being of other people especially strangers so they will be toxic for the sole reason that they can be. Limiting the communication between players, especially strangers would be the best way to create a better gaming community.
An easy 3 tips that I would give to parents and children when it comes to keeping people safe and healthy while gaming is to limit interactions with strangers. Pick games that people can enjoy together with limited social interfaces. This will lead to less situations that could lead to toxicity in gaming and communication. The final tip I would give to parents would be to use disciplinary action if the kid does not behave. I would probably take away their gaming station or whatever they are gaming on if I caught them reciprocating toxicity online. These are three easy tips that could help parents keep their children safe from a bad gaming community.
One online game that I got really into during quarantine was Ark: Survival Evolved. This is an open world online game where you must survive and level up your character in order to create more sophisticated objects. The hardest part of surviving is that there are dinosaurs all around and there are also other players that will be looking to raid you and take everything you have. This game can be very interesting in learning how to survive and learning the different kinds of dinosaurs and what type of environment they live in. The game if very in-depth and there are not many parts that do not make sense in terms of survival. So it is very realistic. There is a world chat, however many people do not seem to go on it and there is proximity chat through a mic that can connect you to strangers and let you talk to them. There can be a lot of toxicity in this game as well, however it is not in the form of voice chat or texting usually. The majority of the toxicity in this game is in the form of griefing someone else’s base or home. They will destroy it for the sole reason of destroying it and making you feel bad. This can be very degrading sometimes and it can be very sad if it happens to you because you spend a lot of time creating such a base. All in all, the game is a ton of fun and is really rewarding with limited toxicity. That is why I chose to play it.