College students who spend too much time playing online games every week are likely to experience a decline in their learning ability, concentration problems, and academic issues. Parents and educators have been greatly affected by this. Addiction to video games and online games is believed to be a contributing factor to the mental health and social anxiety faced by students and even young children today. A study conducted in the United States with 3,034 participants revealed that around 4% played video games for at least 50 hours a week, with an average of 20 hours a week.
One of the major serious problems associated with online gaming is addiction. People become obsessed with the virtual world, lose their sense of reality, and spend all their time playing. Most of these are gambling, online casinos, but simulations and other games can also be dangerous. If a person is easily influenced, they are more likely to become an addict.
Addiction is a serious psychological problem that must be treated and identified in time. Games and simulations have mixed effects in several sectors, such as student performance, participation, and motivation for learning. However, since these studies focus only on certain disciplines, there remains a gap in the literature regarding a clear framework for use in all academic programs. As a result, the question of efficiently integrating games and simulations into the educational process is often left up to the instructor's judgment. Consequently, the objective of this article is to develop a framework that allows educators from all disciplines to better understand the advantages and disadvantages of games and simulations specific to their pedagogical objectives. Benefits, Barriers and Guidance Recommendations for the Implementation of Serious Games in Education for Stakeholders and Policy Makers. Three-quarters of teens who regularly play online video games say they often talk to their friends while playing.
To conclude, the main body of literature explores the impact of games and simulations on learning outcomes at the behavioral level, especially when students participate in interactive and participatory simulation tasks. This literature review indicates a growing recognition of the effectiveness of digital games in promoting scientific knowledge and concept learning, while giving less importance to the facilitation of problem-solving skills, the exploration of results from the point of view of processes scientists, affection, commitment and socio-contextual learning. It's interesting to see how China responds to the potentially negative effects that online video games can have on students. The data reveal students' preference for active, collaborative and technology-rich learning through digital games that add value to the educational process. Merchant (201) conducted a meta-analysis comparing the effectiveness of games, simulations and virtual worlds in improving learning outcomes. In this regard, games and simulations are expected to play an important role in the learning process.
Nine out of ten boys who play video games online (88%) say they talk to their friends while they play, and about half (52%) of girls who play online do so. Research shows that people who play video games like Fortnite and Rocket League have high visual acuity, meaning they can track various moving objects and see things like fog and rain when others can't. Many online games have linked online communities and have made online gaming a form of social activity that goes beyond individual games. In particular, games influence student motivation, engagement and satisfaction in game-based learning. In addition, reality-based scenarios and action-oriented gaming activities promote fruitful interactions and meaningful feedback, leading to the collaborative construction of knowledge. Validate learning cycle models of business simulation games through students' perceived gains in skills. To carry out the review, examine three affective outcomes (motivation, effort and self-efficacy), one behavioral (effort), two cognitive (declarative knowledge and retention) and two skill-based learning outcomes (procedural knowledge and transfer).The participants in the study by Cózar-Gutiérrez and Sáez-López (201), while stating that video games are not essential tools in an educational context, value GBL as an immersive environment that facilitates increased activity and student participation.
Overall, it is clear that online gaming has both positive and negative effects on students. On one hand it can help improve visual acuity as well as provide an opportunity for social interaction with peers. On the other hand it can lead to addiction which can have serious consequences on mental health as well as academic performance. Therefore it is important for parents as well as educators to be aware of these effects so that they can take appropriate measures to ensure that students are not exposed to any potential harm due to excessive gaming. In conclusion, this article has provided an overview of how online gaming affects students from different perspectives such as mental health, academic performance as well as social interaction.
It has also discussed how educators can use digital games as part of their teaching strategies in order to maximize student engagement as well as improve learning outcomes.