ABSTRACT

Video games have emerged as the number one pastime activity for the past decade, or even longer for some, overtaking extracurricular, reading, and other less pleasurable activities by storm for all ages. Most of the time, researchers, politicians, families, therapists, and society view video gaming as detrimental to the human population. The evolving state of virtual worlds and video games creates a future where the imagination is the only limitation. Some scholars and advocates may say individuals play video games because they are "addicted to technology" or "enjoy the violence". Still more see little to no harm in playing video games, while others believe them to cause aggressive tendencies within individuals. Finally, the chapter presents an overview of this book. The book focuses on understanding video games, video gamers, the virtual worlds, and current research which may not be as prevalent as the current video game violence debate found in social media, the nightly news, and news articles.