Nowadays, video games are frequently accused of having harmful effects on children and adolescents. The main arguments against video games are that they lead to addiction, cause violence, and harm social development. Whether or not these claims are true has not been determined with certainty, as scientific studies have produced conflicting results. However, video games also have beneficial effects, which tend to be underestimated, because they do not benefit from the same media coverage as opposing games and are therefore unknown to the general public. Some of the positive effects of video games on mental development include: stimulating analytical thinking, improving concentration, and encouraging planning and anticipation (“Video Game Controversies”). I have been playing video games since I was in kindergarten and I believe they have been invaluable to my intellectual development. I owe about a third of my English vocabulary to video games. Strategy games like Age of Empires and Age of Mythology taught me about planning and resource management, as well as a lot about the history and culture of human civilizations. Shooting games like Counter-Strike and Unreal Tournament taught me to make decisions quickly under stress and improved my hand-eye coordination and spatial orientation. Adventure and puzzle games such as Darksiders and Minesweeper taught me problem solving and logical reasoning, in addition to improving my ability to concentrate and significantly increasing my perseverance. The concept of “edutainment” – the hybrid of education and entertainment has been around almost as long as video games. The proof is The Oregon Trail, a play on color...... in the middle of a sheet...... with an extensive and grammatically precise vocabulary. As with all Wikipedia articles, its content is user-generated, but the quality of the writing suggests that the authors are well trained. The article was created in 2003, but the numerous recent sources in the reference list imply that it was regularly updated until May 2014. Works Cited Brown, Harry. Video games and education. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2008. Web. Michael, David and Sande Chen. Serious Games: games that educate, train and inform. Boston, MA: Thomson Course Technology, 2005. Web. Mileham, Rebecca. Powering Up: Are Computer Games Changing Our Lives?. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2008. Web. Rutter, Jason, and Jo Bryce. Understanding digital games. London: Sage Publications, 2006. Web. “Video game controversies”. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, May 1, 2014. Web. May 2 2014.