For me, video games serve as a way to relieve stress after a long day of homework and boring classes, especially on a Friday night when all my friends are playing along. After a long day of work, tryharding  on people in Rocket League is relaxing. According to the CBC, videogames are engaging and enjoyable and they give you dopamine, making your stress levels go down. 

According to the APA, playing video games are a great way to improve your mood and feel more relaxed. Even “violent” video games, like first person shooter games, are beneficial for your health. A study in 2013 found that playing shooter games improves cognitive skills, such as reasoning, memory and perception. Additionally, video games with puzzles in them improves problem solving skills, according to the APA.  Having good problem solving skills is important in many real life jobs and careers; consequently, video games help you in real life. 

Also, many video games have a better story than some movies and they also have more content. For example, the three new Tomb Raider games — “Tomb Raider 2013,” “Shadow of Tomb Raider” and “Rise of Tomb Raider” — have 37.5 hours worth of content combined. To put this into context, all six of the Star Wars movies combined have a total runtime of about 13.5 hours. Even though video games are more expensive, they have way more content and the content is more engaging than watching a movie. 

Video games and applications like Discord allow me to connect with my friends real-time while playing video games, ultimately allowing me to form closer connections.

While many stereotypes about video games may be true, they benefit society through bringing people together and they are a great way to relax from work or school.