Video Games Earn Credibility
Research is challenging the assumption that video games are bad for players. Legend Apps is happy to excerpt some of the exciting results of studies looking at their effects on both individuals and our society.
Games Challenge Players
The director of MIT’s Education Arcade told the Boston Globe that the very structure of video games makes them ideal tools for brain training.
“Video games are hard,’’ said Eric Klopfer. “People don’t like to play easy games, and games have figured out a way to encourage players to persist at solving challenging problems.’’
The games aren’t just hard – they’re adaptively hard. They tend to challenge people right at the edge of their abilities; as players get better and score more points, they move up to more demanding levels of play. This adaptive challenge is “stunningly powerful’’ for learning, said John Gabrieli, a neuroscientist at MIT.
Fast-paced, action-packed video games have been shown, in separate studies, to boost visual acuity, spatial perception, and the ability to pick out objects in a scene. Complex, strategy-based games can improve other cognitive skills, including working memory and reasoning.
European Parliament Endorses Games
A report from the European parliament concluded in 2009 that computer games are good for children and teach them essential life skills, reported The Guardian.
“Video games can stimulate learning of facts and skills such as strategic thinking, creativity, cooperation and innovative thinking, which are important skills in the information society,” said the report from the committee on the internal market and consumer protection.
The study called for schools across Europe to consider using games for educational purposes and urged parents to take a greater interest in them.
Games & Falling Crime Rates
The fact that crime has continued to fall one of the few happy surprises of this recession. The F.B.I. reported May 24 that violent crimes fell 5.5 percent last year and property crimes declined 4.9 percent.
Lawrence Katz, a Harvard economist, has an intriguing idea of one of the potential causes: video games, , reported the New York Times. “Larry Katz suspects that video games and Web sites may have kept the young and idle busy during this recession, thus explaining the surprising lack of an uptick in crime.”