Health Benefits of Video Games........Wall Street Journal?

as a pretty hardcore gamer i can believe that.

it makes damn near perfect sense.

I have been a serious gamer all my life and only recently having had kids have I reigned back my gaming hours and I can tell you when it comes down to things like reactions and thinking quickly on the fly I not only do very well but repeatedly seem to out do others around me.

I'm not saying these skills are worth spending hours and hours of your life trying to achieve through gaming but I do agree that gaming has a heavy impact on them.

I think the point was the juxtaposition of health/video games and the Wall Street Journal?

Anyway, it's undeniably true, but at what cost?



It's hard to 'justify' the time investment in gaming on the grounds of developmental benefits IMO. Not to say necessarily that there's anything wrong with gaming, it is most certainly culpable to some degree in falling literacy standards in young boys as the option of reading for practise and pleasure becomes less appealing (I mean this overall across the population- of course I know many clever and well read people that also play a lot of games ). Yet ultimately literacy is the more important/useful skill for the next generations.

But like many things it's not the technology that's the problem, rather the parents which don't offer enough direction.

There are also too many TV channels nowadays. When I grew up there were just 4. This meant that most of the time there was nothing to watch, and we had little choice but to read a book and broaden our minds . That was until I got a Commodore 16

Commodore 16? I had the Commodore 64....you mean Vic-16 ?

I make video games for a living - but I barely let my 13 year old son play them, because it messes up his grades, and his focus on school, his attitude, and a bunch of other things suffer. If only they could make school a video game...

No, t'was a Commodore 16. It took the same games as something else.... a 'Plus 4' I think.

Thats fucking nuts..and you are right, there is a Commodore 16. I guess you are a couple years older than me?

Btw I tried to read that link, and there isn't much to read, seems it was an online chat or something?

Good to know beating Super Mario Bros Deluxe on my game boy color back in the day made me more creative. Video games are awesome, super hardcore gamers just gotta enjoy the sunshine and well...have a life lol.

I definitely feel that video games (such as counterstrike) have helped me while driving because I am VERY GOOD at seeing everything around me and reacting to certain situations. I have avoided COUNTLESS accidents and I feel that FPS has helped... Cool read

IMO the trick isn't to stop kids from playing games, but to gamify education. In fact, formal education is already gamified, and has long been so ... but just really badly. You do certain stuff, try to learn certain skills and knowledge, then those skills and knowledge are tested, you get a score, and if it's high enough you get to move to the next stage - but the reward system in traditional formal education absolutely sucks.

Whereas in well-designed games such as high-skill first-person-shooters and the highly-addictive World of Warcraft, you're constantly getting feedback on your progress, and you can really feel yourself advancing, even if it's only in tiny increments.

If similar feedback and reward systems could be integrated into the schooling of children, and indeed into the education and training of adults in any number of fields, I believe the benefits could be staggering. Homework could be something that kids want to do.

^ I agree with that schooling feedback system idea

I believe that gaming can help you in many ways, from concentration to awareness of surroundings to hand-eye coordination to even using motion gaming to learn how to correctly do things such as swing a golf club. Some can also can help you lose weight. Games such as WoW and even CoD can help with tactics, some even usable in real life situations like the military (search and destroy). Reflexes and reaction times are greatly improved with games, which is easily integrated in real life. Some teach you how to drive, and some teach you how not to drive (GTA). With feedback systems and rewards as stated above, a user can find confidence knowing that they are good at what they put their mind's to, making things in real life seem easier if they just set their mind's to accomplishing it. Can't think of anymore right now but I may add some more if I think of any others.

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