"You're wasting your time."
"Can't you put that brain to better use?"
"Why would you rather sit with a controller staring at the screen when you could (insert other activity here)"
If you are a gamer, and seeing as you are here reading this, then you probably are, then you have encountered one of the above phrases in your life. What do you say to those? What possible response can one come up with? Well I've been proposed these questions many times in my life, and in defense of video games, one has to be creative in their answers.
What could possibly be learned from gaming? Passing aside the silly answers like "blocks give out coins hurrr hurrr" there are many intellectual answers that could be given instead.
1. Action video game players are better at tracking and remembering objects
A very recent study done by Sungur and Boduroglu (2012) shows that people that play action video games at least an hour a day for three to four days a week perform better than those who do not. While tracking colors, moving objects, and remembering placement of certain symbols, video game players outperformed non players in both speed and accuracy by a significant amount. Of course, we gamers who play shooters don't need to be told this by those fancy psych majors, we'll take 'em on any time. But its nice to finally get some notice of the fact. This information could be applied to driving, law enforcement, bird watching, Where's Waldo finding, fishing, the list could go on, but I'm quickly running into more jokes than applicable situations. Moving on!
2. "Serious video games" can be used as a therapeutic tool for many mental disorders
Just last winter, Santamaria et al. (2011) discovered by
compiling other studies that using so called "serious games" can be
very beneficial to mental health, even allieviating some neurological problems.
These games created in their players: "elevated self-esteem, higher
self-efficacy, increased knowledge, awareness of the illness, adherence to
treatment and problem solving skills, and enhanced outcome on cognitive and
behavioral aspects of aggression". Basically all good news!
The games that they use are a little more basic, but its a start.
For example, one game, called Re-Mission,
features an oddly Samus-esque character fighting malignant cancer cells
throughout the body. This allows patients that are experiencing symptoms
from cancer to virtually "fight" the illness that is wrecking their
bodies.
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| Nice haircut there Sam- er I mean Roxxi. |
2.5. Video games are being used to help children deal with
ADHD
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Careful kid! That stylish helmet is
READING YOUR BRAIN!!! |
ACTUALLY this fits in with #2, but I thought it was so cool
I needed to give it it's own heading, hence the 2.5 label. A game called
Play Attention is being used currently to help children cope with ADHD and
learn how to direct their attention better. The game itself is just your
standard educational game, fun and interactive for the kiddies but a teaching
tool for their little brains. Problem is that children with ADHD normally
have problems focusing. So, a helmet was made for the kids to wear, that
looks just like a bicycle helmet. But the helmet can read brain waves,
and if the child is not paying enough attention to the game, the game stops
playing. In this way, the child is being trained on how to keep their
focus on something long enough to complete a task, otherwise, GAME OVER.
Very cool.
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3. Gamers will have higher GPA's
As long as you don't spend more time playing video games than you spend in school, that is. Ventura, Shute and Kim (2011) found that students that play video games an average of eleven to fifty hours during a month have significantly higher GPAs than those students that played less or not at all. But lets be honest here, over 50 hours in a month while still attending school, those numbers are clearly lower as well. The very same study found that people that play 7 or more different games in a year were more open-minded, and that those who played 7 or more hours a week were more conscientious in their actions (they thought more about the consequences of their actions and were more painstakingly careful). So good news students! If your parents tell you that you can't have a system until your grades go up, show them this study and tell them that getting the system will actually help your cause! Its a win-win!
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If this baby plays this between 11 and 50 hours this month,
it's GPA is going to skyrocket. Take THAT parents! |
4. Gamers live the lives that they want to live through games
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Ok, so maybe this person would be
better off playing his video games. |
This one might seem obvious, but lets take a look at the facts here. Say you are a socially confused teenager. You want to be somebody, but you aren't sure who you'd like to be. Video games are a good way for that person to figure that out. Multiple playthroughs of Mass Effect can give you a decent sense of morality. The Sims may teach you more about certain careers. Its a safe way to experiment with different options of who you may want to be as a person, without the threat of getting beat up by bullies at your school. Przybylski (wow how do you pronounce that one), Weinstein, Murayama, Lynch, and Ryan (2012) looked at players and their characters in varying video games, and the characters that were more reflective of their player's "inner self" were more likely to be more compelling to the gamer, and more time was subsequently sunk into the game. This is compelling evidence that the more you hide under a profile, the more likely you are to be yourself in the safe virtual world of video games. They let you be who you really want to be.
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| This woman is going to be terrifying with a real baseball bat. |
5. Video gaming is rehabilitating to senior citizens as well
More and more elderly homes are adopting Wii's in their locations, and for good reason. Apparently, seniors are liking video games more and more. All this new-fangled technology is hard to understand, but Wii-motes, which respond to simple actions, are easy. You just move! That's it! An unforseen side effect of these video games, however, is that the seniors are learning that even though they are older, it doesn't mean that they don't have to not do anything. A study performed by Aarhus, Gronvall, Larsen and Wollsen (2011) proves that not only are the senior's physical fitness improving, but so is their motivation to continue moving. This motivation decreases, however, when the video gaming stops. As long as the game is simple enough for the seniors to understand, they'll see improvements.
6. Gaming is an industry juggernaut, grossing more in one day than an entire opening weekend blockbuster film
$169 Million dollars in a weekend? Thats nothing to sneeze at, coming from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.
$400 Million dollars in one day. November 8th, 2011. Of course I'm speaking of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Love it or hate it, it is the perfect example of the impact video gaming can have on our economy. And we gamers are in the center of it. Call of Duty may be the biggest example, but its nowhere near the only one. Modern Warfare 2 (320 million), Grand Theft Auto 4 (310 million) and Halo 3 (170 million) all top that record set by HP7(2) by a sizable margin. Its hard to argue against the industry giant.
7. Art and video games are one and the same
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Taken from the Smithsonian's web page.
Yes this is a real exhibit! |
When does the line get blurred between art and video games? The age old argument of what constitutes as art has been shoved onto video game territory for years now, and one official source may have a major opinion to express. That source?
The Smithsonian American Art Museum.
When the Smithsonian institution recognizes video games as art, when are we going to just stop this argument? Regardless, an exhibit just opened up with games taking the center stage, celebrating everything involving the medium. The exhibit opened on March 16.
If you are being told that our hobby is stupid and for kids, just show them how superior we gamers actually are. With more studies being done all the time, who knows what other ways we are improving our bodies and minds with our passion?
Any other arguments you can think of? Tell us in the comments!
References
Aarhus, R., Gronvall,
E., Larsen, S. B., Wollsen, S. Turning training into play:
Embodied gaming, seniors, physical training and
motivation. Gerontechnology,
10(2) p.110-120
Przybylski,
A. K. Weinstein, N., Murayama, K., Lynch, M. F., Ryan, R.
M. The Ideal Self at Play: The Appeal of Video Games That Let
You Be
All You Can Be. Psychological Science, 23(1) p.69-76. doi:10.1177/0956797611418676
Santamaria,
J. J., Soto, A., Fernandez-Aranda, F., Krug, I., Forcano, L., Gunnard,
K., Kalapanidas, E., Lam, T., Raguin, T., Davarakis, C.,
Menchon,
J. M., Jimenez-Murcia, S. (2011). Serious games as additional
psychological support. Journal of CyberTherapy and
Rehabilitation, 4(4) p.469-476.
Sungur, H.,
Boduroglu, A. (Feb 2012). Action video game players form more detailed
representation of objects. Acta Psychologica, 139(2)
Ventura, M.,
Shute, V., Kim, Y. J. Video gameplay, personality and academic
performance. Computers & Education, 58(4) p.1260-1266.
Coming out of the rumor mill recently is the Playstation 4. What rumors is the mill churning out? What does everyone want to know? Well, first off, the name Orbis is being passed around all over. Does it play all of my old PS3 games? I sure have created a solid collection! And, most importantly, with the used game market coming under fire as of late, will Sony try to block the games you buy from friends and second hand stores instead of the developers? Let's take a look at these individually.
