Studies that Focus on the Benefits of Computer Gaming?

Mitch Wagner asks: "Are you aware of any studies that research the BENEFICIAL effects of computer gaming? Here's why I ask: I volunteer at the St. Vincent de Paul Village homeless shelter computer lab here in San Diego. Homeless men and women come into the lab to search the Internet for jobs, communicate by e-mail, and learn to use computers and the Internet. Recently, the lab installed computer games on several of the machines. From what I've observed, contrary to popular wisdom, computer gaming is a wholesome activity. It teaches people to use computers, learn problem-solving skills, think and - because the players frequently play in teams, or against each other, or looking over each other's shoulders - the players learn how to solve problems and interact in groups. These lessons are especially valuable because many of the clients are emotionally underdeveloped, lack problem-solving skills,and have difficulty working and playing with others. My observation is that time spent in the computer lab is time that the homeless clients are NOT taking drugs, NOT drinking, NOT being violent and ARE using their minds. We'd like to find some kind of studies to test our observations. Are you aware of any? I did some Googling and found two, but I'd like to find some studies that are more conclusive."

"According to research performed at the University of Bristol, video games teach strategic and planning skills that teacher's find necessary to student learning. The study was conducted on 700 7- to 16-year-old boys and girls, however we can theorize those findings might well also apply to adults, especially the kinds of emotionally underdeveloped adults likely to find themselves in a homeless shelter.

The Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science at Case Western Reserve University notes that computer games can help users learn to use a mouse.

Full disclosure: When I'm not volunteering, my day job is as a journalist, and I might want to do an article on this subject. If that makes you uncomfortable, please let me know. I'm not trying to pull anything here - I really and truly am primarily motivated by a desire to help out the clients at SVDP Village."

Comments

Spelling...

[cperciva]

I learned to spell by playing Sierra adventure games -- King's Quest I/II/III, Space Quest I/II -- where you had to move to the right position on the screen and then type the action you wanted to take.

Newer games, which simply require pointing and clicking, lack this benefit.

Bundled Windows Games

[WIAKywbfatw]

Solitaire, Freecell, Minesweeper.

Q. What do they have in common?

A. They are all fun ways for computer novices to learn how to use a mouse.

Furthermore, they help reluctant and scared users - the ones that are afraid to go even near a PC in case they "break" it - to interact with their machines in a relaxed (and non-critical) way, and thereby help them overcome any fears or phobias they may have about using a computer.

Treatment for Lazy Eye

[Nomad7674]

My brother developed amblyopia (a.k.a. "Lazy Eye") pretty early in his life. They started out simply treating him by patching the good eye and forcing the "bad" one to work harder. But they went overboard and wound up causing ambyopia in the good eye. When we went to a second doctor to solve the new problem, he gave my brother a new assignment: Wear the patch half the day and then play video games when you got home from school. Playing the games forced the eyes to work together and strengthened them both. Would not have been enough without the patch-wearing as well, but together they were a very effective treatment. Today, his eyes are equal partners in his vision.

Why so biased in your searching?

[John Harrison]

Are you going to disregard any studies that don't agree with your premise? This is what you seem to be doing, and it is flawed. You should be looking at all studies as you research your article. If you approach this with an open mind you will be better able to defend your position, assuming that you still cling to it after reading the evidence.

Here's a hypothetical for you. Lets say that you find 100 studies. As far as you can tell all of them are unbiased. They don't assume that video games are good or bad, they just want to measure the effects. Now lets say that 90 of the studies say that it turns out that video games are bad, and 10 say that they do more good than harm. Will you simply ignore the 90 studies because you don't agree with them?

I am not saying that games are good or bad. I am just saying that you approach seems strange to me. What kind of journalist are you?

That said, I will mention that waayyyy back when Doug;as Englebart was inventing the mouse at SRI he found that even if you give someone a messed up mouse that has funny movement, people learn to compensate for this within a minute or two. The conclusion was that using a mouse, even a messed up one, is incredibly easy. I really doubt that someone needs to play Diablo to "learn" how to use a mouse.

Sure...for homeless people

[cybermace5]

Yeah...for the typical bums I know, time spent playing computer games would be pretty beneficial. For them, there are a lot of worse things they could be doing.

For us, maybe not as much. I'm not going to go pick pockets or drink booze while sitting in the gutter instead of taking care of my family. But computer games are pretty close to zero benefit. They are a fun way to spend an afternoon with friends, or when you have absolutely nothing better to do (or don't want to try). I don't have a TV because it's even worse of a time waster.

You shouldn't play video games to the point that any study applies to you. Mix it up, try different things. I'm not against the occasional gaming marathon, or a good RPG that grabs you for a few days. But don't go out and buy another one right away...dust off the bike, rollerblades, R/C airplane, whatever.