Father and Son Learn From Games

Via GamePolitics, a Washington Post article that for once paints gaming as an activity that can bring people together. Apparently you can even learn thing from games. From the article: "I'm sure that not all games are good for you, just as not all movies or newspaper articles improve your intellect or morals. Williams, the professor at the University of Illinois, has studied the impact of computer games on social patterns, and he finds results both good and troubling. But games that teach 11-year-olds about inflation or history can't be all evil, and they may be an improvement on Clue or Monopoly for all I know. Besides, kids clearly enjoy them. That surely ought to count for something."

Comments

Confirmed

[Tom]

Games - like all other social activities - can do a lot of good things for people. Now I don't talk about single-player doom, just like solitaire isn't so much use. But online games? Check.

Two data points:
One, a recent study on MMORPGs (sorry, lost the link) revealed that quite a lot of couples play together. I do that myself and it helps keeping a long-distance relationship happy.

Two, I run an online game myself (see .sig) - and among the praise I got was a father who played the game together with his children whom he didn't see for years after the divorce and the part plays a good part in helping them bond together again.

Multiplayer games are social activities and should be seen in that light, with all the good and bad that brings.