Online Communities Have Positive Effect

eToychest has the results from a three year study, showing the effect of online gaming communities. Overall, the study found, such communities have beneficial results. From the article: "'Our study shows that the online gaming communities are complex and highly developed, acting as training grounds for the transition from school to work' Nic continues: 'When playing, gamers are undergoing a complex process of work related learning - learning how to cope with work scenarios - which is far removed from the traditionally held negative view of gaming. Put simply, these games have a central - and positive - role to play in the development and education of young people.'"

Comments

Commander Obvious strikes again.

[PFI_Optix]

Am I the only one not surprised that when you put a group of people in an entertaining environment with common goals, they develop a positive social structure that emphasizes cooperation and just generally being a good sport?

I mean, seriously. This has been documented plenty of times in real life, is it really all that astounding that people behave the same way in multiplayer games?

Don't Forget

[Azarael]

Gaming communities give you great experience on how to deal with lots of potential aspects of a workplace. Ego driven flame wars, megalomaniacs, juvenile tantrums and control freak superiors are a few that come to mind.

Playing.... learning.

[Spy der Mann]

Does anyone who has seen Animal Planet find a coincidence? When animals play they're training their survival skills. Children play with toys and learn about their environment. Humans are "social animals", so games which imply cooperation in a society are (inadvertedly) training people for today's jobs.