TEDxSalford

Seriously, Computer Games CAN Be Good For You

Ever since I was a young boy, I’ll never forget they day I came home and my parents had set up a Nintendo in my living room. It was amazing! It was there I was introduced to a plumber known as Super Mario and have played the series of Super Mario games throughout the last 22 years. I’m no doubt the only one who has grown up with characters like Super Mario, Donkey Kong, Link (The Legend of Zelda), Sonic the Hedgehog and these are just characters from the 80’s and 90’s and there have been plenty more.

The idea for this blog came as I slightly touched on the notion of games being the scapegoats of national tragedies such as school shootings in my last blog. There are strong opinions that believe computer games are technological poison corrupting the minds of young children. I recently watched Jane McGonigal’s talk “Gaming can make a better world” and it was very refreshing to hear how computer games can be good for you and how they can have a positive view on humanity. In Jane’s talk she explains how computer games can impact the individual positively and she applies this to the efficacy of challenging world problems.

What is changing in the games we play today is what the games are asking us to do and how to do it. Now unlike the old days where repetitive music played and a pixelated character scrolled along the screen jumping on enemies heads to which they vanish from the screen, more modern games asking something more of gamers. For instance, the introduction of the Nintendo Wii released in 2006 was a paradigm shifting gaming experience, which introduced a more physical aspect to gaming which required the player to “perform” the actions to play the game. For example swinging ones arm to play tennis. This gaming technology has also inspired Microsoft Xbox 360 to develop similar technology, known as the Kinect and the PlayStation 3 developed the PlayStation Move. All these forms of gaming tech have taken the gaming experience away from simple button bashing to more bodily-kinaesthetic gameplay.

So how can games positively affect the gamer?

Well, games such as Angry Birds or Cover Orange can improve problem solving skills and logic. By coming up with creative ways to solve puzzles.

Playing games where gunfire is required can particularly increase hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills and spatial skills. This is achieved by keeping track of a character, where they are heading, keeping track of their speed, where the gun is aiming and if the target is being hit all at the same time. This must then be interpreted through the fingertips, thus creating incredible training for hand eye coordination and fine motor skills.

Computer games can also be good for developing reading and maths skills. Particular computer games often force a gamer to read text to follow the storyline or follow instructions and also using maths skills to quantitatively strategise and manage in-game resources. A good example of this was when I was 11. I played a game which is by far my favourite of all time, The Adventures of Alundra. It was an RPG (Role Playing Game) in which the storyline was delivered through text and the language used was above my knowledge of words. So I used to play with a dictionary by my side and learn words that I either wouldn’t have learned for a long time or never even learned at all.

There are so many positives to playing games that can improve aspects of a person’s ability in a wide range of areas we would identify as components of intelligence. The concern of playing video games is that children copy what they see. I have mentioned Social Learning Theory before but in this instance the concern is that many parents may feel their children copy the characters behaviour from a computer game.  Social Learning Theory calls this “Modelling”. However, I say this could be a good thing as well, most games require the player to be a protagonist and in most cases the character has a very strong positive moral compass. If people believe players copy the bad things then they could also copy the good things, right? I think computer games can also help children develop a vicarious understanding of the concepts of right and wrong. Rewards for doing the right things in computer games can reinforce good morals and actions.

Although there are violent video games on the market it’s important to understand that these games are made for adults and not for children. Most stories in the media which blame computer games for inspiring violence are when children are playing games like “Call of Duty” which brings a misguided negative attention to computer games. Computer games have come a long way since the 1980’s and maybe parents should pay more attention to the games they are buying their children.

Because seriously, computer games can be good for you.