Last September we took you through five ways video games can actually be good for you. It turns out we only just scratched the surface; here are five more ways games can help people.
You know, as opposed to harm people.
Boys and girls who play video games tend to be more creative, according to findings by Michigan State University researchers.
The results, published in November 2011, found that the more kids played video games, the more creative they were in tasks such as drawing pictures and writing stories.
The researchers surveyed 491 12-year-olds and assessed how often the students used different forms of technology. Measures were obtained for general computer use, internet use, video game playing and mobile phone use. Participants were also asked to indicate their favourite video game. The use of mobile phones, the internet and non-gaming activities on computers was found to be unrelated to creativity.
However, regardless of gender, race or even the type of game played by the students (violent or nonviolent), the study found a relationship between video game playing and greater creativity.
Favourite games named by participants included Super Smash Bros., Half-Life 2 and, er, Big Mutha Truckers 2.
Researchers gauged the kids’ creative cred with what’s known as the Torrance Test of Creativity – Figural. The first stimulus took the form of an egg shape on a blank sheet of paper; the kids were required to think of a unique picture they could draw with this shape as part of it, and write a story about what they drew. The second stimulus was a picture of an elf lying in front of a small pool of water, staring at its reflection, which the kids had to answer a series of hypothetical questions about.
Cue the awkward teenage fan-fiction!
In February 2011 researchers from Utah-based Brigham Young University’s School of Family Life published the results of a study on video games and children between 11 and 16 years old. They had found that girls who played video games with a parent were better behaved, had stronger connections with their family and enjoyed overall better mental health.
The study involved 287 families with an adolescent child.
Playing with a parent wasn’t a statistically significant factor for boys in any of the outcomes measured (positive behaviour, aggression, family connection, mental health). However, for girls playing with a parent (in most cases, their father) accounted for as much as 20 per cent of the variation on those measured outcomes.
“We’re guessing it’s a daddy-daughter thing, because not a lot of moms said yes when we asked them if they played video games,” explained co-author Laura Padilla-Walker. “Co-playing is probably an indicator of larger levels of involvement.”
“Any face-to-face time you have with your child can be a positive thing, especially if the activity is something the child is interested in.”
The findings did come with one crucial caveat: the games had to be age-appropriate. Researchers found mature titles weakened the statistical relationship between co-playing and family connectedness.
"Well, that's to be expected if you have your head dunked in lava, sweetie. Sweetheart? Wait, why are you crying?"
It might seem kind of redundant pointing out video games are better than watching television these days. Consider for a moment one of the most popular shows on TV right now: The Big Bang Theory – a show that features so much laugh-track the only possible explanation is that the guy who yanks the laugh-track lever died on the job and his rotting, hunched-over corpse has knocked it permanently into the on position.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
However, researchers at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia recently found that children could indeed be better off playing video games than watching television.
Dr. Penny Sweetser, Dr. Daniel Johnson and Dr. Peta Wyeth, from QUT's Games Research and Interaction Design Lab, investigated the amount of time children spent watching television and DVDs compared to video game and computer use.
Watching television, according to Dr. Johnson, is a 'passive' experience. Video and computer games are interactive and, with research indicating it boosted children's self-esteem, cognitive skills like problem-solving and, in some cases, physical activity levels, it’s the better option.
“There is a lot of negative press about gaming and that's not well-supported. Where there is a negative effect, research shows it’s on the minority of people,” he said.
Dr. Sweetser said computer use and video gaming should not be classed as the same type of activity as watching television and recommended screen-related activities be divided into two categories, active and passive screen time.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. EVERY SENTENCE IS FUNNY.
From the very young to the not-so-young, research sponsored by the Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland suggests that using video games can help the elderly improve their balance and, in turn, avoid devastating (and sometimes deadly) falls.
Unfortunately for those of you suddenly looking forward to schooling Nanna in a Battlefield 3 session it’s not just any game; it was a Wii game designed specifically for the research project that used the Wii Balance Board peripheral. Nevertheless, researchers found that participants who played the game showed improvement in balance and gait.
“Er, hey, Pop. Um, Nanna says to put Pickleweasel down and take your pills.”
Researchers out of Queen's University Belfast (in conjunction with Trinity College Dublin) tested the games on elderly participants in both Dublin and Belfast and found that those who played the games had "significantly greater" improvements in balance control than those test subjects who didn't participate in the video game activity.
Good news for all of those who want to be able to move about without falling over when they get older.
We’re probably still gonna stick with sitting on the porch and scowling, though.
An Ohio State study suggests that playing co-operative video games may be linked to friendlier behaviour later on, according to a report on The Lantern in September last year.
After playing games including Halo 2 and Unreal Tournament 3 in contrasting conditions, both in co-operative modes and competitive modes, participants were given a simple trading exercise where they could share coins with the others, or simply keep them all. Coins shared would double in value, and the study found that after people played co-operatively, people cooperated in the later task.
The results are interesting because they clash with claims that violent games increase aggression. OSU Professor of Communication David Ewoldsen said the findings illustrated that when it comes to associating video games with increased aggression, “it’s not the content of the game that matters, it’s how you play the game that matters.”
According to Ewoldsen the concept for the study partly came from watching his sons play video games.
“When I watched my sons playing together, afterward it would be a much more positive environment than if they were playing competitively, and then half the time they’d end up fighting,” he said. “And ultimately what the idea came down to was which had a bigger effect, cooperating with a real human or killing a virtual creature? And I always thought that cooperative behaviour with a real human is going to override that killing of the digital creature.”
Slay together, stay together?
Luke is Games Editor at IGN AU. You can chat to him about games, cars and other stuff on IGN here or find him and the rest of the Australian team by joining the IGN Australia Facebook community.
Source : ign[dot]com
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