A study on the benefits of video games

[kandrathe]

We hear all the time about the detrimental effects of gaming, the addiction, yadda yadda. But, for those of us who do it, we know there are positive affects to cognitive, social learning, as well as possibilities for a sense of accomplishment, and team building.

Here is a study from Radboud University Nijmegen that explores the positive affects of video game play.

The Benefits of Playing Video Games

The TLDR conclusion is;

"Yet video games today and those on the radar for development in the near future are also unique forms of play. Video games are socially interactive in a way never before afforded. Increasingly, players are gaming online, with friends, family, and complete strangers, crossing vast geographical distances and blurring not only cultural boundaries but also age and generation gaps, socioeconomic differences, and language barriers. The large amount of time invested in playing video games may also mean that they provide qualitatively different experiences than conventional games. Although we may remember spending whole weekends playing Monopoly with siblings and neighbors, few traditional games can boast the weeks and months of game play that many video games provide. These differences in space and time likely hold wholly new benefits and risks that have yet to be conceptualized.
After pulling together the research findings on the benefits of video games, we have become particularly inspired by the potential that these games hold for interventions that promote well-being, including the prevention and treatment of mental health problems in youth. Remarkably, there are very few video games that have been developed with these aims in mind. Given how enthralled most children and adolescents are with video games, we believe that a multidisciplinary team of psychologists, clinicians, and game designers can work together to develop genuinely innovative approaches to mental health interventions."

I could also see where observing game playing (and abuse) could be used as an interesting psychoanalytic diagnostic tool -- e.g. we've all met "pathological" trolls in our game play -- so what motivates this anti-social behavior, and how might it find expression outside of game play. It was purported that Adam Lanza, the Sandyhook shooter, was an avid "School Shooter" player which "inspired" his violent schism. My opinion is that violent psychopaths can take inspiration for their violence from most anything, from novels, to movies, to most often a self inspired fantasy often a twisted version of vengeance for some past pain they've suffered.