Gaming is Good!

Many people wonder if playing video games makes us lazy or violent. We have begun to focus on the brighter side of gaming, the advantages. An increasing number of studies done by universities have found that video gaming can improve things like decision making, perception, creativity, hand-eye coordination and vision! Usually people can focus on four things at a time, but one study found that experienced gamers could focus on six different things at once.

Like learning to read or playing the piano, video games can challenge the brain and actually change its physical shape. Passing a level or winning the game is a reward. It gives you the feeling of accomplishment. All the concentration put into it and the reward of success strengthens the brain.

Violent video games are not necessarily the best idea. Indiana University found that they can mess with your emotional control. However, according to cognitive neuroscientists Daphne Baverlier and psychologist Linda Jackson, violent games don’t seem to have a very different effect on people than any other type of video game.

One study found that gamers who play action-based games are able to make 25% faster decisions and it does not affect their accuracy. Another study, that went on for three years and tested almost five hundred middle school students, found that the children who played computer games got better scores on their standardized tests for creativity.

Researchers are trying to find ways to make learning games as exciting as video games. Wouldn’t it be cool if your homework was to game?

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