Arguments for gaming.

They are reason children become aggressive, lose ability to learn with traditional methods, stop sustaining social relations and fall into addiction in the end. This is rather common belief about computer games.
But such an image of computer games players has nothing in common with the reality. We refute 10 myths concerning computer games.




1)
The biggest group of players aren't crazy teenagers but 35 year old adults who play for 12 years - it results from researches published in "American Journal of Preventive Medicine". (...)




2)
94% of girls uses this form of entertainment in the USA. Some games like The Sims (among others) are the most popular among ~30 year old women. According to "Software Association of America", the biggest association of computer games users, women above 18 years old are 33% of players whereas boys under age of 17 are only 18% of this group. (...)




3)
Keith Bakker, boss of Smith & Jones Center in Amsterdam, the only European clinic treating addiction to computer games states that 95% of people coming to him don't have addiction symptoms.
When he has started his business in 2006 he was using typical behavioral psychotherapies, used in treatment of alcoholism or addiction to hazard. Those methods were efficient only to those who apart from compulsive playing were addicted to medicaments or drugs. But those people were less than 10% of patients. Bakker observed that people playing for a few hours a day have rather environmental difficulties not mental. Today program of "Smith & Jones" clinic focuses on developing social and communication skills in it's patients.




4)
As much as 65% of people who play often, does it with friends - concludes report of "Pew Internet & American Life Project". Even games for a single person are often used by two - one person is controlling a character and the other one, looking over shoulder, gives tips.
Talmadge Wright, sociology professor from Loyola University Chicago has spent hundreds of hours playing online with other internauts. He discovered that even though opponents slaughter their armies in-game, they cooperate by determining rules of the game, explaining them to the beginner players and sometimes even befriend and meet in real life. (...)




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5)
Discussion on that topic has been started after shootings in American schools. It would the easiest way to blame computer games for that. In the meantime belief that shooting virtual enemies encourages to committing crime is as questionable as statement that murderer who has chopped his victim to pieces did it because he had been cutting meat for chops. Of course juvenile offenders from American schools were playing computer games but 97% of teenagers uses games in USA.
Only few had such an macabre idea. According to report prepared by American Health Department, main reason for crime among youth are emotional disorders and conflicts in the family, not influence of media.
“Lancet” magazine proves that nothing allows to state that long term expose of the youngest to violence induces committing crime. Results of researches that were connecting increased aggression with computer games haven’t determined if games increase aggression or if more aggressive people pick games up. There are confirmed researches proving that even monkeys distinguish between fight made for fun and real brawl though. Behaviour patterns most often acquired in home have bigger impact.
Only part of games includes violence scenes and producers warn those products are intended for people above 16 or 18 years old. Parents shouldn’t let those reach younger kids.
Violence has always been present in literature for children what is known by everyone who has read Grimm brothers’, Andersen’s or Perrault’s fairy tales. No one has had an idea to ban them.*




6)
Researches done by James Paul Gee from University of Wisconsin, author of “Good Video Games + Good Learning” conclude that students that play frequently see mistakes not as loses but opportunity to improve. According to him players look for new, better solutions of problems and take challenges more willingly than others. They make and test hypotheses more often than others.

Researches done by professor Patricia Greenfiled from University of California, Los Angeles, published in "Science" have similar results. In her opinion the main reason causing Flynn effect, that is next generations IQ rise, are media including computer games. They enforce fast assimilation, analyze, and use of data. New games and development of technologies give players still new challenges.

Games develop older people’s cognitive skills too. And much more efficient than other training. It has been proven by Arthur Kramer, psychology professor from University of Illinois. Tests made earlier, using other methods of cognitive skills improvement has ended with virtual success – participants of experiments were accomplishing better results but it was soon discovered they just got better at solving test exercises. In case of people playing “Rise of Nations” where player’s tasks is developing a city, hiring people, making and keeping an army and expanding territory, it was different. After 24 hours spent during a week to develop an empire volunteers were coping better with doing few different tasks at the same time, change focus from one task to another better, had better short-term and random-access memory.




7)
Team of scientists from Helsinki, Finland, was examining people playing James Bond 007: NightFire with psychology tests and Electromyography. Both methods have shown that all players felt uneasiness each time they’ve killed virtual opponent regardless of how long they’ve been playing.
“There is no proof that long-lasting playing of games with scenes of violence reduces emotional sensitivity” – summed researches scientists in a work
“James Bond’s Psychophysiology: emotional reaction to violence in games”.