I’m just going to come out and say it: Gaming has gotten a bad rap.

Despite its associations with a sedentary lifestyle or as a catalyst for violence and aggression, new research has found that there’s much more to gaming and these negative connotations have no real proof.

That’s a good thing as gaming has evolved with our lifestyle and in its own medium. It is literally at our fingertips whenever we’re bored or want a quick escape from our daily life. And even if we don’t engage in video games, our kids definitely know about them; from YouTube videos and Twitch to classmates talking about it in school. In other words, gaming culture is here to stay and we’re here for it.

So how did video games receive such a bad reputation in the first place?

Take it back to 1976 when the first violent video game was created. Its name was Death Race, a black-and-white coin-operated arcade game whose objective was to run over humanoid “gremlins” with their car to earn points. Since then, video games have come under frequent scrutiny on whether they are the reason for real-life violence. Hello Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty….

Despite multiple studies of different factors related to aggression and gaming, they have found no relationship between violent games and behavior in children, nor is it predictive of mental health outcomes.

Gaming is categorized as a form of screen time; however, not all forms of screen time are the same. Video games, for instance, do not display the same negative behavioral/emotional effects seen with social media use. The difference in impact may be because social media is more about marketing and comparison of oneself to others while gaming is more about socializing with friends, solving a puzzle, or engaging in competition.

Good Gaming

Many OTs (like myself), PTs, and SLPs (Speech-Language Pathologists) see the value of video games and how it can help clients reach their functional goals. We would often use Xbox Kinect in the clinic to help kids with body movement and motor planning. Not only do video games provide a familiar, fun, and safe arena to learn and improve skills, but they can also address:

• Motor skills. Operating the game controller requires fine motor skills like finger isolation, hand/finger strength, and manual dexterity. Gaming devices that require whole body movements (motion sensor, VR, augmented reality) encourage gross motor skills like motor planning, bilateral coordination, and body/spatial awareness. Gameplay can help with rhythm/timing/sequencing of movement as well as hand-eye coordination.
  
  
• Visual skills. Hidden objects, matching, and sequencing games address visual perception like visual discrimination, attention, and memory. Focusing on the screen during gameplay promotes oculomotor (eye movement) skills, like visual pursuits (tracking), fixation, and acuity.
  
  
• Cognitive skills. Strategy and logic games help with problem-solving, critical thinking, and memory. Action games improve decision-making, spatial reasoning, and attention.
  
  
• Social skills. Multiplayer or role-playing games address communication, collaboration, and teamwork.
  
  
• Emotional regulation. Meditation and mindfulness games can help with stress and anxiety. Challenging first-person games facilitate how to handle stressful situations and tune out extraneous sensory stimuli when completing a difficult task.

Brain Games

The research between video games and how they influence brain function and behavior has been ongoing. While this field of study is rather new (because video games are a modern invention after all), each new find is gradually dismantling the preconceived notion that video games are “bad.”

Many studies have shown that video games impact our brain’s plasticity through attentional control and rewards. The more we engage with an activity, the more neural connections are created and strengthened in areas that are frequently used. In the case of gaming, scientists have found altered brain structures involved in attention, visuospatial reasoning, impulse control, and memory. This supports the research that people who regularly play video games demonstrate improved ability to focus on visual details, task switch, and maintain attention while completing activities.

For younger kids, it’s been proven that when we gamify curriculum, they learn material faster and have better recall. That’s why we’re seeing many more game apps being used in the classroom for building vocabulary, learning phonics, and reviewing math.

As more information comes out about gaming, we can view them as an accessible and engaging tool to assist our kids in whatever they do. The library of games and ways to play them are vast. So long are the days of just sitting in front of the tv because you had no choice. Our kids can take their tablet/Switch/mobile device and play a game using augmented reality to search for game pieces or Pokemon in their neighborhood. They can hook up the old Wii and get their heart rate going by playing a rousing game of tennis, Just Dance, or Guitar Hero. They can get online and talk to their friends while they take over a castle. The possibilities are endless.

On Thursday, we’ll talk about how parents can set up reasonable gaming rules at home and how to keep your kids from falling to the dark side.

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