The Benefits of Video Gaming
... up your neural pathways.” (Qtd. Fitz-Claridge) Scientists have discovered children that play games for at least twenty minutes a day, three times a day, help develop that ambidextrous brain that is so beneficial. The brain’s nerve cells shift shape in order to communicate with one another during gaming. (“Benefits” 1) A certain type of video game called Role-Playing Games, or RPGs for short, have many benefits amongst themselves. Many RPGs have abstract and highly different cultures build around game play. This leads to building imagination. RPGs also help to develop the abilities of critical reasoning and sequential reasoning. Some of these games also contain historical references, such as the “Medal of Honor” series, which puts you in the position of a soldier during Vietnam or World War II. Players of the games may research the topics to see how factual the game actually is. (Ward, K.) Which leads back to educational benefits. The new wave of educational games comes in portable form called Leapster. Leapster is said to “[teach] the way your child loves to play! With one interactive system and the Leapster Learning Library, children can PLAY action-packed learning games. READ electronic books, CREATE works of art, and WATCH interactive videos! Play and learn essential pre-K through 2nd grade skills that include: reading, math, critical and creative thinking, story comprehension, vocabulary, and much more!” (“Multimedia”) The Leapster system is a game portable much like that of the Sony PSP, or the Game Boy DS, but the Leapster system has a game library that is purely educational. In a Spiderman game in which you “Help Spider-Man defeat two villains and learn essential 1st and 2nd Grade reading skills!” (“Spiderman”) to playing as SpongeBob SquarePants as you help save the Krusty Krab by playing “5 action-packed learning games that teach 45 skills like: phonics, money concepts, spelling, science, consonant blends & digraphs, addition, & subtraction, as you help SpongeBob collect ingredients, create the sauce, and test it on Patrick!” (“SpongeBob SquarePants”), each game helps young children learn necessary things needed to be successful in today’s working world. "I use the same hand-eye coordination to play video games as I use for surgery," said Dr. James "Butch" Rosser. Studies have proven that doctors who spend three or more hours a week playing video games make thirty-seven percent less mistakes in laparoscopic surgery and performed the task twenty-seven percent faster. Laparoscopic surgery is sometimes known as "keyhole" or "pinhole" surgery. Laparoscopy typically entails four incisions of 5 to 10 millimeters - just large enough to admit the passage of the Surgeons light, a tiny video camera, and precision-crafted surgical instruments. Without the trauma of a long incision, both pain and healing time are greatly reduced and can be performed on almost any part of the body. (Dobnik) Games are also used to help hyperactive children. The “brainwave box” treatment is used to monitor the brainwaves of children and to get them to try to modify their brain activity to help them concentrate. "ADD children to a great extent have a deficiency of high-frequency brainwave signals," said Mr. Pope, a NASA scientist, also saying that this deficiency has been thought to reduce their attention span. The procedure is a long-term process in which changes aren’t seen for about 40 sessions, which leads to the treatment not always being completed or stuck with. This process has become more bearable for the children, however, because of the games. PC games are used, instead of specially designed software to promote particular behaviors. The joystick or controller used can be controlled, and calibrated by brainwaves to make the joystick more responsive to the actions and tasks at hand. This procedure could be used instead of prescribing Ritalin. (Ward, M.) Rehabilitation and good hygiene practices can be eased through with video games. A thirteen-year-old boy with Erb’s Palsy used a video game to improve control on his arm. His concentration was focused on the game at hand, the tasks to complete the game, and the satisfaction that would come from it, rather than the pain and discomfort of being disabled. A game called “Packy and Marlon,” was used to inform children with diabetes of good diabetes care practices. The game was given to a group along with a Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The treatment group received “Packy and Marlon” while the control group received an entertainment video game. The results had shown that the treatment group communicated and performed better diabetes care and also had less urgent medical trips. (Griffiths 49) Mary Gold makes...