Vol. 20 No.3, 2002
Education and Health 47
What is clear from the empirical literature is that the negative consequences of playing almost always
involve people who were excessive users of videogames.
Dr Mark Griffiths is Professor
of Gambling Studies in the
Psychology Division,
Nottingham Trent University.
Mark Griffiths
The educational benefits of
videogames
Videogames have great positive potential in
addition to their entertainment value and there
has been considerable success when games are
designed to address a specific problem or to teach
a certain skill.
M
Research has
consistently
shown that
playing computer
games produces
reductions in
reaction times,
improved
hand-eye
co-ordination
and raises
players’
self-esteem.
ost reported effects of videogames -
particularly in the popular press - appear
to centre upon the alleged negative
consequences. These have included my own
research into video game addiction, 1,2 increased
aggressiveness, 3 and the various medical and
psychosocial effects. 4 However, there are many
references to the positive benefits of
videogames in the literature. 5,6 Research dating
right back to the early 1980s has consistently
shown that playing computer games
(irrespective of genre) produces reductions in
reaction times, improved hand-eye
co-ordination and raises players’ self-esteem.
What’s more, curiosity, fun and the nature of
the challenge also appear to add to a game’s
educational potential. 7 This paper briefly
overviews some of the educational benefits of
videogame playing.
Videogames as educational
research tools
Videogames can clearly consume the atten-
tion of children and adolescents. 8 However, it is
important to assess the extent that videogame
technology had an impact on childhood educa-
tion. Since videogames have the capacity to
engage children in learning experiences, this
has led to the rise of “edu-tainment” media. Just
by watching children it becomes very clear that
they prefer this type of approach to learning.
However, it appears that very few games on the
commercial market have educational value.
Some evidence suggests that important skills
may be built or reinforced by videogames. For
example, spatial visualization ability (i.e., men-
tally, rotating and manipulating two- and
three-dimensional objects) improve with video
game playing. 9 Videogames were also more
effective for children who started out with rela-
tively poor skills. It has also been suggested that
videogames may be useful in equalizing indi-
vidual differences in spatial skill performance.
For over 20 years researchers have been using
videogames as a means of researching individ-
uals. Many of these reasons also provide an
insight as to why they may be useful education-
ally. For instance :
> Videogames can be used as research and/or mea-
>
>
>
>
>
surement tools. Furthermore, as research tools they
have great diversity
Videogames attract participation by individuals
across many demographic boundaries (e.g., age,
gender, ethnicity, educational status)
Videogames can assist children in setting goals,
ensuring goal rehearsal, providing feedback, rein-
forcement, and maintaining records of behavioural
change
Videogames can be useful because they allow the
researcher to measure performance on a very wide
variety of tasks, and can be easily changed, stan-
dardized and understood
Videogames can be used when examining individual
characteristics such as self-esteem, self-concept,
goal-setting and individual differences
Videogames are fun and stimulating for participants.