What does science have to say about the effect of games?

[J T]

This news articles summarizes some of what is said in the recent Nature Reviews: Science.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/11 ... more-83297

If you want to read the original article, you'll probably need access to a university library, or you know, a polite pm to the right person.

[scarper]

One can no more say what the effects of video games are, than one can say what the effects of food are.

For once, we have a seemingly unbiased standpoint on the topic.

[Flake]

I read an article not long ago that actually addressed a few of the quantifiable positives that were found when life long gamers in their mid-20's were compared to a control group of the same age who had no consistent gaming habits.

The gamers were found to have reflexes similar to those of jet pilots. Their capacity for creative thinking, problem solving, and pattern recognition were also through the roof.

These gamers also tended to be a physical mess with lung capacities similar to life long smokers. But the study, wisely, offered that there were also many people in the control group who were in poor physical health as well - economic station and education tended to be a more consistent indicator of poor health / diet than a persons tendency to play games.

One area that gamers tested poorly across the board in was attention span - the gamer's minds flitted all over the place. The gamers preferred to solve man small problems quickly than to have one significant problem that took more time to work on.

I like when studies are done on our hobby where the outcome wasn't decided beforehand.

[MrPopo]

If you want to read the original article, you'll probably need access to a university library, or you know, a polite pm to the right person.

I assume you mean to PM Dsh.