Even as video games come under scrutiny for potential harmful impacts, researchers and developers are touting them for positive effects on health, learning and other social goals.
The immersive power of games is being used to encourage kids to develop healthy eating habits, help the elderly maintain brain functions and even to tackle problems like poverty and climate change.
Many researchers say there is little evidence that playing games can cause users to become violent, and point to numerous positive impacts.
“Games can have a positive impact, particularly with psychological functions,” said Jason Allaire of North Carolina State University’s Gains Through Gaming Lab. “We focus on cognition and learning, trying to understand the exact mechanisms, such as the impact on reaction time and memory.”
Mr Allaire led a recent study that found pensioners who played digital games showed higher levels of emotional well-being than non-players.
Although the research did not offer a clear cause and effect, Mr Allaire expressed confidence that the research would eventually find such a relationship.
“Digital games get a bad rap because often they are played to excess, but blaming games for societal ills is simplistic,” he added.
Still, he said researchers are reviewing their thinking following a spate of shootings. “If I say as a scientist I think games can have a positive effect, it would be hypocritical to say that they cannot have a negative impact,” he said. But he argued that ‘there is no evidence to show that playing a violent videogame can cause you to engage in violent behaviours’.
Big game companies and independent developers have created many games aimed at positive skills and habits. Jive Health, founded by student Dennis Ai, produced a mobile game that encourages children to eat more fruits and vegetables, with the goal of curbing childhood obesity.
In the game, children must find apples or other fruits for their animal characters and take a picture of real-life foods to advance to the next level.
Mr Ai’s team won the Innovation Challenge prize sponsored by the non-profit Partnership for a Healthier America.
