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Jewish World Review August 23, 2005 / 18 Av, 5765 Got games? Don't toss out good with bad By Jerry Large
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
We were talking at the dinner table about the video game "Grand
Theft Auto: San Andreas." Last week it became the only video game
rated "adults only" because the makers had imbedded pornographic
material that can be turned on with a downloaded key.
My son said absolutely everyone else has the game. Everyone. Of
course. He's 13, but I have actually read that the game is a
favorite of 10-, 11- and 12-year-olds, so maybe more kids have it
than I thought. Doesn't matter, we're not getting it.
Some games are just bad, but that doesn't mean video games in
general are no good.
There was an article in last month's Discover magazine about
research that found some value in the video-game technology, and not
just hand-eye coordination. Scientists are finding mental benefits
like better pattern recognition, and system thinking.
Few things are plain black or white (even people), but either/or
tends to be the easiest way of categorizing stuff. It's mental
laziness, but also it's a good thing because it conserves energy,
saves time and simplifies life; but it's bad too because, well, you
know how that goes.
Well-made video games do what you hope your kid's teacher does in
the classroom. They start off easy and ramp up the difficulty to
match the user's ability. You can't get to the next level until you
acquire all the skills you need to deal with that level.
In other words, each player learns at his own pace and is
challenged, but not challenged beyond his ability. So it's not too
boring or too frustrating.
Not every game gets that balance right, but the ones that do become
hugely popular.
And while you are learning stuff you need to know to advance in the
game, you are also bumping up your brain's ability to deal with
complex mental work.
Some research has found that gamers have improved awareness of the
world around them an improved ability to see stuff because they're
always hunting and picking out details in the games.
Then there is the mental-exercise part. If you run five miles every
day it will be easier to run that distance after a few months than
it was when you first did it, because you will have built new muscle
and improved your lung capacity.
A California professor measured glucose metabolic rates in the
brains of gamers while they were playing. That measurement shows how
much energy their brains are consuming and, through that, how hard
they are working to accomplish a given task.
At first they used a lot of energy, but the more they played, the
less effort it took to perform the game tasks. It got easier for
them to do complex thinking.
Gaming teaches players how to prioritize and multitask.
Yes, but doesn't gaming turn people into antisocial dweebs? No. Some
gamers might start out that way, and I suspect gaming encourages
isolation; even online gaming with strangers is not the same as
face-to-face interaction. But gaming is more symptom than cause.
The article mentioned new research indicating that people who play
video games may even be more social and more self-confident than
average. Reading is a solitary pursuit, after all, but it's still
good for you.
Now I have an excuse, ah, a reason to exercise my mind. The thing I
like is the challenge of juggling lots of elements at the same time
and the feeling of mastery I get when I do it successfully.
It's like cooking a meal. I always make that a game in which I try
to get all the elements done at the same time, whirling from stove
to pantry to refrigerator to sink, and doing it all quickly. The
only downside is someone has to clean up afterward.
Video games aren't messy, though they can be bloody. You have to
pick the right one. The mental exercise isn't worth the trashiness
of some games. You don't have to read Stephen King and you don't
have to play "Grand Theft," but it doesn't make sense to throw out a
whole category of entertainment because it's not all uplifting.
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Jerry Large is a Seattle Times columnist. Comment by clicking here. © 2005, Seattle Times; Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
