“The fact is, when kids play videogames they can experience a much more powerful form of learning than when they're in the classroom. Learning isn't about memorizing isolated facts. It's about connecting and manipulating them,” said James Paul Gee, a professor at the University of Wisconsin and author of ‘What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy.’

According to Gee, the secret of a computer game as a teaching machine isn’t in the gory violence, the fantastic characters or the dazzling graphics.  It is in the challenge each level or interaction presents. 

Online games are made in such a way that the levels are hard enough but still doable for the gamer to accomplish.   This gives the gamer a simultaneous feeling of pleasure and frustration.  Pleasure because he has overcome one hurdle and frustration because he has more and harder challenges ahead of him. Gee argues that such emotions trigger determination, patience, focus, creativity and imagination to get players to the next level.  These are also the same things that could help them get better grades in school.  

James Paul Gee adds that “Games make kids smarter when they play them proactively, that is, when they think about game design, how their own styles of play interact with that design, how different strategies work, and how games relate to other things like books, movies, and the world.”  

Today’s online games encourage players to think strategically and observe from all angles.  Some online games subject gamers to situations where they must read other players’ behavior and weigh decisions that could affect their game play.  Do they want to win friends, earn points or gather skills and powers?  Which players will they band with and will they stay with these allies until the end?  Good gamers think ahead to ensure their survival and success, just as people do in real life. 

From Guns Blazing to Lifesaving
Even surgeons are getting in on the computer generated action.  Research conducted by New York City’s Beth Israel Medical Center with the National Institute of Media and the Family shows that surgeons who played computer games 20 minutes prior to surgery were faster and more accurate than those who didn’t. 

The study recorded improved hand-eye coordination and concentration among the participants.  The surgeons particularly excelled in laparoscopic surgery, a type of procedure to survey the colon, uterus and the digestive organs by using a tiny video camera and long thin instruments inserted through small incisions in the body.

Just as with surgeons, kids playing online games can develop improved hand-eye coordination and better concentration as well.  This is because each time they play, they train themselves to think as fast and their fingers can move.  Today’s online games also require players to navigate their way through complex environments with deft, precision and focus--traits that surgeons and people in other professions will find handy. 

Another benefit of online gaming is socialization. Many kids have expanded their network of friends by simply playing online games because it breaks distance and language barriers so that gamers around the country and the world can become virtual playmates.  Mrs. Eden Caringal, mother to a 10 year-old gamer is pleasantly surprised with his son’s friends. “He gets to play with his cousins in Batangas without ever leaving our house. He also tells me about his friends from Singapore and Malaysia that he met through online gaming.”

These are just some of the many advantages found in online gaming.  Enjoy more of the benefits with PLDT myDSL.

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