NZ Herald : Violent video games are 'a learning tool'

An article on video games. link

• On FPS: "People that play these fast-paced games have better vision, better attention and better cognition," said Daphne Bavelier.

• "People do learn from games," said J. Dexter Fletcher of the Institute for Defence Analyses.

• President Barack Obama recently identified the creation of good educational software as one of the "grand challenges for American innovation,"

• He added that students who played "pro-social" games that promote cooperation were more likely than others to help out in real-life situations like intervening when someone is being harassed.

• Opposition: "You are not just passively watching Scarface blow away people," McKiernan said. "You are actually participating. Doing these things over and over again is going to have an effect."

It's great that there is recognition of the validity of video games as teaching tools, but the study presented focuses solely on popular video games that portray violence. The teaching from these games are things like "better vision" and "better attention". I personally find all the video games I've played (many of them FPS) very helpful while driving a car or being around cars (skills applicable: Attention, peripheral vision, spatial awareness, trajectory prediction). But besides that, the games listed offer little else. "Shallow" as many game designers have described them as.

Firstly to address the issue at hand, sensible parental decisions, and everything in moderation. Simply: do not give R18 games to children, and do not play games (or any one type of game) too much. Solved.

I want more (quantity and quality) meaningful games.