Research on Benefits of Children Playing Videogames

Some interesting new studies and projects have come out recently showing beneficial links to videogame playing for children. Linda A. Jackson, professor of psychology over at Michigan State University, led a study finding that videogame play was a strong predictor of creativity in children. Here is the abstract:

This research examined relationships between children’s information technology (IT) use and their creativity. Four types of information technology were considered: computer use, Internet use, videogame playing and cell phone use. A multidimensional measure of creativity was developed based on Torrance’s (1987, 1995) test of creative thinking. Participants were 491 12-year olds; 53% were female, 34% were African American and 66% were Caucasian American. Results indicated that videogame playing predicted of all measures of creativity. Regardless of gender or race, greater videogame playing was associated with greater creativity. Type of videogame (e.g., violent, interpersonal) was unrelated to videogame effects on creativity. Gender but not race differences were obtained in the amount and type of videogame playing, but not in creativity. Implications of the findings for future research to test the causal relationship between videogame playing and creativity and to identify mediator and moderator variables are discussed.

The paper can be downloaded here. The MSU press release is here. The paper is in press, and will be published in an upcoming issue of Computers in Human Behavior.

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Meanwhile, A. Scott Cunningham, an assistant professor of economics over at Baylor, along with Benjamin Engelstätter at the Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (Center for European Economic Research) and Michael R. Ward at University of Texas Arlington, released a working paper on the Social Science Research Network entitled “Understanding the Effects of Violent Video Games on Violent Crime.”

Researchers have long been able to measure physiological arousal in participants engaging in violent media. This physiological measurement is seen regardless of the media. Violent TV shows, movies, music, and videogames will elicit the measured arousal as study after study has shown. But, more tenuous are assertions this arousal leads to violence elsewhere once participants are away from the media. This study seeks to empirically link violent videogame sales with decreases in reports of violence. Here is the abstract:

Psychological studies invariably find a positive relationship between violent video game play and aggression. However, these studies cannot account for either aggressive effects of alternative activities video game playing substitutes for or the possible selection of relatively violent people into playing violent video games. That is, they lack external validity. We investigate the relationship between the prevalence of violent video games and violent crimes. Our results are consistent with two opposing effects. First, they support the behavioral effects as in the psychological studies. Second, they suggest a larger voluntary incapacitation effect in which playing either violent or non-violent games decrease crimes. Overall, violent video games lead to decreases in violent crime.

The paper can be accessed here. Some good articles discussing it in the media are here and here.

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Finally, work on videogames to assist children in coping with medical problems continues in earnest. A recent example involves the University of Utah’s Engineering Arts and Entertainment (EAE) program, which brings in students from the school’s Dept. of Film and Media Arts and School of Computing to design interactive entertainment. Together with physical therapists and councilors, EAE students created a series of videogames designed to help children stricken with cancer. The unnamed minigames written for the PlayStation3 are currently being beta tested by patients in the pediatric ward at the Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt Lake City, with possible retail release in the near future. Articles on the games can be found here and here.

Latest Nielsen Findings Show Interesting Video Game Statistics

We’re always hungry for more data on video games, the more recent the better. The good folks over at Nielsen have been recording console use for some time. They figure if an activity is taking place with a television set, they’d better collect that data. Also, they have monitoring software for computers that collects gaming and software usage from volunteers.

This newest report from Nielsen on video gaming, for both console and computer use for 4Q 2008 has some interesting info. Read my write-up for Associated Content here.

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The Rise of Photo-Realistic Animation

The bar keeps bumping up higher for quality animations in a videogame. Word came out this week that Afrika, a new safari photo hunt game for the PlayStation 3, would provide ultra-realistic shots of wildlife on the savannah and make good use of the PS3’s graphics capabilities. The game required a mere 25 developers, compared to the 100 or so that many big titles take, and Sony’s sales expectations are modest. Still, the possibilities revolving around photo-realism add to the expectations for future games: serious, educational, and traditional entertainment titles alike.

On the anthromorphological side of things, check out this video, She’s Not Real, from The Times Online in the UK. If you weren’t told ahead of time, it’s possible you wouldn’t know you were watching an animated human … at least at first. Toward the end of the minute long footage, the programmers give a taste of what they can do with an animated person, in a game for instance.

Study: Roommates with Consoles May Cause Lower GPAs

One of those lovable academic rapscallions at The Irascible Professor, namely Dr. Sanford Pinsker, recently discussed a paper by Ralph Stinebrickner, over at Berea College, and Todd Stinebrickner, over at Western Ontario.

The Stinebrickners published their paper in the Berkeley Electronic Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy. At first glance, the study would not attract the attention of researchers interested in videogames. The title and abstract do not hint at videogames, but rather the mundane effect studying has on college student grades.

Subjects were recruited from Berea, where roommates are randomly assigned. Students assigned to roommates who brought a videogame console system to college with them spent less time studying than those whose roommates did not bring a videogame system. To wit: if you go to college without a gaming system, and your roommate brings one (Playstation, Xbox, or Wii), your grades will suffer. Dr. Pinsker summarizes:

At Berea, those students whose (randomly selected) roommates had video games earned significantly lower first-semester GPAs: for males, 2.74 vs. 2.98; for females, 3.03 vs. 3.16. Students with a roommate who brought a video game to college report playing video games 4.06 hours per week; students with roommates who did not bring a video game report spending 0.79 hours per week. The first group spent 2.9 hours a day studying; the second group reports spending 3.6 hours a day studying.

I’ve discussed this paper before, back when it was a work in progress. As I pointed out then, the effects gaming consoles have on GPAs as shown in the paper, while statistically significant, remain negligible in practical terms.

One (Video Game) Controller to Rule Them All: Game Technology Invades the Military

Military reporters were buzzing this week about the new Universal Control System (UCS) from defense contractor Raytheon. The device is designed to control unmanned aerial vehicles (AEVs), and borrows liberally from videogame technologies.

Mark Scott from BusinessWeek reports from England:

On display at the biennial Farnborough Air Show in Britain, this next-generation ground control system for the likes of General Atomics’ Predator UAV has more in common with the Sony (SNE) PlayStation 3 than with the Northrop Grumman (NOC) F-14 Tomcat made famous by the classic 1980s movie Top Gun.

David Hambling over at Wired notes a variety of videogame technologies are finding their way into military applications.

- A Wii-mote controller is used for bomb disposal robots

- X-box contollers are used for piloting drones and robots

- The world’s fastest computer, to be used for nuclear simulations, is made using chips originally designed for gaming systems

- DARPA is developing technologies for ground forces from gaming chips that include radar, mapping, and tracking of enemy forces in real time while a soldier is in combat

References:
Hambline, D. (2008, July 19). Game controllers driving drones, nukes. [Online]. Retrieved July 20, 2008 from http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/07/wargames.html

Scott, M. (2008, July 16). Raytheon taps video games to pilot drones. BusinessWeek. [Online]. Retrieved July 20, 2008 from http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2008/
gb20080716_470794.htm

Free Math Games & Activities at Education.com (and Some Interesting Articles)

Taissia Belozerova over at Education.com dropped me an e-mail about my article Magnificent Math Sites, that ran in the Summer, 2005 issue of TechEdge. Taissia pointed out that Education.com has a vibrant section devoted to free games and activities for K-12 math.

While the math portion of the site is more concerned with RL activities than videogames, our discussion led to two articles from their magazine. The first is Are Video Games Educational? by Jayel Gibson, which offers a nice introduction to the topic. The second one was by Danielle Wood, reporting on the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) last year, who put out a statement asserting kids need more videogaming (not less). Below is the key excerpt:

Their report, based on advice from nearly one hundred education, science, and game industry experts, calls on the federal government and the Departments of Education and Labor to fund video game research and development. Video games, they argue, hold the potential to help address one of America’s most pressing problems – preparing students for an increasingly competitive global market.

Wood concludes the FAS asserts videogames can teach kids a variety of higher order thinking skills, strategies, and problem solving techniques.

Most interesting were the visceral responses from readers the article generated. Many statements by responders are flat out wrong. For instance, the latest research shows videogames help students diagnosed with ADHD, not causing it (Farrace-Di Zinno and colleagues disproved the videogame-ADHD link in The British Journal of Educational Technology way back in 2001). Gaming (especially online gaming and MMORPGs) has been found to be very social rather than isolating in general. The list goes on. It makes for interesting reading, especially for those of us into educational gaming, who hob-knob together, to see how the non-researching public sometimes views our field.

Thanks to Taissia Belozerova for letting me know of the resources on Education.com. Well worth the visit.

References:
Gibson, J. (2008). Are video games educational? [Online]. Available: http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Video_Games_Educational/

Farrace-Di Zinno, A.M., Douglas, G., Houghton, S. Lawrence, V., West, J. & Whiting, K. (2001, November). Body movements of boys with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) during computer video game play. British Journal of Educational Technology 32(5). 607-618.

Wood, D. (2007). Scientists say kids need more video games. [Online]. Available: http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Ed_Scientists_Say_Need/

Wii Go to School: Academic Uses for the Popular Console

The latest issue of Edutopia has an article by Laila Weir on Wii-learning: teachers finding academic uses for the Wii in their classrooms. Rather than using a game designed purely for educational purposes, these teachers are adapting existing games for the classroom.

Here’s a thought: Why not take a tech platform that kids are already nuts about and put it to use? That was the thought at Cumberland Elementary School, in West Lafayette, Indiana, where first-grade teacher David Brantley used a parent donation to buy three Wii consoles. Brantley integrated some of the Wii’s games and online channels into lessons on weather and geography. The result: “A great virtual map and globe activity,” he says.

Justifying its use by citing research showing benefits to learning in multiple modalities, the teachers often use the Wii for games with math, language, and logic exercises.

- Sports games provide opportunities for score keeping and math

- Bowling in particular provides several opportunities for number crunching

- Wii’s Big Brain Academy helps with reasoning and logic, but flashes loser and winner signs which may hurt self esteem; teachers combat this by prepping students on being gracious winners and losers

- Using the Wii has helped motivate “reluctant” students

My take: teachers have been adapting technology for classroom use since time immemorial, and this is just the latest example. It’s heartening to see a positive attitude toward gaming in the classroom. I suspect the family-friendly and easy-to-engage approach the Wii has taken helps ease it into the classroom over more “serious” consoles like the Playstation 3 and Xbox. Who can deny the Wii a role in the classroom when it’s being used in the gym and in nursing homes?

References:
Weir, L. (2008, June). Wii love learning: Using gaming technology to engage students. Edutopia. [Online]. Available: http://www.edutopia.org/ikid-wii-gaming-technology-classroom

Resistance is Futile … All Will Become Gamers

Here’s a nice article from Rob Fahey, former editor of GamesIndustry.biz, over at Times Online. Fahey makes several interesting points, including many factoids that would fit nicely in research articles on videogames.

- Nintendo is now the second most valuable company (by market cap) in Japan, after Toyota

- Consequently, the market believes the industry as a whole has enormous growth potential

- Game Group is Britain’s largest videogame retailer. Profits for the first half of 2008 will top £33 million, beating analyst estimates by 33%

- Consequently, Game Group’s market cap now tops the country’s largest construction firm by three times

- The current focus on all age groups by videogame companies is the natural outcome of marketing efforts beginning in the 1990s, when Sony began branching out from children’s television advertisements for the PlayStation to nightclubs

- The market for videogames continues to expand into all segments of the population, from teenage boys to older men; to girls and women; to senior citizens; to families as a whole

- The advanced graphics and capabilities of videogames have created a dynamic platform for storytelling that rivals moviemaking in scope

Finally, Fahey sums up with this statement, showing that eventually gaming will engulf everyone:

As video games continue to break new creative and commercial ground, the conclusion the markets have reached is simple – and inevitable. Being a stranger to interactive entertainment will be seen as eccentric as watching TV on a black and white set. Soon, we will all be gamers.

References:
Fahey, R. (2008, July 7). It’s inevitable: Soon we will all be gamers. The Times. [Online]. Retrieved July 6, 2008 from http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/
guest_contributors/article4281768.ece

ExerGaming Kicks into High Gear with New Study & Product

There was discussion this week on the Serious Games listserv about ME2, a virtual world from Irwin Toy aimed at kids that links to a real world pedometer (tagline: You are the power!). The more exercise, running and walking the kids do in RL, the more points they earn to use in the game. Scott Traylor over at 360KID wrote up the details here.

In other news, a pilot study has come out of New Zealand showing that exergaming titles are just as good as casual exercise. No surprise there, but it’s nice to see the empirical data bear out common sense and provide argument ammo against doubters.

The 12 week initial pilot study by Dr. Ralph Maddison over at Auckland U. worked with 21 children age 10-14, and measured energy expenditure via oxygen masks. The follow up looked at 20 new subjects, upgrading half of their PlayStations with the EyeToy. This time body mass indices were measured and advanced pedometers were used over 12 weeks.

Children in the eye toy group performed significantly more physical activity, despite spending less time overall playing video games.

“We need to look at different ways, because of the increase of obesity in New Zealand, to increase activity in children,” Dr Maddison said.

Dr Maddison’s team is now seeking a further 330 children, aged between 10 and 14, for an expanded six-month study funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand.

Playing is playing, and exercise is exercise even in front of a video screen. I do think the idea of linking a pedometer to a virtual world is a good idea, one springing naturally from the Webkinz linkage of RL objects to the VW. Seems this could herald a bevy of new ideas linking the virtual with RL objects and activities.

References:
Borley, C. (2008, February 22). Video games good as exercise: Study. New Zealand Herald. [Online.] Retrieved February 23, 2008 from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?
c_id=204&objectid=10493847

PlayStation 2 Quiz Game to be Used in British Schools

When I was in school, we’d sometimes play “quiz shows” based on popular television game shows using paper and the chalkboard to keep track of things. With the advent of Microsoft’s PowerPoint, the computer hooked to a projector replaced the chalkboard with snazzier graphics.

Now, word comes from the Daily Telegraph that British gaming company Relentless developed a quiz show for British school children that runs on the PlayStation 2: Buzz! The Schools Quiz. The game was developed under a grant from the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The teachers act as “game show host,” and are in charge of tempo and topics. The PlayStation 2 is quite inexpensive right now, and could well serve as a useful tool in classrooms that would be cheaper to implement than a traditional computer.

Alas, infamous anti-gamer Jack Thompson, a Florida attorney who has leveled many charges against the gaming industry and videogames in the past, was offered a quote in the story belittling academic potentials of gaming.

Interestingly, Thompson was not noted as an American commenting on a British academic initiative.

References:
Sony sells PlayStation quiz game to schools. (2008, January 12). The Daily Telegraph. [Online.] Retrieved January 12, 2007 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?
xml=/connected/2008/01/12/dlquiz112.xml