Video Games Versus Creativity and Violence - Gaming Unwrapped

Gaming has been an on and off hot topic for researchers over the past few years for a handful of reasons. Do they help or hinder a developing mind? Can they truly push us into committing violent acts? The effects they have on the minds of the player has been debated constantly, too.

Surprising to some, studies are showing that gaming does actually have a number of benefits. Yes, there are obvious negatives that go along with it hand-in-hand, but it?s also awesome to see that gaming can be seen in a more positive light by proof of SCIENCE!

One of the most recent studies was conducted by MSU (Michigan State) professor Linda Jackson,?whose expertise lays in psychology. Her research included 491 12-year-olds and she studied the link between video games and their creativity. One of the most relied on tests, the ?Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking?, was used in an attempt to measure the children?s creativity. Basically, the tests show a child a basic drawing and it?s up to them to determine what it is that they see. A dot that has many lines stemming from it could be responded to with things such as: a squished spider, a star or a set of mini blinds caught in a tornado. From there, children are asked to write stories based on that said shape.

The results of the test were very clear; most of the children that played video games created ?interesting and exciting? work while the others did not. Surprisingly, the type of game played and whether the game was violent didn?t matter. No correlation was found in other technological factors like cell phone, Internet, and computer usage.

The MSU findings should motivate game designers to identify the aspects of video game activity that are responsible for the creative effects, Jackson believed.

?Once they do that, video games can be designed to optimize the development of creativity while retaining their entertainment values such that a new generation of video games will blur the distinction between education and entertainment,? Jackson continued.

Personally, I?m not shocked by these findings. Games open whole new worlds to us, full of all sorts of wonders. Inspiring art and music also helps. I believe having children exposed (within reason) on a regular basis would definitely help to get their creative bug going.

I?ve been gaming for as long as I can recall and I?ve always been considered a creative person. As twisted as it may be to say, Capcom?s Resident Evil 2 was my muse as a child. I loved to play make believe as if I were in the devastated Raccoon City, draw pictures from the play manual, and I wrote numerous short stories about the game.

As I?ve always said, most of the effects video games have can be helpful or hindering depending on the child?s environment. I believe games will always help grow a creative mind, but a child?s mind could also be easily swayed. For a child to have a healthy sense of make-believe and reality, it?s up to the parents to re-enforce what?s real and what is not, as well as?what?s acceptable and what is not.

Games have taken a lot of flack; they?ve been cast as the bad guys who warp impressionable minds. I think that?s ridiculous. Which games are they claiming have such a terrible sway on children? Mostly violent ones that shouldn?t even be in their hands, anyways. I can?t even begin to say how many parents came in and purchased games like Grand Theft Auto for their kids even after constant warnings from me of their rating and content. It?s the same parents who claim their child ?can handle the violence? or ?knows better than to mimic the game? who cry wolf as soon as trouble brews.

In my eyes, it?s more so poor parenting that can lead to unsavory results when children and gaming are in the mix, not the games themselves. I suppose it?s easy to forget that games have been used as a physical and mental rehabilitation tool with great success amongst all the negative news surrounding them.

Video gaming has opened some incredible doors to us all, and although there can be some negative effects (as with everything) they?re one of the greatest stepping stones of our time.

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