Playing video games has educational benefits, improves multi-tasking, social benefits, builds confidence, promotes exercise, and encourages cooperation and teamwork.
In addition to understanding the many real concerns that today’s parents have with video games, it’s also worth considering the benefits and positive aspects that contemporary interactive entertainment choices provide. Certainly, many popular titles today are M-rated and intended for discerning adults, given the average age of today’s gaming audience. But the vast majority of games can be played by a broad range of ages and still manage to be fun and engaging without resorting to foul language or violence.
Games can definitely be good for the family. There’s plenty of selection. Oftentimes I think parents feel that they’re not because video games in the media are portrayed as violent, and hardcore games tend to get the large majority of publicity. But parents also need to be comforted knowing that E for Everyone is by far largest category of software. Nearly 60 percent of the almost 1,700 ratings we assigned last year were E for Everyone, which means there’s a huge selection of games available that are appropriate for all ages. In fact, most video games do have quite a few redeeming qualities, even those with violent content. All games can and do have benefits for players, and in a number of different and sometimes surprising ways.
Games provide an inquiry based learning experience and are highly interactive which is beneficial towards education. University of Missouri professor, Elizabeth Behm Morawitz writes,
Students learn through trial and error and are rewarded in the video games for trying new strategies until they achieve the goals. Traditional curricula, such as science, reading, and math, can be supported by the use of