Can Video Games be Beneficial While Also Being Entertaining? (Essay Example)

Video games capture the minds of much of the youth, and as millions are playing, the question arises of whether or not they provide benefits to the players’ learning or if their sole purpose is for fun. Most parents and powerful figures would argue that video games lead children to be disobedient and that they will hinder their learning capabilities in school, but there are many advocates and researchers that argue otherwise. These researchers and journalists argue that video games, in moderation, can have the complete opposite effect, with many benefits that stimulate learning and brain function. For example, they state that video games can have educational, social, and mental benefits that can help players prosper in their academic and worldly lives. Although it is argued that video games have many negative effects on children, research has shown that there are many benefits to playing video games that can help them grow and learn. 

The majority of the argument surrounding video games is whether or not they negatively affect students’ education, but the reality of it is that a lot of research backs that video games can actually promote learning and education. For example, in a book by Valerie Shute, she explains that in video games such as World of War-Craft and Skyrim, “players must read lengthy and complex logs that tell them the goals” (Shute 3), which helps the players with reading comprehension or else they will not be able to succeed. While this may be a small aspect of the overall game, it can have a tremendous impact on players’ reading abilities, especially with players who are younger or struggle with reading disabilities such as dyslexia. 

Another way video games can benefit children’s educational development is by encouraging them to learn more about specific fields such as coding, science, and development. Will McNeese writes about this in his article where he says that “games like Minecraft (Everyone 10+) and Roblox (Everyone 10+) often lead to kids becoming more interested in coding and development” (McNeese Para 6). This influence that these games have can lead the kids to invest more time outside of video games to learn more about these fields and many others. McNeese also states that video games are not “educational” in the traditional sense, but they can still have educational benefits.” (McNeese Para 4), which helps to explain why there can be such a large debate about whether or not video games can help players learning abilities. 

Another use for video games in an educational sense is to assess people’s cognitive abilities through in-game tasks, and then that information can then be used to determine what they need to work on. In Shute’s book, she says that “Digital learning environments can provide meaningful assessment environments by supplying students with scenarios that require the application of various competencies.” (Shute 2) Further in her book, she explains how beneficial this can be by showing that “the goal of an ideal assessment policy/process should be to provide valid, reliable, and actionable information about students’ learning and growth that allows” (Shute 7) that can then be utilized by teachers in meaning full ways. Examples of these assessments that Shute describes are assessment-oriented and even public market games that require critical thinking such as Portal and Minecraft. These games are used to evaluate how fast and accurately participants can complete tasks and pass levels, which can then be used to determine what these students should be working on to further their critical thinking skills. 

Video games can also help young players in a social aspect, though on a much smaller scale than many of the other benefits when used in moderation. When children play multiplayer games with team-oriented goals such as Rocket League or CSGO, they must learn to communicate and work together to reach those goals. This can help these children work on their teamwork and communication skills, which can then be applied to their daily lives in school and with friends. As stated, when used in moderation these games can tremendously help players socially, but many studies show that when players spend too much time playing, they can begin to have the opposite effect. The importance of moderation cannot be stressed enough because, without it, children can form addictions that will lead to spending far too much time playing, and not enough on other activities such as schoolwork. When moderation is incorporated into 

Another positive impact video games can have, is by enhancing the mental and physical capabilities of their players. While this may sound impossible that sitting and playing video games could boost players’ physical capabilities, it is possible, but not in the normal athletic sense. In an article from Iberdrola, they say that video games “stimulate creativity, focus, and visual memory” (Iberdrola Para 11), and back this claim with research that states, “The University of California have found that they stimulate these aspects by setting goals that require concentration, imagination and remembering details to achieve them.” (Iberdrola Para 11). One way that video games can enhance the physical capabilities of players is through games such as first-person shooters that require players to react quickly and accurately to succeed. These benefits do not only affect the players’ abilities in video games but also their real lives. For example, in a study done in Beth Israel Medical Center in New York where out of the 33 surgeons who “participated in the study, the nine doctors who had at some point played video games at least three hours per week made 37 percent fewer errors, performed 27 percent faster, and scored 42 percent better in the test of surgical skills than the 15 surgeons who had never played video games before.” (Stern Para 5). Overall, I know that not every person and child will be completing surgeries, but this shows that video games can help people complete small hands-on tasks, especially younger school-aged children, and that they are not just used for entertainment. 

Overall, the answer to the question of whether or not video games provide benefits to players learning is yes, but not in the normal sense.  Educational, social, and mental learning are just a few of the benefits that video games present to players and help to solidify that video games are not just used for entertainment. With the use of moderation, video games can be a predominant factor in helping young children learn and can even be used to train adults for real-life tasks. Even though there have been many arguments in past years about whether or not video games can help with learning or if they are simply used for enjoyment, there have been many pieces of research, some used above, that provide ample evidence that in many ways video games are very beneficial to peoples learning ability.