Research Paper on Video Games?
 

Hey there! I'm doing my 11th grade research paper this year on video games. Basically my paper's going to try and throw out the old stereotype of videogames being a waste of time and rotting little kid's brains. Anyways I thought it'd be a good idea to ask everyone here if they've seen any websites or other things I could use for sources with valid information supporting this.

For example, I just recently saw an article in Game Informer magazine saying that there have been studies showing that some video games can help people overcome their phobias of things like spiders (using the game Half-Life), heights, and claustrophobia (both using Unreal Tournament, strange though, since both are massively violent games as well, wonder how that'll look?).
I have also heard of a book called Trigger Happy that shows how video games can be a cultural experience and another called Blue Wizard is about to Die (from the Gauntlet games) that is video game poetry.
Also, if you've got any good examples of games, tell them to me! For example, Age of Empires III certainly is historical.

Thanks for the help! This is an important paper so I'll need it!

Some of the more realistic shooting games can teach you how to reload a gun...

Harvest Moon games teach you how to run a farm to save it, befriend an entire town, and how to subdue a women...

Sims games teach you how to live...

Strategy games teach you how to destory your enemies and take over the world...

Hmm...I think the phobias thing wasn't them actually playing the games persay, it was just putting them into those certain maps, not letting them shoot things...

Where is Mario taught me alot...

You should mention how puzzles within games can aide in developing problem solving skills. I took part in a problem-solving competition back in high school where we had a time limit to solve stupid riddles and stuff, and how did I prepare? Played Myst and Beyond Atlantis and The Crystal Key for four straight days.

Games can also help with socialization...the stereotype is that gamers are nerdy loners and...well...most of us are but we come together with other nerdy loners with similar interests. Multiplayer gaming is fun and interactive, as opposed to just sitting around in silence watching a movie.

Here's an article I came across while doing a research paper on autism: http://www.lessontutor.com/kd3.html Its a good story, and if you scroll down it actually lists benefits of video games in different categories like language, math and reading skills, and social skills.

Here's another article that mentions Counter-Strike and Quake III by name in regards to developing cognitive skills: http://www.southend.wayne.edu/days/2...mes/games.html

Hope this helps.

My 5 year old brother learned to read thanks to playing Pokemon.

It took him awhile, but I helped him out, and since all the stuff has no big words and its all Capital Letters, he got it quicker than any Hop on Pop books.

I wish you well in this mission. I'd be interested to see the topic you settle on.
There's several things you could possibly incorporate. You may focus on how video games improve eye hand coordination. Or how games today have almost become a new interactive art form, telling at story with lush graphics, sounds, and environments. I'd hit up a google search, see if there's some good studies out there.

I wanna do a report on the good things of video games ^^

A game like "Catz" or "Dogz" could be useful in teaching responsability to a kid before getting an actual pet.

Games like "Doom" help ventalate anger so you blow up some fake demons rather than punch your co-worker in the face.

Lots of RPGs have puzzles and such that will make you think and develope strategies, and many of them have a 'if we work together we can do it' theme that teaches kids the value of working together with people, even if you don't get along with them.

And RPGs tend to use big words, so if you're pretty young and you're playing a game, you can expand your vocabulary faster. (I was really young when I first played a game like FFVI, and I didn't knew a lot of the things they were talking about, so I would always ask, and then I'd learn. ^^ ) Plus, in RPGs, you have to read a LOT, so if you're young, it might be more interesting to play a video game than read a book, 'cause in a video game, you hardly notice that you're reading, and there's a point to reading, you have to read it to know what's going on, and therefor, save the world. ^^

Some games allow you to play online, therefor you can meet TOTALLY different people instead of always associating with the people in your community. You could meet a person from the Philippines or even Japan....

Yeah, I'm afraid I don't have any references but I would definitely take the angle that VideoDrone suggested. I mean why do gamers take all the flak about sitting around doing nothing as opposed to people who watch movies or tv all the time. While it is true that a good movie might flex some philosophical muscles in your mind, a good game helps you to actively solve puzzles and if its a multiplayer game, interact with people.

Also, as I believe and have heard many times, math and engineering for example, are all about finding and exploiting patterns. Find a way to predict the pattern for prime numbers and you win a Fields Medal. Find a great way to compress a audio signal(ala mp3) using patterns within the signal and you make mucho bucks. Almost any game I would say helps foster some mathematical thinking (finding patterns).

Also even simple games such as mine sweeper or 'push push' ( a game on my cell phone that you simply have a little guy that you have to push the boxes onto certain tiles, I'm sure it has been implemented in many different styles and names) basically challenges you to do a (in comp sci terms) an effcient tree search, one of the most basic and important comp sci techniques.

As far as exposing gamers to history, I don't think it gets any better than the Civilization games.

Also, I would say games like Civilization and Sim City teaches (on some level) about how manage money. (although since I'm a grad student and have no money to manage, i don't know how much this actually helps :( ).

Well, enough of my rambling, hope this helps.

Wow, lots of replies so quickly! Thanks guys!

I myself, learned a lot from playing Phantasy Star Online version 1 on the dreamcast. You could play it offline without cost (to this day I haven't played it online sadly) so when I was taking French 1 in school I learned tons of words ahead of my class by playing PSO in French! To this day I still study by playing that. I'm in French III now woohoo!

Anyways, keep em comin'!

I learned a lot from reading the Age of Empires I and II instruction manuels. And The two Edutainment Mario games (Mario is Missing! and Mario's Time Machine) were fun and informative!