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Video games could help young people succeed later in life

New research suggests gaming can help shape skills desired by employers once leaving university.
New research suggests gaming can help shape skills desired by employers once leaving university. New research suggests gaming can help shape skills desired by employers once leaving university.

Playing video games could help young people develop valuable skills, such as communication and resourcefulness, that may help them succeed later in life.

Glasgow University academic Matt Barr ran a study which found modern video games encouraged players to think critically and solve problems – two types of qualities that are beneficial for graduates.

The small-scale experiment split 36 undergraduates into two groups: the first were a control group of 20 and the second were asked to play eight videos games including Borderlands 2, Minecraft and Lara Croft. The 16 students were made to play under controlled conditions, and logged 14 hours of play over an eight-week period.

Gaming
Gaming
(FOTOKITA/Getty Images)

Before and after the experiment, students from both groups completed a survey which measured different skills. The study found the group that had played video games showed improvements on communication, adaptability and resourcefulness scales, compared with the control group.

Barr said: “This work demonstrates that playing commercial video games can have a positive effect on communication ability, adaptability and resourcefulness in adult learners, suggesting that video games may have a role to play in higher education.

“The study also suggests that graduate skills may be improved in a relatively short amount of time, with the gains reported here achieved over a period of eight weeks and representing just 14 hours of game play.

“Certainly, the results of the randomised controlled trial described here suggest that the popular discourse around games’ alleged ill effects should be tempered by considerations of the potential positive outcomes of playing video games.”