Some people believe that playing games can teach us about life. Do you agree? why or why not? use specific examples and reasons to support your answer.
Video and computer games are a waste of time, right?
Er, wrong. Sorry parents, but it looks like there’s actually a whole lot of good stuff going on when gaming. Not all the time, of course – there are plenty of games that teach us little or nothing. But the right games used in the right way can inspire learning, boost visual skills, improve co-ordination and lift our mood. Oh, and they can make us nicer too.
Not convinced? Read on to find out how and why your little gamers might not be wasting so much time after all.
First, some figures
Your kids aren’t the only ones who fixate for hours on glowing screens, intent on ridding their virtual world of baddies, blowing things up or stealing cars. According to Newzoo market research, 55 per cent of the UK population are gamers. That’s 34.7 million people. In 2014, the UK was estimated to be the fifth-largest video game market in the world in terms of consumer spending, behind the US, China, Japan and Germany. In 2013, the UK game industry was worth almost £3.5bn in consumer spending.
Among children, 12- to 15-year-olds spent the most time gaming in 2014, averaging 11.2 hours a week.
That’s a lot of people spending a lot of money. And time.
So, what’s the score then? What’s to learn from gaming?
1. Gaming can make the world a better place
You’re probably baulking at that statement, but bear with me. I was sceptical too, but having listened to game designer Jane McGonigal’s TED talk about the benefits of gaming, I think she’s on to something. (The game that can give you 10 extra years of life is also well worth watching. This woman is hugely inspiring.)
McGonigal’s goal is “to try to make it as easy to save the world in real life as it is to save the world in online games”. How? By playing more games. (Again, stick with me here.)
McGonigal says real life can be dull and repetitive and repress our creativity. She believes our lives should be more like well-designed games, where we have a vital role in an epic adventure, in the company of potential collaborators, and we can learn in a low-risk setting – and learn fast. As a result, we’re emotionally satisfied and intellectually challenged. We become “the best version of ourselves”. Games, she says, fuel our inventiveness, our idealism, our initiative. They also:
Nourish creativity.
Feed self-confidence.
Encourage problem-solving.
Critically, games also give us the experience of what McGonigal calls the epic win: “an outcome that is so extraordinarily positive you had no idea it was even possible”. It’s so satisfying to be on the verge of an epic win that we want to keep playing.
We’re so motivated and engaged by games that we spend a huge amount of time – billions of hours, collectively – playing them. McGonigal asks us to imagine what could happen if we applied all that game mission-driven energy, motivation and enthusiasm collaboratively to solve real-world problems. She has a point.
2. Gaming teaches us to play nicely
You may think of gaming as being isolating, but most kids see it as a social pastime. Games connect kids with other kids of varying ages, and provide an opportunity for them to make new friends. Role playing, co-operation and collaboration all promote pro-social behavior. Games can also help bring parents and kids together, having fun and learning from each other, and help communication and understanding.
Players develop social relationships with each other while gaming, are often confronted with moral issues and conflict, and frequently need to collaborate to solve difficult problems.
Gaming also gives kids a safe opportunity to compete, know immediately what mistakes they make and correct them – learning persistence.
Online games jump geographical, religious and political borders, giving kids from different cultures a common interest and allowing them to play and learn together.
3. Gaming encourages peer learning
Games act as a global touchstone for kids. They can act as mentors to other children and share tactics, learning patience and communication skills along the way. Many games can bring kids with different learning styles and different abilities together. Collaborative learning also boosts critical thinking skills.
Gaming is a great leveller in terms of age: multi-player games give younger kids an opportunity to join and even lead mixed-age teams.
4. Gaming can spark new interests
Subjects like maths, politics, mythology, geography, history and science can be brought to life in computer and video games and spur a child to find out more. If your child is curious, take the opportunity to help them explore the connections between topics and lay the foundations for learning in the future.
5. Gaming rewards the brain
According to gaming theorist Tom Chatfield, we have evolved to be stimulated by problem-solving and learning. Games give us emotional rewards, both individually and collectively. They are wired to produce pleasure, stimulating the release of dopamine in the brain. Chatfield says we can create games that “tick our evolutionary boxes” and are intensely engaging, and that we can extend this engagement into the outside world.
How do games reward the brain?
They show player progress
Provide multiple long- and short-term aims
Reward effort
Give clear, rapid and frequent feedback – so you learn to link consequences to actions
Introduce elements of uncertainty to ignite the brain – so you want to go back to find out more
Aid memory and boost confidence
Connect us with others, and aid group collaboration.
Games are more than child’s play
Games aren’t the evil time-wasters you might have thought. They can be extremely motivating and powerful learning tools that make us feel great, inspire us, boost our brains and teach us to work together to solve problems. Who knows, maybe gamers will even save the world.
By the way, the average age of a gamer in the UK is 35 and is equally likely to be a man or a woman. So, Mum and Dad, perhaps you might just learn something from gaming too.
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Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 69, Rule ID: WHOLE_LOT[1]
Message: Use simply 'lot'.
Suggestion: lot
...t it looks like there's actually a whole lot of good stuff going on when gaming. Not...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 19, column 156, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... designer Jane McGonigal's TED talk about the benefits of gaming, I think sh...
^^
Line 23, column 288, Rule ID: AFFORD_VB[1]
Message: This verb is used with the infinitive: 'to fast'
Suggestion: to fast
...learn in a low-risk setting – and learn fast. As a result, we're emotionally sa...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, but, first, if, look, may, so, then, thus, well, while, after all, i think, of course, as a result, by the way
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 30.0 15.1003584229 199% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 22.0 9.8082437276 224% => Less auxiliary verb wanted.
Conjunction : 53.0 13.8261648746 383% => Less conjunction wanted
Relative clauses : 14.0 11.0286738351 127% => OK
Pronoun: 78.0 43.0788530466 181% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 118.0 52.1666666667 226% => Less preposition wanted.
Nominalization: 16.0 8.0752688172 198% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 5254.0 1977.66487455 266% => Less number of characters wanted.
No of words: 1014.0 407.700716846 249% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.18145956607 4.8611393121 107% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.64299270389 4.48103885553 126% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.93753395465 2.67179642975 110% => OK
Unique words: 527.0 212.727598566 248% => Less unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.519723865878 0.524837075471 99% => OK
syllable_count: 1548.9 618.680645161 250% => syllable counts are too long.
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.51630824373 99% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 18.0 9.59856630824 188% => OK
Article: 6.0 3.08781362007 194% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 3.51792114695 57% => OK
Conjunction: 14.0 1.86738351254 750% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 11.0 4.94265232975 223% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 58.0 20.6003584229 282% => Too many sentences.
Sentence length: 17.0 20.1344086022 84% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 62.8290341191 48.9658058833 128% => OK
Chars per sentence: 90.5862068966 100.406767564 90% => OK
Words per sentence: 17.4827586207 20.6045352989 85% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.1724137931 5.45110844103 40% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 37.0 4.53405017921 816% => Less paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 3.0 5.5376344086 54% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 42.0 11.8709677419 354% => Less positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 6.0 3.85842293907 156% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 15.0 4.88709677419 307% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.201189343169 0.236089414692 85% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0407990972191 0.076458572812 53% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0403964749174 0.0737576698707 55% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0576816745329 0.150856017488 38% => Maybe some paragraphs are off the topic.
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0470812101507 0.0645574589148 73% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 11.7 11.7677419355 99% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 62.68 58.1214874552 108% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 6.10430107527 144% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 8.7 10.1575268817 86% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.47 10.9000537634 114% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.48 8.01818996416 106% => OK
difficult_words: 257.0 86.8835125448 296% => Less difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 7.5 10.002688172 75% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.8 10.0537634409 88% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 10.247311828 88% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Write the essay in 30 minutes.
Rates: 73.3333333333 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 22.0 Out of 30
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.