Study: Playing Video Games Promotes Creativity
A study conducted by Michigan State University (MSU) suggests that kids who play more video games tend to be more creative.
Scientists said that research that included 491 12-year old boys and girls found the frequency of video game playing directly impacted their ability to draw pictures and write stories. However, the general use of cell phones, the Internet and computers was unrelated to creativity.
The result showed that boys played more games than girls - and boys preferred "games of violence and sports: while girls liked games "involving interaction with others". The type of game did not have an impact on the level of gained creativity.
It was not clear what exactly triggered greater creativity in games, however, and researchers said that game designers should "identify the aspects of video game activity" that nurtures creativity.
"Once they do that, video games can be designed to optimize the development of creativity while retaining their entertainment values such that a new generation of video games will blur the distinction between education and entertainment," said Linda Jackson, professor of psychology and lead researcher on the project.
MSU said that they used the Torrance Test of Creativity-Figural to assess the creativity of kids. The suite includes tasks such as drawing a picture from a curved shape, giving the picture a title and then writing a story about it.
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"It was not clear what exactly triggered greater creativity in games, however, and researchers said that game designers should "identify the aspects of video game activity" that nurtures creativity."
This +1.
Any G-Modder will definitely know what this article is about.
Just look at the thousands of Gmod video's on Youtube.. From Rubberfruit and others etc..
Wasn't there a study about gamers being morons?
/confused
Well it seems we have come a long way from "video games are destroying our childrens minds!".
LOL, I'd SO fail that no matter how many games I play!
Clear for me, though. Virtual reality where you are free to experiment! Isn't that kind of obvious? Experiment ground always promotes creativity
while girls liked games "involving interaction with others"
What a very vague group of games that is. Could be pretty much any game on the market.
WWHHHHAAAA????
You mean games aren't evil and worthless??? NO WAI
... no shit sherlock. It's been proven that playing games stimulates the mind countless times more than just sitting in front of the tv doing nothing.
It doesn't matter, gamers are too busy playing to be creative anyways...
finally, science proves that video games are good for creativity. take that annoying parents-and-teachers-of-kids-who-play-too-much-fps-and-talk-trash-yet-can-write-stories-and-draw-pictures!
Who paid for this study I wonder ...
seems legit. I have a really crazy imagination and if I could draw well, the things I could draw...
Damn, no wonder I"m so creative
Did they do some magical science-y stuff to make sure that it is a cause, rather than correlation? ie: creative people like video games rather than video games make people creative.
More useless studies. Next they will study if people who play Farmville are more likely to plant a garden or if they give up after a day when it takes more than 2 hours to grow a tomato.
while girls liked games "involving interaction with others"What a very vague group of games that is. Could be pretty much any game on the market.
Sims
while girls liked games "involving interaction with others"What a very vague group of games that is. Could be pretty much any game on the market.
probably not interaction with a gun! hahaha
LOL, I'd SO fail that no matter how many games I play! Clear for me, though. Virtual reality where you are free to experiment! Isn't that kind of obvious? Experiment ground always promotes creativity
I agree. That hasn't always been my forte, either. Unless I had to come up with a story that didn't have to make sense to entertain some kids, b/c then I could just say whatever random funny thing that came to mind.
No need to be a scientist to come to that conclusion, many games promote creative thinking by rewarding it but there have been a decline there lately since more and more company markets their games by cool edited videos and flashy screen shots rather than actual content!
So can we still blame video games when some kid goes on a rampage? What if he goes on a creative rampage?
my drawing skills are horrible yet my imagination makes up for that
As much as I feel playing games increases brain activity and cognitive abilities (say as opposed to watching tv, surfing internet, etc) I also feel that people who are more right-brain dominant (you know, the creative side) are naturally inclined to playing video games. At the very least, playing video games exercises this side of the brain.
Its too bad school and most jobs want left-brain controlled robots.
Finally, some real data rather than some moron saying, "Video games have blood and guns, therefore they make our children criminals."
I don't buy it. Where are the numbers? Increase in logical comprehension and strategy/planning, that, I could accept but not this. Unless those kids play Prof. Layton games Scribblenauts or something similar and not just shooters(boys) and farming/cutesy(girls) games.
I say that video game addiction leads to kids doing things rashly just to finish whatever they are doing aside playing games.
Another one of these "studies"... in a few days we'll see one that says the opposite.
If Tom's really wants to play the Journal of Science game, then they need to publish the entire study, or at least give a direct link for anyone to be able to access it. Until then, it's hearsay and not worth a dime.
Another one of these "studies"... in a few days we'll see one that says the opposite.If Tom's really wants to play the Journal of Science game, then they need to publish the entire study, or at least give a direct link for anyone to be able to access it. Until then, it's hearsay and not worth a dime.
Tom's does supply the link. It takes you to the MSU website where you can download the study in PDF form.
Who paid for this study I wonder ...
It was funded by the National Science Foundation.
Who paid for this study I wonder ...
A consortium of Valve, Bethesda, Epyx, and Blizzard.
...just kidding.
Nah, couldnt be that creative people are drawn to creative products, thats just silly. Its the products that make them creative. Genius! Where is the study that defines how much of the newly created creativity is implemented in their lives, and for how long after immersion? There is a huge difference between creating something lasting and profound in a person, and having a temporary influence on their behavior. And as for "The result showed that boys played more games than girls - and boys preferred "games of violence and sports: while girls liked games "involving interaction with others"."... is this really and surprise? Its kinda hard coded into us. Men are the hunter/protectors and women are the nurturer/peacekeepers. We arent far enough away from our evolutionary beginnings yet for society and the modern age to have removed all of that programming from us yet.
Wow... game research from the US that's positive... I think that's a bigger surprise then the story itself. The next step... LAN party in congress. Most leaders did not grow up with computers, and there making policy regarding technology without full understanding because...
Did this study also include a baseline of these kids before they started playing video games? Or, is it a case of 'creative kids like video games' rather than 'video games make kids creative'?
It seems just as silly to attribute creativity to video games just as it does to attribute violent tendencies to video games.
Very good insights by the last few posters on cause and effect. Just because two things are related to each other, games and creativity, doesn't mean one causes the other. It could be that a third attribute causes people to play games AND be more creative.
As for the gender differences between boys and girls, yes it is a surprise to feminists and wacko leftists who claim that there is no difference between boys and girls and they should be treated exactly the same. Thus a teacher who gave The Sims 3 to girls and Battlefield 3 to boys would face a lawsuit and be fired for daring to presume that girls are any different from boys.