Online gaming has been around for a while, I just have never gotten into it. I used to play the occasional poker game online. I remember playing Checkers on Yahoo! Chat a long time ago. Other than that, I'm not an online gamer. You might see me on Farm Town or FarmVille but I don't play either of them. I set up an account, but I just haven't had the time or patience to learn how to play them. I started the tutorial on Farm Town but quickly exited out because I lost focus on it. eHow actually has a "how to" on Farm Town with just six simple steps. While I'd rather read short steps that go through a long tutorial, I still didn't see the appeal. I know it's there, though, because I remember The Sims and Sim Town and Sim City--they were all partially responsible for my procrastination in my younger years.
This week I decided to take a better look at online gaming. While I'm quick to judge and say they're just a waste of time and an easy way to get nothing done, I have to wonder if there's anything a person can actually learn or gain from online gaming. A couple of my friends operate zoos on Facebook. Are they learning how to care for animals? How to operate a business? Maybe that's a bit extreme, but I've heard of people becoming experts at poker completely online.
Also, this site suggests that an online game called OurCourts is using computer games to help people learn. OurCourts also led me to an article called: How video games are good for the brain, where the article defines video games simply as a form of media and states that it has been researched that video games can improve mental function. One very key sentence in the article was "Video games are hard," said Eric Klopfer. The article then went on to state that most games involve a huge number of mental tasks. After reading the entire article, I actually think of video games a bit differently now. Playing video games is undoubtedly better for the brain than watching TV--especially particular shows.
What are your thoughts on online and video games? Are they beneficial in some aspect?
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