May I start out by first saying that I am a gamer myself so you will get to hear it from our perspective, and you should, because everyone out there that is pointing at video-games being the cause of school shootings or cause of a kid becoming a rebel or a thug, isn't a gamer themselves, and don't know actually how informative some games most people play can be.
Let's take Call Of Duty for an example. Call of Duty is a game series where the first three games and the fifth game are based on World War II. If you would play through the campaign mode on any of these games, you could learn quite a bit about World War II. You learn the weapons, how they fired, how accurate they were. You learn certain skills in-game that could be used in your life.
Say if you plan on joining the army, or Marines. Call of Duty teaches you to be tactful, to instead of running out and going Rambo, you strategically plan assaults on a team thats hiding out in a building that you need to win the game. Or it could be as simple as hiding behind a corner and having part of your team flank the other. All these skills could be helpful once you get into a branch like the Marines or Rangers. While tactics and history are important, isn't it also good to have great timing and hand-eye coordination?
After your hours of gameplay accumulate to about two or three days, you become a little quicker when it comes to your eyes and hands. Your mind is able to multitask a lot more than is used to, because there are so many things you have to keep track of while you are i na game such as Call of Duty. (e.g. How much ammo do I have? Will my grenade get him? Should we flank or take them head on? What's my health like?) Other games like Tetris (classic) or Portal (Xbox 360) Can really enhance your problem solving skills, which is really important if you plan on becoming a business leader somewhere or basically any kind of leader requires good problem solving skills. Portal is a puzzle game where you have tricky puzzle rooms you have to get through, where a button is placed in a seemingly impossible-to-get-to area. You have a weapon that creates portals, an enter and an exit portal, but these portals only mount on certain walls, and even the portals need to be strategically placed for you to get it right. You also have to be aware of a little ball that flies around the room and if it hits you, you have to start over.
Once you get the hang of this game, you'll be able to discern the problems quickly, how to solve it, and get to the next level. Strategy games, says it all in itself. You need to have power plants to power your facilities, you need to make money to make your units, you need to know how much you need. You need to know what the enemy is up to, how to attack them and destroy/takeover their base.
Now in saying all of this I know you are thinking, "What about those mindless games like Grand Theft Auto or Halo?" Your kids are in control of what they play, and what they put inside their heads, and the decisions they make. You, as the parent, need to set limitations if you fear your child will do something terrible because they have been playing too much Grand Theft Auto or too much "Bully". Games like these have a rating for a reason, rated M games can only be bought if you are 18 or older. Now does that stop your child from say, going over to a friend's house and playing that game? His decisions are his, not yours. He needs to know what is going into his head.
Video Games are a great thing, they teach us many skills like those listed above. There are many more. but remember! You are in control of what you put in your head, know what you play and know the dangers, and don't let that kind of behaviour carry into real life. Take the skills you get with playing video-games and have fun out there!
Happy Gaming!