by Marc Quaglia

Created on: May 03, 2007   Last Updated: May 05, 2007

Like with anything else, the key to gaining the most benefits from video game play is through moderation. While a reasonable amount of gaming will improve various facets of anyone's life, taken to excess it is extremely detrimental. This is no different from any other sport, activity, or leisurely pursuit... too much time spent playing hockey is no better than an excessive amount of poker or hours spent baking. However, because video games are a more passive activity than almost any other, it is important to remember that the healthy limits are lower than what most people expect.

There *are* physical benefits to video game playing. The primary ones are related to body co-ordination: a great deal has been researched about hand-eye co-ordination due to video game playing. There has even been direct correlations drawn between modern doctor's ability to conduct fine surgery and the amount of time spent playing video games! This isn't as outworldly as it might seem: modern medicine is full of joysticks hooked up to extremely fine robotic instruments and monitors which, at a glance, are very similar to video games. Additionally, various games work on hand-foot co-ordination, such as the well known "Dance Dance Revolution" series. This isn't to say that *all* games benefit you physically... sitting at a computer screen and grinding away at the latest Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game isn't going to help your co-ordination.

With careful selection, video games can also be great ways of learning otherwise difficult aspects of history, philosophy, economics and mathematics. Again, that's not to say all (or even most) games grant this benefit... playing something like "Doom" doesn't teach you much about Christian beliefs (despite encountering a wide variety of Christian-inspired demons), nor will a quick game of "Half-Life" (in which the player takes the role of a theoretical physicist and battles invading aliens) teach you anything about physics. But many strategy games, such as the brilliant "Civilizations" series and the faster-paced "Age of Empires", do embed a lot of fascinating historical facts in their games. And while playing a digital version of the Normandy landing may not give a true comparison to the actual event, some historical First Person Shooters do put a considerable amount of effort into educating the players about the progress and history of World War II while they play. Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games all have deep and complicated

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