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Posted March 16, 2015

How Video Games Can Help You Study

As a child video games always seemed to be like fast-food . A small, moderated amount was considered okay, but any more than that was deemed unacceptable. However now you are a postgraduate, and whilst you may no longer have the time to spend hours playing FIFA or Call of Duty, there is evidence to suggest that playing video games may actually improve your studies.

Video games are infamous for creating the perception that playing them promotes laziness. This for the most part is simply untrue. In fact, studies have shown that playing video games (even for short periods of time) can have the positive effect of increasing cognitive function. In particular, spatial navigation, memory, perception and problem-solving are bettered by playing video games. All of these cognitive abilities play a role in postgraduate studies irrelevant of the discipline.

Your master’s thesis is becoming too overwhelming, and you are starting to think you have bitten off more than you can chew. Perhaps exams are looming and you starting to feel the pressure. Surely with all this stress the least productive activity you can do is play video games? Wrong. Video games have been proven to improve mood, ward off anxiety and promote relaxation. This is particularly true of easy-access games on mobile devices, such as Angry Birds or (the fad at the time of writing) Clash of Clans. Stress can be a debilitating emotion. Video games can be used as a tool to focus the mind elsewhere for a while, so that when you return to your original problem in a more calm and collected manner, it is easier to solve.

Motivation – a term that follows on well from the idea that postgraduate studies can begin to feel overwhelming. When the going gets tough, we all need a bit of motivation. Some of us are very able to self-motivate, whilst others struggle. How many times have you been playing a video game and thought to yourself “okay, one more go”? The answer is probably a few, if not a lot! Video games encourage us to have the determination and motivation to keep trying even if we are presented time and time again with failure. Whilst that “one more go” probably turned into another 20, it is determination that helped you succeed, and it is this determination that can help you through your studies.

Video games are also deceptively sociable platforms of entertainment. More and more games are becoming multiplayer and incorporate cooperative online games. Whilst postgraduate study is usually a personal project (rather than a team project) improving social skills will always prove useful. Playing games online with other players has been shown to better our judge of character. Whilst a postgraduate study is ultimately your work, there are many people that will play a role in it. A better judgement of the people who will prove most useful in your postgraduate study is certainly a skill worth having.

By no means does this information mean that you should drop your pen and paper and play Halo for 10 hours a day. What it does mean however, is that playing video games for short periods of time between studies may not be a bad thing; in fact it can be very beneficial. The cognitive, emotional and social elements of video gaming can have positive influence on how you study. If nothing, else playing video games can improve decision making, both in academic studies and wider life – a skill honed by many a video gamer in the face of virtual death.

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