ACADEMICS DEFEND EDUCATIONAL VALUE OF COMPUTER GAMES
BBC, 14 March 2006
Two academics at Brunel University in the United Kingdom argue that in their study of an online game called RuneScape, teens defy the common perception that playing computer games impedes their development, social and otherwise. Simon Bradford and Nic Crowe said that in their research, RuneScape added to social experience for those playing, rather than minimizing it. Players can assume an identity very different from their own--a different gender or race, for example--and could practice social interactions that will help them in real life, according to Bradford and Crowe. In addition, the game teaches players a level of responsibility in areas such as time management that many do not experience until they go off to college. One teenager in the study said she spent considerable amounts of time in the game's downtime places, specifically a waterfall where the teen said she likes just to sit and relax for hours. Bradford and Crowe suggested that in this way, the game provides experiences for players that they might not be able to have otherwise.
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