Contrary to common belief, video games teach players empathy and not aggression. At least that is what a new study is saying. Got Game’s feature states:
Dr. Kourosh Dini, a Chicago-based psychiatrist and self-declared gamer recently published Video Game Addiction: A Guide for Parents, which includes a study that reveals video games to be a beneficial teacher of understanding the way others think. Dini reached such a conclusion after much observation–and even participation–in gameplay. In his studies, he analyzed from three different perspectives: the psychiatrist, the first-person player, and the third-person play observer. According to the book’s website, such analysis led Dini to conclude that “age appropriate multi-player video games can allow children to learn how other people think – a key aspect of empathy.â€
I really like his point of view – it makes total sense. However, we cannot discount the fact that other studies – and there are more of them, I think – have results that are quite different from that of Dr. Dini’s. So which is which?
I am no expert in the matter but I suppose that this study will be enough for other researchers to take a second look at their studies. Perhaps there are other factors that should be taken into consideration. Perhaps it is not a simple matter of stating that video games make children (or even adults) into so and so people. As for me – and other gamers like, I am sure – a study like this is a good start in forcing people NOT to immediately pinpoint video games as the “evil†they are supposed to be.