The British Broadcasting Corporation might not be the first place you think of when it comes to defending video games and gaming culture, but here we are.
The beeb has just released a YouTube documentary about the health benefits of playing video games, and it’s great news if you’re trying to convince people that gaming is good.
In a video entitled “Gaming Can Actually Be Good For You: Crazy Science,” the BBC looks into gaming culture in the United Kingdom, where it’s estimated that 32 million of its 66 million population are gamers.
The documentary also claims that “the average young person racks up 10,000 hours playing video games by the age of 21,” which is only slightly less than the time spent in secondary school (from ages 11-16).
While admitting that the long-term effects of non-stop gaming are still heavily debated, the documentary does note the many benefits of picking up a controller.
According to the BBC’s study, gamers are better at multitasking, make better decisions and pay closer attention to detail.
The doc then puts two teams – gamers and non-gamers – against each other in a test designed to see how fast their brains can react.
The subjects were shown the names of colours, displayed in a different colour to the word itself. Each person had to call out the colour of the text, and not the word it said.
The non-gamers averaged a score of 69.7% correct, while the gamers smashed it with 90.3%, thanks to their attention to detail.
Eyesight, motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination are just a few other examples of the skills developed by gamers.
Interesting, the doc also goes into detail about how gaming has helped those who suffer from disabilities, mental health problems, or even social anxiety, PTSD, autism and addiction.
Basically, it’s a big thumbs up for gamers.
Check out the documentary in full below.
Now, excuse me, I’m off to play some video games…
Featured Image Credit: Pixabay