Here’s a book title that will bring joy to parents and children engaged in daily battles over computer time: Don’t Bother Me Mom – I’m Learning. Its premise, put forward by Marc Prensky, an American software developer, is that children who play computer games have distinct advantages over those who don’t, even when the content of the games is violent.

This is not a popular theory. Most parents feel compelled to limit computer time given the consensus that too many hours in front of a screen is bad for development, learning and general sociability. And the Government is now so concerned about the effect of the internet on young people that it has commissioned a panel of experts, including The Timescolumnist Dr Tanya Byron, to examine the impact of violent video games and internet pornography on children.

But, says Prensky, kids have changed. “They’re not little versions of us any more. Because of the technology they’re growing up with, they’ re able to learn in different ways, able to teach themselves in different ways and one of the greatest places they’ve got this from is by playing the complex games of today.”

The notion of what a game is has changed too, he says, pointing out that over the past 20 years a more intricate sort of game, such as Civilisation IV, which teaches the span of Western history, or The Sims 2, which teaches strategies for winning and losing, has emerged. “You have to reach multiple goals, it takes multiple skills and it takes 30 or 40 or 50 hours to play and master a game. From those games the kids learn a lot,” he says.

Prensky has written other books on this subject and is the founder of Games2Train.com, which develops training software for clients, including IBM, Nokia, Pfizer and the US Department of Defence. He believes that there are a lot of skills to learn in front of a screen. One is collaboration since most games are now networked. Effective decision-making under stress and prudent risk-taking are others.

“Games involve ethical and moral decisions, such as ‘just because you can beat someone up with a baseball bat, should you?’ Scientific deduction, mastering and applying skills and information, persistence and lateral thinking are all present in the modern game,” he says, as is managing people. One of his acquaintances claims that his parents used to shout at him for playing games. “What they didn’t know was that he had a 300-person ‘guild’ of online players under him, all playing in their own bedrooms. He says he now uses the same skills managing the people that he employs as he learnt managing that guild.”

Directing invisible players on the end of a network connection isn’t the only solid example of a skill being acquired through playing, says Prensky. He cites a doctor in New York, who specialises in laparoscopy, which is like a computer game in that it involves manipulating a control while watching a screen. “He wondered whether the doctors who had played video games made better surgeons so he did a poll.” The doctor found that many of those interviewed agreed that computer games made them better in the operating theatre. There are parallels in the legal system; some American lawyers play a game called Objection before going in to court to sharpen their mental reflexes.

Professor Kevin Durkin, of the psychology department at the University of Strathclyde, supports the idea that there are benefits from computer games. “Navigating the complex environments of computer games can help to promote spatial abilities, and rapid responses to events on screen can improve reaction times, eye-hand coordination and planning,” he says.

“The range and quality of educational games continues to improve, and we need to look carefully at their potential in many areas of learning.

“Research also dispels the notion that gameplay encourages children to become isolated, locked in their rooms for hours with a computer. In fact, most children prefer to play games with their friends or family.”

But not all computer games can be described as educational. Some contain deliberately violent content and have attracted criticism for putting players in a first-person situation in which they roleplay shooting and maiming others, sometimes with graphically gory results. Professor Brad Bushman, of the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, says: “The costs of playing violent games far outweigh any potential benefits. Research evidence clearly indicates that violent games increase aggressive thoughts, angry feelings, aggressive behaviour but decrease cooperative behaviour. In addition, the more time kids spend playing video games – violent or nonviolent – the lower their grades in school.” He points to his own published research as proof.

Prensky plays this down and is particularly critical of press coverage.

“Most of the journalists who write about these games don’t play them,” he says. “So they have no idea what’s going on; they’ve heard a bad thing or seen a bad screen.” He believes that children will know the difference between fact and fiction just as they would in any other medium. On the surface, the game might seem violent, he agrees, “but there’s huge depth to the games that people don’t give them credit for, but which kids understand. There’s the strategy, figuring out the rules, the environment and the ethical situation.”

He points to interesting developments in the games industry that will emerge on the market in time for Christmas (predictably enough). A game called Spore has captured his attention: “You start off in a primordial pool as protozoa and, by working your character, you get onto land, then they build a civilisation and move to conquer a planet and the stars.” He is also watching Nintendo very carefully; the physicality of its Wii console, in which players mimic the movements of bowling or tennis rather than fiddling with an ordinary game controller, have attracted attention far outside the normal teenage games market and are getting entire families playing together.

And most people would agree that whatever the merits of games as a learning tool, an activity that brings a family together is a positive thing. Even people who think that Prensky’s case is overstated will agree that in terms of hand-eye coordination there is something to be gained from playing in this way.

The controversy over the violent content of some games and indeed the internet overall remains, though. In spite of Prensky’s spirited defence, it’s difficult not to sympathise with Bushman who concludes: “Nonviolent games can teach those skills just as well as violent games can.”

Don’t Bother Me Mom, I’m Learning, published by Paragon House, is available through online bookshops

Addictive or not?

Marc Prensky believes that the phenomenon is overstated: “If a child sits down and reads all the Harry Potter books one after the other we say that’s a good thing. If he or she sits down and plays an absorbing game we don’t,” he says. “A book you don’t want to put down is called a page-turner and everyonebody approves. If I sit in front of a computer game I want to be absorbed in the same way.” That, he says, can lead to perceived compulsive behaviour, but it’s no such thing.

Professor Mark Griffiths, of Nottingham Trent University, has done much research in this field. He admits that addiction is extremely rare and agrees with Prensky to some extent.

“Healthy enthusiasms add to life, addictions take away from it," he says. “The vast majority of excessive gamers will say their activity has positive effects. There are many people who play excessively without having any negative impact on their life at all.”

There are downsides, however. “It does appear that excessive computer game playing can have potentially damaging effects upon a minority of individuals who display compulsive and addictive behaviour, and who will do anything to feed their addiction,” he said in a paper published this year – although he stresses that in these cases the addictive and antisocial nature tends to come first rather than being caused by the video game.

Kids’ kit - Present giving

Trying to buy a present for a niece, nephew or godchild when you don’t have children of your own and when your childhood was so long ago that memory offers little in the way of assistance, can be tough.

What do they like? one asks the parents, only to be told, oh, you know – anything really, so long as it has wheels/is pink/appears on a screen. Now a website aims to sort out prospective gift-givers with a service that picks presents according to age and sex. Wickeduncle promises to help you to “buy the perfect present in under one minute”. A search for a present for a boy aged 9 yielded a choice of 12 gifts, including board games a magic kit and a radio-controlled car. There should be more reasonably priced gifts – the cheapest was £12.95 and the priciest £49.99, but otherwise this one-stop shop (wicked uncle will wrap and deliver gifts too) is a welcome relief ahead of the present-giving season.
wickeduncle.com

The learning games

Civilization IV: Teaches the span of Western history.
The Sims 2: Gives the lessons of getting a life and either succeeding or failing.
Thrillville – Off the Rails: Shows the economics of running a theme park plus the physics of building a thrilling but safe ride. FIFA 08 Soccer: Teaches the strategy of the game by playing, but also includes team-building and coaching.
Dance, Dance, Revolution – aka Dancing Stage: Imparts the value of exercise by taking you through it.
Brain Training: Shows the value of continued mental exercise.

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