Can online video games actually have socially redeeming qualities?
Not only do that have socially-redeeming qualities, but they help promote social interaction. This finding contradicts earlier research that suggested people who spend a lot of time online or gaming are socially isolated.
As many parents lament, online games often seem to be an obsession consuming free-time and appearing to limit social interaction. Now, according to experts, one form of online entertainment called massively multiplayer games (MMOs), may actually “promote sociability and new worldviews.”
The key, of course, is what type of game or interaction is being done online. Games requiring social interactions, and activities online that require social interaction, would seem to, by their very definition, to foster less social isolation and more social interaction. This research helps support the idea that it is the action, not the technology itself, that is a determinant of social isolation.
Psych Central News has the full story: » Online Video Games Socially Helpful?
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Only Psychology » Blog Archive » Friday Flashback for August 17, 2007 (8/17/2007)
3 Comments to
“Online Video Games Socially Helpful”
I am a Psych student, and I play World of Warcraft on a regular basis. The key here, as with anything, is moderation. Many people that I have talked with in the game, do nothing but play. These people, while they can function perfectly in the social environment in WoW, they do nothing but sit in front of their computers and can no longer function socially in reality, because the game is the only place they feel safe.
i also play world of warcraft on regular basis and find that it does help social life.
i am also a psyc student, but I don’t play WoW. I play starcraft because it is fully balanced and requires more skill which takes years to develop… Hence Seoul’s adoption of the game.
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 17 Aug 2007
