Research Report

Study Highlights Benefits of Playing Even Violent Games

Grand Theft Auto picture.

New research finds that even Grand Theft Auto may have some measurable benefits.

New research indicates that video game play – even when it involves violent games – may provide important benefits that have not been acknowledged by many critics.

The research is a meta-analysis of past studies of social, physical and mental health benefits of video games and could challenge some of the existing theories that games are intellectually lazy or promote violent, anti-social behavior, the authors argue.

“Important research has already been conducted for decades on the negative effects of gaming, including addiction, depression and aggression, and we are certainly not suggesting that this should be ignored,” said lead author Isabela Granic, of Radboud University Nijmegen in The Netherlands. “However, to understand the impact of video games on children’s and adolescents’ development, a more balanced perspective is needed.”

Granic’s study is set to be published in the lead journal of the American Psychological Association, American Psychologist.

Like earlier reports that indicate action games can increase spatial skills and improve academic performance, Granic and her team found these first-person shooter games – more than any other type – can help students.

“This has critical implications for education and career development, as previous research has established the power of spatial skills for achievement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” Granic said in a release.

But the study went further, highlighting the possible mental and physical health benefits games could create for those seeking to treat children. The authors point to a 2008 study that found children in more than 30 different hospitals did a significantly better job understanding cancer and adhering to treatments when they played the game “Re-Mission.”

The effects of the survey, Granic argues, could have huge effects on how people study video games in a society and, she hopes, use games in possible psychological treatments.

“It is this same kind of transformation, based on the foundational principle of play, that we suggest has the potential to transform the field of mental health,” Granic said. “This is especially true because engaging children and youth is one of the most challenging tasks clinicians face.”

But other studies have highlighted the potential dangers of violent video games on young people. A recent report in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science studied the effects of playing Grand Theft Auto on Italian teens.

An American researcher, Ohio State’s Brad Bushman, said the results were widespread and bad.

“When people play violent video games, they show less self-restraint. They eat more, they cheat more,” Bushman said. “It isn’t just about aggression, although that also increases when people play games like Grand Theft Auto.”

Granic and her co-authors don’t discount the potential for games to harm an individual, rather they argue that clear benefits are seen from game play for many and so a more balanced approach is needed.