Chapter : 

World of Skillcraft: The Unexpected Benefits of Gaming by Karen Castellucci Cox World of Skillcraft: The Unexpected
Benefits of Gaming 
Book Title: Grassroots with Readings: The Writer’s Workbook 
Printed By: Tatyana Tsvinda (ttsvinda@my.centennialcollege.ca) 
© 2019 Cengage Learning, Cengage Learning

World of Skillcraft: The Unexpected Benefits of Gaming

Karen Castellucci Cox
Copyright © 2017 by Karen C. Cox. All rights reserved. Published in Grassroots by permission of the author.

The $100 billion video game industry attracts players of all ages, but especially teenagers. Their
hours spent with controller in hand worry both parents and teachers, who question the value of
these games. Here, Professor Karen Cox instead explores what benefits may be gained when
young people play digital games (and hopes that her children’s obsession with Minecraft might
yield something useful after all).
1 Using games to enhance learning is not a new idea. Preschool teachers use such strategies
every time their small charges play games like “I Spy” to learn colors or “Simon Says” to
practice motor control . The rise of digital technology has included some video games for
educators. One of the earliest offerings, Oregon Trail, helped students imagine what it would
have been like to outfit a covered wagon in the 1800s and creep across the Rockies during a
brutal winter. Newer digital tools help students learn math facts, practice grammar, or memorize
the periodic table. But these aren’t the games that students rush to play when they get home from
school. And they aren’t the games parents complain about when they can’t pry Jared or Jayla
away from the screen for a family dinner.

2 The commercial video game industry has been built around games that look very different
from the educational games young people might play at school. With motion-picture quality
graphics and sound, the best-selling games are often dismissed by parents and teachers as empty
entertainment at best or needlessly violent and sexualized at worst. However, a small but
growing field of research suggests that playing certain video games can teach valuable skills,
knowledge, or behaviors. These skills can be divided into four types: physical, social/emotional,
intellectual, and creative.

3 The first category, physical skills, is vital for children as they acquire balance and physical
coordination through active play, such as jumping rope or shooting baskets. On the surface,
playing video games seems the opposite of such physical activity. Yet the newest generation of
video games includes body sensor devices that allow players to swing a virtual golf club, balance
on an imaginary snowboard, or boogie to a popular tune. And the benefits of getting up and
moving are not limited to be-bopping children. Studies of the elderly and those with degenerative
 diseases who play Dance Dance Revolution show very real increases in mobility, balance,
and muscle strength. Other research has shown that surgeons who played commercial games,
especially “first-person shooter” games, made fewer operating room errors. In one study that
followed surgeons at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, doctors who had played video
games at some point in their lives made 37 percent fewer errors than their non-playing
counterparts. A similar study at University of Rome used games on the Nintendo Wii to improve
the accuracy of laparoscopic  surgeons. So gaming can measurably increase physical skills
such as eye-hand coordination and accuracy.
4 The second type of skills fostered by some video games includes social and emotional abilities
vital to the development of successful adults. Social games that encourage team activities build
social aptitude  and emotional maturity. League of Legends, for example, is a multiplayer
online game in which players join teams to navigate a fantasy world, defying dragons and
monsters while competing in arena battles. Successful LoL gamers exhibit positive behaviors
online that make them attractive team members. In fact, the game developers have introduced a
code of behavior that rewards players who “provide constructive feedback, build relationships,
and help new players.” The most popular multiplayer game, World of Warcraft, encourages
similar teamwork skills, but adds intricate rules for developing one’s avatar —an online
character to represent oneself. Avatars such as a mage , warrior, or priest let players try on new
selves that possess personal strengths they already have or ones they wish to embody. When
team battle games become heated, as they frequently do, gamers practice skills to stay calm
under intense pressure, compete in a healthy way, and manage disappointment when defeated.
Far from being socially isolating, multiplayer games encourage the emotional growth that will
help these gamers thrive as adults in their social and work lives.

5 Intellectual skills are the third type and the ones most often measured in schools. This
constellation  of skills includes thinking critically, solving problems, and analyzing
experiences. Intriguingly, action-adventure games challenge players in these very areas. The
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild immerses  gamers in a fantastical kingdom whose secrets
must be unlocked as the player’s avatar walks, climbs, or paraglides through lush scenery. Even
basic challenges like staving off hunger require trial-and-error as the player discovers edible
plants and learns to make elixirs  for strength. Action-adventure games like Zelda foster
persistence, a quality linked to success, since problems become easier to solve as the gamer
uncovers hidden clues. Likewise, problem-solving is reinforced positively because the stakes are
low. If his or her avatar fails, the gamer just boots back up and tries again. Developing a
penchant  for solving puzzles gives gamers an edge later in life when they solve on-the-job
problems with complex solutions or must critically assess information and its sources.

6 Finally, certain video games promote creativity, considered by some to be the highest form of
human expression. Creative learners tend to seek outlets for their imaginative expression, which
may explain why Minecraft is the most popular game in the world. At its most
basic, Minecraft is an online building game, a kind of digital Legos. But like action-adventure
games, it requires players to uncover secrets and solve problems if they are to survive. Gamers
may play individually or team up by the dozens in wiki-like  collaborations to create intricate
 cathedrals, desert temples, and whole villages. In a rare crossover  from commercial play to
the classroom, some teachers are developing courses around Minecraft in which students
replicate  famous structures like the Roman Colosseum or re-create stage performances of
Shakespeare.

7 Parents and gamers alike should embrace the discovery that some commercial video games
offer concrete skill-building in the four major learning areas. The present ESRB rating system
for video games shows only the level of violence and sexual content in a game—useful to
parents but sadly incomplete. Why not rate each game for educational value as well? Such a
move would be welcomed by parents and teachers and perhaps promote more crossover. Shifting
the focus to types of skills promoted by a game would also give parents peace of mind that time
spent gaming is not necessarily wasted but may even help young people acquire skills valuable
for school and life.

Gamers try out Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at a gaming convention, L.A., 2016.