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Procedia Computer Science 179 (2021) 211–221

5th International Conference on Computer Science and Computational Intelligence 2020

Using Video Games to Improve Capabilities in Decision Making

and Cognitive Skill: A Literature Review
Charles Reynaldoaa, Ryan Christianaa, Hansel Hoseaaa, Alexander A S Gunawana,*
a,*
aa
Computer
Computer Science
Science Department,
Department, School
School of
of Computer
Computer Science,
Science, Bina
Bina Nusantara
Nusantara University,
University, Jakarta,
Jakarta, Indonesia
Indonesia 11480
11480

Abstract
Abstract

Video games provide a means to improve a human's cognitive skills. There are several genres of games that affect
different cognitive subcategory. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether video games could really improve
cognitive skills and decision-making; and which video games genre affect which cognitive skills. The authors assess
previous experiments related to video games and cognitive skills. The paper reviewed 27 experimental and literature
review studies. The results of the review proved that video games do improve cognitive skills and decision-making.
Cognitive skills such as perception, attentional control, and decision-making improves when subjects were trained
with video games. In relation to video games genre, Real-time strategy (RTS) players outperforms First-person
shooter (FPS) players on cognitive flexibility while FPS players tend to have lower switching cost in work. People
with profession such as nurses and doctors showed improved decision-making and risk assessment when trained
with serious simulation games. High school and undergraduate students who played video games exhibit better
result when given tasks related to cognitive abilities compared to students who do not played video games. We
encourage further studies to conduct a much bigger experiment to correlate with our findings.
©
© 2021
2020 The
© 2020 The Authors.
The Authors. Published
Authors. Published by
Published by Elsevier
by ELSEVIER
ELSEVIER B.V.B.V.
B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
This
This is
is an
an open
open access
access article
article under
under the
the CC
CC BY-NC-ND
BY-NC-ND license
license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 5th International Conference on Computer Science and
Peer-review
Peer-review under
under responsibility
responsibility of
of the
the scientific
scientific committee
committee of
of the
the 5th
5th International
International Conference
Conference on
on Computer
Computer Science
Science and
and
Computational Intelligence 2020
Computational
Computational Intelligence
Intelligence 2020
2020
Keywords: video
Keywords: video games;
games; decision
decision making;
making; cognitive
cognitive skills;
skills; game-based
game-based learning
learning

** Corresponding
Corresponding author.
author. Tel.:
Tel.: +62-21-
+62-21- 5345830
5345830
E-mail address: aagung@binus.edu
E-mail address: aagung@binus.edu

1877-0509 ©
1877-0509 © 2020
2020 The
The Authors.
Authors. Published
Published by
by ELSEVIER
ELSEVIER B.V.
B.V.
This
This is
is an
an open
open access
access article
article under
under the
the CC
CC BY-NC-ND
BY-NC-ND license
license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
Peer-review
Peer-review under
under responsibility
responsibility of
of the
the scientific
scientific committee
committee of
of the
the 5th
5th International
International Conference
Conference on
on Computer
Computer Science
Science and
and
Computational
Computational Intelligence
Intelligence 2020
2020

1877-0509 © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)
Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 5th International Conference on Computer Science and
Computational Intelligence 2020
10.1016/j.procs.2021.12.027
212 Charles Reynaldo et al. / Procedia Computer Science 179 (2021) 211–221
2 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000

1. Introduction

Video games are mostly seen as an entertainment media. Most people have a negative association when we use
the word video games to describe something. They see this as a threat to good social behaviours. However, that is
far from the truth. Video game, as any other media, can be used to teach and educate people 1. There is many other
benefits 2 in playing video games. In this paper, we are trying to seek information that video game can be used to
improve a person’s skill, especially in decision making 3 and cognitive skills 4. Video games come in many form and
genre, and some requires a specific set of skills. By observing this development, we are going to study what kind of
games that affects those set of skills and find how to improve them.
Video games are usually portrayed by the media as the cause of violence action and behaviours by kids and
teenagers. One example that comes to mind is that First-person shooter (FPS) video games are being called the
cause of extreme violence (school shooting) by middle and high school students by the news media 5. This caused a
stigma in the population, especially parents, in how they viewed video games. Gamers are seen by the general
population as anti-social and overweight, eating bags of chips and downing soft drinks while playing hours and
hours of video games. However, many journals have proven that video games have positive effects on those that
played it 6. This paper aims to erase the stigma of video games in the general population and provide awareness on
the positive effects of video games.
By conducting the research, we want the reader to know that not all video games cause violence. Video game
can also bring positive impact in our life. Playing Video games can boost learning 7, health 8, and social skills 9.
Playing video games may also improve problem solving skills 10. By playing role playing games and strategic games
they can figure out step by step on how to solve that problem. Not only that, but people’s decision making can also
be enhance by playing strategic games. For example, if you are playing DOTA, you want to decide which hero is
most suitable to fight your opponent, therefore you must think about their hero strength and weaknesses. We really
hope that after reading this, the reader can implement the positive skills learnt by playing video games in day to day
life. The remainder of the paper is arranged as follows: first we discuss the methodology of our study in section 2,
and then is followed by the results of literature review in section 3. In section 4, we discuss the impact of the results
in the video game in decision making and cognitive skills. Finally, we concluded our work with suggestions for the
next research in section 5.

2. Methodology

The methodology used for this study is a literature review. First, we conduct our research based on literature
review method. A literature method is a method of comparing research paper by collecting, and reviewing
publications (such as books, journal articles) that is related to your topic. The starting point is doing finding papers,
using our previously defined keywords. Next, we collected some data related to these keywords from journals,
proceedings and literature reviews. The goal of this process is to find as many as possible related papers for our
study.
With related collected papers, the next process is to find the most suitable and related. Not every paper with
those keywords are suitable enough for our research. To select the papers, we determine two research questions: (i)
whether video games could really improve cognitive skills and decision-making; and (ii) which video games genre
affect which cognitive skills. Then we proceed by cleaning up the irrelevant to those questions and start classifying
which type of papers are these and group them properly. Finally, we collected 27 experimental and literature review
studies related to video games and cognitive skills. Papers that has been collected and made it will be examined.
This examination will find out what they do in the research, then find conclusion that can be drawn. We would like
to compare among the found papers and look for the trend made by them. The results are the categories of similar
papers and the research trend in use of video games for improving cognitive skill.

3. Results

The collected study related to video games can mostly be classified into two group, literature review and
experimental study. Literature review uses previously done researches and compares their results to draw
conclusions. Meta-analysis 11 is included to this review study. On the other hand, Experimental study is mostly done
 Charles Reynaldo et al. / Procedia Computer Science 179 (2021) 211–221 213
Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 3

by using the pre-test and post-test method. In this way, any change of improvement after the treatment will be
measured and compared against the original state. To make the finding more valid, researcher usually create a
separate control group as the baseline and compare the control group to the experiment group. By comparing the
results, they will know if the changes are accidental or no. The experimental study includes the use of video game
for teaching 12 certain skills.

Table 1. State of the Art

Publ Methodology
icati
No Title Algorithm/Architecture/Model, Pros and Cons
on Method Dataset
etc
Year
1 2017 Efficacy of educational Quantit Participants decisions are Initial study: 297 Pros:
video game versus ative measured during the trial span. participants split into This study has good impact on
traditional educational and Their behaviour and actions on 2 groups (149 played the participants. Physicians
apps at improving Qualita different cases were recorded video games, 148 who played the video game has
physician decision tive and analysed. used traditional more significant behaviour
making in trauma (Experi educational app). change. Therefore, the video
triage: randomized ment) Participants were also asked to game has bigger impact to
controlled trial 13 fill the questionnaire related to Follow-up study: 122 participants compared to
their experience as a qualitative participants split into traditional educational app.
measure. 2 groups (64 played
video games, 58 used Cons: Some participants
traditional describe the video game as
educational app). “annoying” and “unenjoyable”.
2 2017 Meta-Analysis of Qualita Meta-analysis approach from Dataset after cleaning Pros: Researching previous
Action Video Game tive other literature reviews that includes: 82 studies, papers and categorizing the
Impact on Perceptual, (Meta- provide qualitative description in which 65 of them results can confirm that video
Attentional, analysi of their study, rather than the got published and 17 game has a medium size impact
and Cognitive Skills 11 s) measures of effect size. unpublished studies. on young adults several
cognitive aspects through this
method.

Cons: Larger sample size and

3 2015 Action video game Qualita An experiment conducted with
training for cognitive tive pre-testing and post-testing.
enhancement 14 (Experi Participants were generally
ment) people who don’t play video
games naturally, split into 2
random groups. One group
play action video game for 10
– 50 hours, within the span of 2
days to 5 months. The other
group play a control casual
game. The results of both tests
were then compared.
4 2019 Altering perception: Qualita The research compares results
the case of action tive between cross-sectional studies
video gaming 15 (Revie in which they have gamers
w) compared to non-gamers, and
intervention studies, in which
they compare 2 group of non-
gamers with different game
category. Their perceptual
aspect, like vision, auditory,
etc, are then compared with
one another.
5 2016 Perspective taking and Quantit Participants were asked to play
decision-making in ative the video game Quandary, a
educational game play: and game promoting ethical
longer duration were not really
explored much for the research.
Everything is mostly short-term
impact.
Pre-test and post-test Pros: The improving results
results from were shown clearly for
participants. participants. This shows
participants skills on specific
task actually increase.
Cons: Participants/Dataset size
were not specified in this paper,
most things where shown in
percentage. More work for
real-life practical application
needed.
52 papers including Pros: Comparison between
cross-sectional study different study method shows
and intervention new insight on how to set up
studies. experiment.
Cons: The compared results
weren’t that clear for
intervention study. Too few
studies exist to draw firm
conclusion for using video
games as rehabilitation
method.
Participants are Pros: Participants were able to
students in Grade 6, do their task simply, and the
7, and 8 in which results are clearly shown.
214 Charles Reynaldo et al. / Procedia Computer Science 179 (2021) 211–221
4 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000

A mixed-methods Qualita decision and moral learning. In
study 16 tive this study, group one plays the
(Experi game in one session. The
ment) second group, Quandary +
Facilitation play the game in a
span of one to three week. The
last group were just a control
group for comparing result.
The participants were given
pre-test and post-test, as well
as their action during gameplay
as a quantitative measure, and
interview to their experience as
a qualitative measure.
6 2020 Video games as rich Qualita Comparing previous video
environments to foster tive game related study, their
brain plasticity 17 (Revie impact, and effectiveness.
w) Meta-analysis on studies
method and results.
they were split into 3
group randomly: 63 Cons: Study shows that
play Quandary, 49 meaningful impact will happen
play Quandary + if the subject were more related
Facilitation, 51 as a intricately to participants life,
control group. making it hard to improve
some behaviour. A greater
dosage of playing also needed
for the effect to linger longer.
150+ previously Pros: The field of video game
related study on and computer-based
video games and intervention is highly
skills. promising for function
recovery. The task performed
by humans were better than the
previous one.

Cons: It is still a hard and

complex problem integrating
this system for therapeutic
needs. The cluster of research
papers weren’t really clear.
7 2018 Can Serious Games Quantit Games being used for 285 Students, split Pros: Using different type of
Improve Project ative simulating a project. Each into 102 project project can make variables
Management Decision (Experi group activity then measured team. easier to handle. Concludes
Making Under ment) through objective parameter serious games can improve
Complexity? 18 and performance. decision-making performance.
More complexity also improves
their results.

Cons: Some game being way

too serious, are more like an
interactive lesson rather than
video games. Some participants
might not really take this
seriously.
8 2016 Brain Drain or Brain Quantit Pre-test and Post-test in the 49 players assigned Pros: Results are more nuanced
Gain? Cognitive Skill ative form of cognitive test and to random video than expected. Improvement on
Training of Novice (Experi problem-solving test, also games attention task and time
Video Game Players ment) some questionnaire. The test management were found.
with Casual Video includes habits, motivation,
Games 19 time management, and Cons: The study wasn’t very
demographics. clear of who were they
studying. The number of
measures for other population
sample wasn’t present.
9 2019 The relationship Quantit Questionnaires were sent to 105 Responses from Pros: Collected data was able
between video games, ative students. The result of these IT students. to show correlations. Result
problem-solving skills, (Experi questionnaires was than and conclusion can be drawn
and academic ment) categorized and processed. from datasets about the impact.
performance from IT
students’ perspective 10 Cons: This study exclude the
causation between different
variables since the main
purpose is to analyse video
game play, problem-solving
skill, and academic
performance from IT students’
perspective. There’s was no
really clear way to verify if the
respondents answer to
 Charles Reynaldo et al. / Procedia Computer Science 179 (2021) 211–221 215
Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 5

questionnaires is the truth.

10 2017 The effect of active Quantit PRISMA 17 eligible RCTs, Pros:

video games on ative 926 participants Provides the first meta-analytic
cognitive functioning (Meta- cognitive outcome findings of cognitive benefits
in clinical and non- analysi data from exergames interventions
clinical populations: A s)
meta-analysis of Cons:
randomized controlled Included RCTs which did not
trials 20 use intention-to-treat analyses
and those which failed to report
complete outcome data of all
participants
11 2018 A meta-analysis with Quantit Analysis of moderators, 46 empirical Pros:
examination of ative analysis of effect size, analysis experimental studies Use three kinds of analysis
moderators of student (Meta- of publication types to ensure minimum errors
cognition, affect, and analysi bias
learning outcomes s) Cons:
while using serious Adopted a broad-based
educational games, approach that allowed inclusion
serious games, and of quasi-experimental studies
simulations 7 and classroom-based studies so
long as they appeared in peer-
reviewed journal

12 2015 Action video games Quantit Oculomotor capture task 28 Active Video Pros:
and improved ative (Compound search task) Game Players The first investigation to
attentional control: (Experi (AVGP) (played an distinguish between selection-
Disentangling ment) average of 8 hours of and response-based processes
selection- and action games per of visual search when
response-based week) and 29 Non- comparing AVGP and NVGP
processes 5 Video-Game Players performance
(NVGP)
Cons:
Due to the cross-sectional
nature of the investigation, a
degree of caution should be
taken when considering the
causal relationship between
action video game experience
and the observed effects
13 2015 The influence of video Quantit 2 by 2 factorial ANOVA on 228 undergraduate Pros:
games on executive ative Positive and Negative Affect students enrolled in The study utilized five different
functions in college (Experi Schedule, Iowa Gambling psychology courses video games, showing that
students 21 ment) Task, Balloon Analogue Risk (114 females) improvement of cognitive skills
Task, Wisconsin Card Sorting is present across games, not a
Task unique feature of a single game

Cons:
Not all executive functions
were assessed in the study,
therefore it is possible that
different outcome would be
seen if other executive
functions were tested
14 2015 Using video game play Quantit ANOVA of Mental Rotation Experiment 1: Pros:
to improve education- ative Test, Working Memory 10 AVG, 10 NAVG Provide 2 different experiments
majors’ mathematical (Experi Operation Span Computer- to maximized findings
performance: An ment) based Assessment, Cognitive Experiment 2:
experimental study 22 Load Survey, Math Anxiety 30 undergraduate Cons:
and Confidence in Learning students that did not Tiny sample size of participants
Mathematics Surveys have prior AVG in each experiment
15 2015 Cognitive Quantit Task Switching analysed in 3 x 90 participants Pros:
enhancement in video ative 2 ANOVAs, Multiple Objects divided into three Requirements of playing video
game players: The role (Experi Tracking analysed in 3 x 7 groups: FPS players, games constantly (12 or more
216 Charles Reynaldo et al. / Procedia Computer Science 179 (2021) 211–221
6 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000

of video game genre 23 ment) ANOVAs, Similarity Ratings RTS players, and a hours per week) for a long
control group of period of time (6 months) for
NVGP AVG players provide accurate
data for the experiment

Cons:
The study only gives a limited
set of tasks for the participants
16 2016 Playing Action Video Quantit Cognitive assessment using 5 healthy male Pros:
Games, a Key to ative Vienna Test System (VTS), participants: Using a novel technique of
Cognitive (Experi Psychology Experiment 4 into Experimental EMD algorithm brings a
Enhancement 24 ment) Building Language (PEBL) group, 1 into control different perspective and angle
and EMD algorithm group on how video games affect
cognitive abilities

Cons:
Small test size (only 5 people),
therefore the accuracy of the
study is not high
17 2018 The Empirical Quantit Systematic Literature Review 32 relevant papers: Pros:
Analysis of Non- ative 22 on Attention, 8 on Extensive dataset
problematic Video (Revie task switching, 2 on
Gaming and Cognitive w) time perception Cons:
Skills: A Systematic 3 parameters for papers left out
Review 25 other cognitive aspects to
review
18 2015 Comparison of Quantit Comparison of performance on 43 children (age 7 to Pros:
children’s gaming ative video games and 11 subtests 12) grade one to Test 15 different games for
scores to NEPSY-II (Experi from NEPSY-II (psychometric seven: cognitive subcategory provide
scores: Validation ment) test of neuropsychological 23 boys and 20 girls extensive data as to which
of computer games as skills for children) games correlate to which
cognitive tools 26 cognitive function

Cons:
Sample was composed of well-
adjusted children; therefore, the
data could not be generalized to
children with limitation such as
severe learning disabilities or
ADHD
19 2016 Teaching clinical Quantit Model: Analysed using Pros:
reasoning and ative Cognitive walkthrough qualitative deductive Using this method may
decision-making skills (Teachi evaluations, a questionnaire, content analysis improve nursing student skills
to nursing students: ng) and individual interviews. based on the TURF in decision making
Design, development, framework elements
and usability and related usability Cons: Although qualitative
evaluation of a serious heuristics. content analysis is commonly
game 27 used in nursing science
research, the trustworthiness of
its use has not yet been
systematically evaluated

20 2019 The effects of video Quantit Algorithm: Statistically Pros:

game training on the ative Participants were randomly controlling pre-test The Memory Alteration Test
cognitive functioning (Experi assigned to either an performance and has been proven to help people
of older adults: A ment) intervention group partaking in performance on the with memory disease
community-based 15 h of supervised video game Memory Alteration (Alzheimer,
randomized controlled training over five weeks or to a Test. Amnesia).
trial 28 control group completing an
assessment battery before and Cons:
after a five-week period. 15 hours of supervised video
game training over five weeks
surely took a long time.
21 2018 Shallow Decision- Quantit Model: Metrics, Monte-Carlo Pros: Both the metrics and the
Making Analysis in ative Set of metrics, Search, Agreement comparison method will be
General Video Game (Experi Method to compare the Percentage. useful in several applications. It
 Charles Reynaldo et al. / Procedia Computer Science 179 (2021) 211–221 217
Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 7

Playing 29 ment) decisions of two distinct game- can be used to knows the
playing agents, behaviour of an agent and what
Scenario in which the metrics attracts it.
and the comparison method are
used to analyse the behaviour Cons:
of instances, Description of the Calculation’s really
agents used in the experiments. complicated
22 2016 Towards game-based Qualita Algorithm: Intelligence Phase, Pros:
management decision tive We first outline the theoretical Design Phase, Choice The algorithm and the process
support: using serious (Revie background of this Phase, is really well structured
games to improve the w) investigation. Then the results Implementation
decision process 30 of the review are described. Phase Cons:
Concludes the study with a No experiment means that the
discussion of results, a research was not yet proven
conclusion as well as an effective for people
outlook.
23 2018 Realistic decision- Qualita Model: Vaccination game. Pros:
making processes in a tive Spatial prisoner’s dilemma May increase human decision-
vaccination game 31 (Teachi (SPD). making process of whether to
ng) commit to a vaccination by
reducing “sense of crisis” or
“fear” that’s urging him/her
toward vaccination.
(some people believe that
vaccination can cause serious
disease like autism).

Cons:
Not much processes is
described in the method.
24 2015 A game-based Qualita Model: The disposition effect Pros:
approach to improve tive Diagnosis and approaches, Design- Disposition Effect Approach
traders' decision- (Teachi The Evaluation of The Based Research. increases desire to avoid the
making 32 ng) Learning Pathway of people emotional pain of realising a
playing Space Investor and loss.
Auction Game They can console themselves
that ‘it will probably increase
in value again’

25 2015 Cognitive benefits of Qualita Model:
playing video games 1 tive correlational and experimental.
(Experi Correlational study, regular
ment) gamers are compared with
people who don’t play video
games. The result shows that
gamers outperform the non-
gamers on whatever test is
used. Experiments study, in
which all of the people asked
to play a particular video game
for a certain number of hours
and a certain amount of days.
The results show that the ones
who play the video game
improve on measures of basic
perceptual and cognitive
abilities.
26 2018 Benefits of Play Qualita Model:
Revealed in Research tive Research on Cognitive
on Video Gaming 9 (Revie Benefits, Creativity Benefits,
w) Motivational Benefit,
Cons:
Can cause people to not feel
guilt after spending a lot of
money
Collecting the data Pros:
and using them to Using correlational and
specify experimental we can conclude
improvements. that this research is proven and
Example: not bias.
Improvements in
basic visual Cons:
processes I think this method can cause
people to be addicted to video
games. Because if he/she really
believe that games can improve
perceptual and cognitive
abilities then surely he/she will
play all the time.
Reviewing recent Pros:
research done by By reviewing recent research
other people done by other people, he can
pinpoint the weakness/mistakes
218 Charles Reynaldo et al. / Procedia Computer Science 179 (2021) 211–221
8 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000

Emotional Benefits, and Social of that research, and merge all

Benefits by using other of the reviews to create a
people’s experiments conclusion

Cons:
Reviewing a lot of research
consumes a lot of time
27 2015 How a video game Quantit Model: Pros:
helped people make ative Two experiments by watching Watching and playing video
better decisions 33 (Experi video and playing games, the games is really enjoyable
ment) game was proven more
effective than the video. Cons:
Playing the game reduced the Can cause video views to go
three biases by about 32% down
immediately and 24% over the
long term. Watching the video
reduced the three biases by
about 25% immediately and
19% over the long term.
Bias blind spot,
Confirmation bias,
Fundamental, attribution error,
Anchoring,
Projection,
Representativeness

3.1. Results Based on Previous Study

We have studied through a lot of previous study that tackles how some behaviors can be impacted by playing
some type of video games. After going through most of those papers, we have categorized on how they conduct
their research. There are 16 research using quantitative method, 9 using qualitative method, and 2 of them are using
both as their measures. However, not all those studies were keen on sharing the details on how they really collect
their data. Some only give us an idea on how they conduct their research, and share the result in the form of
percentages, which is harder to work with, especially if the sample size is not known for us.
The research can be categorized mostly into 3 type. An experiment using video games and a control group that
does not play video game, an experiment that use different type of video game as their control group, and a meta-
analysis (review) of previously done paper. Based on our study, people who plays video game tend to have better
decision making and cognitive aspects based on our study (see Table. 2). Furthermore, people used video games to
increase people decision making and cognitive skills. For example, some people used trading games 32, simulator
games such as surgeon simulator 3, to increase their decision making skills 34 and even in enhancing visual
perception 35.
Video games have been proven to increase decision making skills much more effective than watching video.
Based on Morewedge experiments 33, playing video game reduced the biases by about 32% immediately and 24%
over the long term, while watching the video reduced the biases by about 25% immediately and 19% over the long
term. Video games can also increase cognitive functioning of older adults. A research by Giovanni 28 have proved
that using video games training on older adult, can increase cognitive functioning of older adults, and help cure
memory decease such as alzheimer.

Table 2. Research Paper Type

Method Quantity Experiment (non-video game Experiment (other video games Meta- Positif Negatif
as a control group) as a control group) analysis Result Result

Quantitative 16 6 8 2 13 3
Qualitative 9 2 3 4 7 2
Quantitative and 2 1 1 0 2 0
Qualitative
Total 27
 Charles Reynaldo et al. / Procedia Computer Science 179 (2021) 211–221 219
Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000 9

4. Discussion

4.1. Video Games Effect on Behavior

Based on result we have view and categorized, video games can affect our behavior, depends on the game, video
games can cause negative and positive effect. These kinds of changes can be seen in the results of most of those
papers. While some might be contradictory with each other, we can find some similar pattern throughout research.
First, we are going to discuss the positive impacts found on these researches. Video games tends to “train” the
player to do things a certain way. This can make some people more disciplined through some playing session. The
punishment given by not abiding to those rules can give players the push they need to act accordingly. These actions
are the little nudges people need to do what they have to. Although, not everyone seems to enjoy video games the
same way, they might find the reward and punishment thing not their play and reject the idea.
The second part, some negative behavior. Most research that check how people have bad habits usually works
like this. Ask whether people play video games or not, and then review how they do something. It could be their
violence level, or some other negative trait. Some research does show the correlation between violence video games
and naughty behavior. The problem is, showing causation is not that easy. It could be that the subject does have a
bad habit first, then they retort to play video games to release their frustration.

4.2. Relation to Cognitive Skill

As we have discussed before, video games are built to make player do things a certain way. These soft training
are causing some changes on neurological level on how they perceive some things from their surroundings. In some
studies that we have read, usually they have a pre and pos-test to measure how different is someone skill after going
through some video games session. Most of the time, they do have increased cognitive skill on the test. The
downside of these kind of test is, after the pre-test, participants may already expect what they must answer in the
pos-test.
To negate that effect, other study usually spread out the session in a longer time scale. By having the subject
plays video game more moderately in a longer time frame, this can lower their expectation of the pos-test. This way
also somewhat simulates how a person play video games on a day-to-day basis. Those result do show mostly
positive improvement. Video games tend to train a person’s mind by doing actions and puzzle that require thinking
and problem solving, not just through brute forcing everything.

4.3. Relation to Time Management and Decision Making

Similarly, time management 36 is a skill that can be discussed closely to cognitive skill and video games. Most
modern video games are strict on timing events. We must do a certain action on the right moment or else it will not
go according to plan. Genre like strategy games, usually force the player to think of the best possible answer on how
they split all their valuable time on managing different cases and scenarios. The finding on time management skill is
a little bit more complex than the cognitive skill. While video games do have a clear result on how they affect
cognitive skill, trying to measure the impact on time management is a little harder. Usually, questionnaires are the
way to measure these and then the response are measured on how they manage time on daily basis. The results will
be inaccurate since there are a lot of unknown variables in play.
The other thing, decision making 33 is the type of skill that is also too complex to check simply. Having video
games to measure someone confidence in answering questions, and how they answer questionnaire may be more
subjective than some other test, but it is the best we got so far. After all those reviewing, we can see some relation to
time management and decision making. In time management side, some people tend to be able to do things more
efficiently after going through some video games session. But in some cases, doing too many causes them to lose
time that they should’ve spend elsewhere. On the other hand, some experiment that specialize on decision making
skills using video games do have positive results. People tend to make decision more confidently and believe in their
choice more. This helps go through some hard moment better.
220 Charles Reynaldo et al. / Procedia Computer Science 179 (2021) 211–221
10 Author name / Procedia Computer Science 00 (2019) 000–000

5. Conclusion

As conclusion, video games can make an impact on our intelligence. Nowadays, we are always looking for any
kind of entertainment possible, the average person, who are not into video games as a hardcore gamer also play
games casually. Those people are also playing regularly, albeit on smaller device such as smartphones. The effect of
this activity can improve some skill. Video games is in a way, forcing people to learn something when playing it.
Decision making, cognitive skills, and time management skills can be improved by playing certain games. Video
games tend to train a person’s mind by doing actions and puzzle that require thinking problem solving in a short
time, thus improving their intelligence on problem solving, cognitve aspect and time management.
Nevertheless, as everything else, video games have their own advantages and disadvantages. Even though they
can teach us in a unique way, but game addiction is dangerous. Spending too much time on video game will be a bad
habit since the gamers will neglect their responsibility. While playing game can train our brain, doing it in a more
controlled way is the key for optimal result. Based on our analyses, we suggest for future research to develop a
video games which can be controlled by teacher, in order to improve students cognitive learning. By deliberately
designing this goal, the students can improve their cognitive skills by involving in controlled game activities.

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