Violent action video games are good for your health!

60 Millions de Consommateurs, the most serious reference, relies on several studies, one of which was published in 2017 by two researchers from the University of Geneva after 15 years of data collection.
According to this study, fans of action video games show much better results than those who do not play, when it comes to measuring their spatial memory, their ability to concentrate on one thing while ignoring the rest, and the level of their perceptions (visual field, auditory sensitivity).

These video games stimulate certain cognitive faculties, especially when it comes to action games like the famous Grand Theft Auto (GTA), Call of Duty or games such as Call of Juarez: Gunslinger or Aragami.

The abilities of enthusiasts of this type of games are also superior for memorizing lists of words and for multitasking (Can be read in the journal.)

Notable benefits as early as the first hour of play for a beginner placed in front of a game involving a shooting scenario at a moving target.

Play often but not long.

The researchers stressed that

These positive effects were observed in studies where participants spread gameplay over periods of several weeks or months, and were not subjected to intensive sessions. As with any learning activity, short and repeated sessions prove more effective.

But there's no need to rush to the first video game that comes along. "All studies show that only action games provide quantifiable benefits".

Regarding their violence often pointed to.

This time, researchers from the very prestigious University of Oxford studied the behavior of a large number of adolescents to understand whether so-called violent video games have a harmful influence on their behavior.

“Video games are responsible for school shootings” as stated by Donald Trump.
The finding of the British researchers is unequivocal. There are many preconceived ideas such as “social media causes depression” or “technology dependence reduces quality of life”—claims made without any supporting evidence. These topics, along with others that fuel technological anxieties, should be studied more rigorously - society needs solid evidence to make good political decisions.”

In the case of this study on video games:
the subjects, numbering 2,800, were adolescents aged 14 to 15 years accompanied by a legal guardian. The adolescent "guinea pigs" answered questions about their personality and their gaming behavior over the past month. Meanwhile, their chaperone filled out a questionnaire about the aggressive or non-aggressive behavior of their children during gaming sessions, then in daily life.

To have a baseline to rely on, the researchers used the PEGI (Pan European Game Information) and ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) rating systems, in order to get an idea of the violence level of the games used by their study subjects. It is important to note that previous studies on the topic were, for the most part, based only on statements made by the adolescents.

British study results: Despite the interest of parents and policymakers, regarding the so-called violence induced by playing violent games, the research did not show a reason for concern.

Playing violent games does not make you violent.

Nevertheless, the research team stresses that this does not mean that some in-game situations do not provoke sometimes excessive reactions from players, such as throwing the controller at the TV because the save was erased...

But who hasn’t swung baseball bats at their computer after losing Excel data... Not enough to accuse spreadsheets of causing violent reactions.