PC

Virtual Worlds Are Good for Kids

Another research, another reason to doubt

By Calin Ciabai, Games Editor

27th of May 2008, 10:58 GMT

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Club Penguin, one of the best known virtual worlds for kids

It has been a while since we last talked about the results of a study about video games and how they affect or improve our lives and now

is the perfect time for a change because a new research has been conducted and the results might sound a bit strange: this time, video games are not at all bad for our health!

Of course, one of the reasons for the positive results might be the fact that the research was sponsored by BBC and it involved their virtual world, Adventure Rock. However, we will accept the fact that the professors who conducted the study are honest and their concussions are not at all altered by money.

So, Professor David Gauntlett and Lizzie Jackson from the University of Westminster have conducted a research that surveyed and interviewed children aged 6-12 who were playing BBC's Adventure Rock (a social network for kids). The professors found out that, first of all, kids assumed one of eight roles while playing - from explorers to social climbers willing to connect with others and to "power users" - those who wanted to know as much as possible about the virtual world they're in.

All in all, the research shows that virtual worlds are great for kids, since they allow them to learn and test all sorts of stuff they couldn't deal or have big problems with in real life. For instance, Professor Gauntlett said that kids learned many useful social skills and played around with their identity in ways that would be much more difficult in genuine situations. Also, the online world proved to be a very useful rehearsal space where children could try all kinds of things largely free of the consequences that would follow if they tried them in the real world. And they say this is a great thing.

I am not scientist, nor professor - but I still find it kind of funny. Why is it better to allow a kid to be whomever he wants and change his mind whenever he wants? And no consequences involved! I don't know about you, but this smells really fishy. Especially if we think about the fact that, until now, the entire mankind had been raising children without virtual social worlds...

TAGS:

Virtual Worlds | research | kids | children | family-friendly

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