Gaming trains the mind by improving hand-eye coordination, faster decision-making, management and leadership skills. It can also train the ability to identify reasons for failure and formulation of strategies.

The concentration and coordination abilities developed through cybergaming can be transferred to developing similar skills and abilities in studies.

Korean psychologists Chae Jeong and Jeong Chan Ho did a study which compares pro-gamers (professional gamers) with undergraduates from top Korean universities. They found that even outside of games, gamers are better at taking in visual and aural information from the environment. They respond much more quickly to it by distinguishing essential stimuli from unnecessary ones and were also able to control their stress levels.

More significantly, the production of theta brainwaves increases dramatically when pro-gramers play games. Theta brainwaves are often seen in connection with creativity, long-term memory and intution.

You could even be better served by a surgeon who loves his games. Researchers for the Beath Israel Medical Centre in New York found a correlation between experience in video games and proficiency in laproscopic surgery - a minimally invasive surgery.
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After testing surgeons’ laparoscopic and suturing skils along with video game tasks, it was fonud that surgeons who played games for more than three hours a week made 37 per cent fewer mistakes when performing laparoscopic surgery, which uses small cameras and remote controls to guide miniature surgical tools. They were also 27 per cent quicker than their non-gamer counterparts.

Gaming surgeons were also 24 per cent quicker at suturing, with an error reduction of 28 per cent. The findings have prompted head researcher James Rosser, director of minimally invasive surgury at Beth Israel Medical Centre, to create a “warm up” with computer games for doctors before surgery.

Beyond enhancing a gamer’s mental faculties, an editorial in the British Medical Journal cited other benefits in using games for therapy, including physiotherapy for arm injuries.

Gaming has a dark side too. Any activity that provides instant gratification tends to be more addictive than others. The key to effective use of any activity is purposeful engagement. Since gaming produces flow experience and is intinsically rewarding, we might tend to lose touch with other quality aspects of our lives and be so caught up in gaming only.

So we must be aware of the things that are important to us in life (learning, personal-development, organizing, wealth-creation). Gaming is something that we enjoy in itself and it helps in supporting our vision and passions in life.[/hidepost]