Study shows gamers don't read good, and don't learn other stuff good too
By Paul Miller 
posted Jul 3rd 2007 1:42PM
posted Jul 3rd 2007 1:42PM
A brand new US study in the vein of "wasn't that already completely obvious?" has revealed that boys and girls who play video games on school days do less homework and reading than those straight edge kids who swear off the stuff altogether. Boys average 30 percent less time spent studying, while girls drop off 34 percent. The good news is that video games didn't negatively impact quality family time or get in the way of sports and other such activities. Is that so? Apparently WoW players were not represented in this poll, most likely because they couldn't be bothered to put that raid on hold to answer a few questions. Speaking of... we'll be right back... after we do something very important and serious.
...read well...
You've obviously never seen Zoolander... so you're probably wondering why the fuck is there a picture of Ben Stiller attached to this post
How can we be expected to teach children to learn how to read if they can't even fit inside the building?
What is this, a building for ANTS?!?!
This building has to be at least.....
three times bigger!
I don't know why you are being modded down, but read well is proper English so perhaps Paul Miller should read more and perhaps he can speak English better.
@Douglas - you need to watch more funny movies and you would get the caption.
Do you know what a "eugoogley" is? An "ambi-turner"? A "freak gasoline fight accident?"
Oh you're missing out.
i guess we have a lot to ponder....
best image ever!
It's true I admit myself I have stopped reading before bed and switching over to frag sessions. It's all the more clear on game boards full of fanboys with atrocious spelling. Personally I parents should only allow children to play the consoles only on weekends or at least have more control over how much their kids play.
That's because for WoW players, "quality family time" means blowing up Onyxia's face with your spouse, grandchildren, and those two dudes from down the street. >.
hahaha daedalus made you look like an idiot
I wonder if they took into account the types of games played.
Did they treat FPS the same as RTS ?
And what about games like the Leapfrog line of learning / reading games ?
Well as long as we're letting our IQs drop, check out this site: www.destroyaprinter.com. It kept me occupied for a good five minutes when I could have been filling out spreadsheets.
Maybe I don't read good but where does it say anything about reading skills? It says they spend less time doing homework and reading but many games require you to read at least some text on screen.
Well, honestly, that's not much of a read.
Following your line watching TV is almost as good as reading a book because on tv you've some text you're required to read.
Reading a well-written book can't be compared to a game, to develop language skills, and as someone early said, it's enough to look at some forum boards (or myspace pages) to understand this.
I really disagree with you, Ziokendo, there are literally hundreds of words that I learned from simply playing video games (RPGs).
I know that that is how I learned them, because my wife (who learned them by conversing with her family who are significantly smarter than mine) laughs whenever I try to use the words in conversation. I can't pronounce the words, as the only time that I have ever been exposed to them is in quest descriptions and NPC chat bubbles.
Playing some games (now I won't commit to all), can be really beneficial to your vocabulary and grammar. There are some obscure grammatical points that simply come naturally to those who play some of the more text-heavy RPGs. In high school english classes I was always better at finding the grammatically incorrect phrases simply by intuition, a clear sign that it had nothing to do with what I learned in school and more to do with a pattern that I had simply seen over and over.
I know that this is purely anecdotal, but it seems to hold fairly well among the older RPGers that I know.
woohoo zoolander
"Gamers may actually be more effective in completing homework assignments, and as a result, they spend less time doing homework. We need to look deeper into what is going on," she said.
Guys, I like you and all but if you are going to summarize an article at least resist the scare tactics.
If I had not clicked the link, it sure seemed like the article would be saying playing video games made kids stupid. As a parent, this of course got my attention.
Reading the article though, that wasn't the case at all. It simply said boys spend less time reading but not less time doing homework and vice versa for girls. Probably because most boys see playing video games a whole lot more exciting than reading (although there are some really good books for boys nowadays). And I would bet the lack of decrease in family/social time is because they play video games with their friends or family members.
At any rate, please try and tone down the sensationalism. There are concerned parents on this site who might have a knee jerk reaction from reading the headline and throw out the 360's, Wii's, Ds's, PS2s, PS3s, PSP's and computers prematurely. Leaving many a sad kid going into the July 4th holiday.
i completely disagree, im the only person in my school that can read Rainbow Six much less read it in four days and all i do is play Xbox (asside from occasional skateboarding)
That's odd. I remember learning quite a few things from video games back in the day. Especially text heavy RPG's.
Ha! I was consistently addicted to beating Mortal Kombat with Reptile and yet I still managed to out-score all of my peers when tested as an adolescent.
I started playing video games when I was about 3 years old and I stopped playing around the age of 12. That was the age where most of my friends were starting to get into video games. I have to say video games had a positive impact on my life. My grades were much better back then than they are now.It really kept my work habits in line. I still get A's in high school, but I would prefer to have better grades considering getting into college has turned into a bloodbath. Video games keep our minds working and they prevent it from slowing down.
Nothing wrong with video games. After all, If you don't think too good, then don't think too much....
X-edge 4 ever!
They lose there education, yet they make great surgeons........ ZOOLANDER FTW! :V
I guess my IQ is rapidly dropping. I've been playing this game (www.destroyaprinter.com) instead of filling up spreadsheets. Oh well...it's a great way to vent my frustration!
That's funny, because I never did homework after school. All I did was play video games and sports with friends. Now I have a PhD in neurobiology and as an undergrad I competed in Division I track!
I'll have to go with 'it made me more efficient at getting my homework done'.
How do they thing I got through history class? By playing countless World War 2 games of course! Not to be out done by refining my typing skills!
Question: Is this another one of those "useless good for nothing studies" made up to counterbalance the recent studies that has shown that games actually stimulate creativity, reflexes and some other stuff?
I mean, it's pretty damn obvious kids who skips school to play games (or pretty much do anything else than study) will learn less than the ones who don't.
So f*ing stupid. Probably made up from people who thinks kids go shooting their college friends just because they play fps games.
When I was younger, playing Lucasarts games, Zork and others taught me some great vocabulary skills. They would only take certain commands, so you had to think of several ways to say "take the lantern off the hook" because the most obvious command probably wasn't recognized. I often had a thesaurus open next to the computer. Kids these days have similes listed in the right-click menu though, so maybe it's not that important if these skills drop off; they are probably learning something of value.
yes but I assume at your age gaming wasn't mainstream as it is now and probably was more for the intelligent nerdy types of kids. what is going on now is in no way comparable to 1985 or 1989. you just have to look at the average weight of kids and their motoric/coordinative skills to see that the homework isn't the only thing they skip...
What the hell does any of this have to do with straight edge?
Terrible post, terrible article. What a useless bunch of words trying to make a point out of nothing.
That's BS. My friends a really good hardcore gamer (really enjoys gaming) and he's one of the smartest guy I know. He read "A Connecticut Yankee in king Author's court" in 7th grade and understood it very well!! He reads better than anyone I know...
Well clearly the study is complete BS if your one friend is both a gamer and a reader. There's no way any valid study would find that gamers read less on average than non-gamers given that an individual who both reads and games exists.
sarcasm...
My point was not only does he game and read. He is one the best "readers" I know. And one of the fastest learners as well. The exact opposite of what this study shows. And I also know another person. Plays video games at least 2 hours everyday (including school days) and he took calculus, in high school, in 9th grade. Ridiculously smart... Are you a gamer?
It's a little surprising to see the incredibly poor use of the English language in some of these replies. Now, if English isn't your first language, then you can be excused (but just barely). C'mon people. If your replying to a post of this nature, make sure you use the proper word: "there" is different from "their" and "they're". Tense is also important: "has" and "have" have different implications. "from" and "of" is another example.
In any event. The article doesn't really state much. They needed a study to tell people that boys would spend more time playing games than reading? really? SHOCK!
I'd have to agree with the general consensus that less time spent reading can lead to a decline in language "skills". Reading is VERY important in building up a good vocabulary. Mind you, the school system would be better off updating the literature being taught (in Ontario anyway). I enjoy reading, but the books we had to read in high school were just awful.
I managed to graduate with fairly good grades. Despite spending a lot of time playing quake online. Ah, I miss the days when 200ping was considered LPB.
I digress.
"If your replying to a post of this nature, make sure you use the proper word"
as in using your instead of you're?
Creative thinking? Drop a videogamer into a pencil and paper RPG, and watch the gears grind... "Where's the cheat console?"
Maybe the kids were just stupid to begin with. I'm a gamer and I read better than my non-gamer friends.
Derek says: Are you kidding me?...The building must be at least... THREE times bigger !
Maybe instead of wasting time or these studies they should have a study on what specific types of games hinder development and which promote it. Surely playing GH2 does not do too much to my literal skills, abstract thought, but it does develop hand to eye co-ordination. But what about games such as Civilization which educate you on history, human development, politics (not to mention patience, a stategic thought). Or how about classical style RPG where half the game is spent reading the screen (to have a more recent example see Tales of Symphonia or Enchanted Arms). Also is this study only relevant in North America or worldwide? Japanese kids play a lot of video games but they dont have stupid studies like this one. Do they?
At the Derek Zoolander Center For Children Who Can't Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too, we teach you that there's more to life than being really, really good looking.
You forgot Riduclously
what the hell does this have to do with the iphone? i leave for one day and youre back to regular news...
:)
there are other studies that say that (some) video games increase problem solving ability and quicken reflexes... who knows what to believe.
Well, readers don't play games good.
Seconded!
I was reading books long before I was playing video games, and it shows! All my friends tell me I suck at games.
If we are going to have an article about reading, I think the title should utilize proper English. Apparently, the author plays games too because they can't write well either... guess we should add that to the list of things we gamers don't do well.
Problem is, these days, most games are based around either musclebound bald men with large swords/guns or just guns. And, that includes very little , if any, text. You can tell by looking at some of the gaming industry's poster children, GTA and Gears of War. Neither games would ever provide anything close to reading a book. Especially when you have classics like The Hungry City Chronicles. Hell, comic books provide better stories than many games these days.
Oh my Lord...
I have never laughed so hard. Thanks to all the people who posted replies to the tune of "i play video games and i can reed faster than anyone in my skool." Reading these posts only gives extra ammo to the people who think video games/rock and roll/dancing/whatever rots the minds of our youth and is leading to the fall of Western Civilization. I've never seen so many posts with SO many errors by people who are supposedly talking about how smart they are.
I don't normally deal in absolutes, but here's the deal: YOU ARE A PRODUCT OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT! If you take parents who don't give a damn and never interact with their kids, then you can send that kid to the best private school in the world and make them study 24/7; The kid will STILL be an idiot. PARENTS WHO DON'T CARE ABOUT LEARNING HAVE KIDS WHO DON'T CARE ABOUT LEARNING. Now take a kid with parents who talk to them and show a geniune interest in their lives and their education, and THAT kid will learn well at almost any school. There are other factors to be sure, but the biggest influence BY FAR is the child's home environment. Of course, the kid needs to study and spend some reasonable time developing cognitive skills (reading books is one of the best ways, doing math is another - doesn't matter whether you'll use it in "real life" or not, it's like push-ups for your brain), but quit blaming video games, the Republican party, or other obvious targets.
DJ Timmy: I agree with you on how funny it is that people here dismiss everything with a wave because "I know somebody who...". And I agree with you that parents will have a strong influence.
But you sound equally dumb when you say "absolutely" that if the parent does not get involved with the child's education the child will turn out to be an idiot. The limit of my parental involvement was the quarterly signing of the report card. No comments, positive or negative.
And I didn't turn out to be an idiot. At least not moreso than anyone else.
whats even funnier is that not only do i read pretty damn well, since playing FFXI ive also learned how to read and speak some japanese. hmmm.... study is bunk i say, they must be studying FPS gamers only, if anyone studied any sort of adventure gamer or rpgamer, then the conclusion would be totally different.
my girlfriend lives in montreal and is actually completely french and her brother learned how to read english when he was 5 by playing super mario and translating all the words.
and ya this is a US study, so everyone is pretty much illiterate. where if it was in Canada where we have what is called "An Education System" we know how to read write, and we can even tie our own shoes.
shouldn't the headline be 'study shows games don't read well and don't learn other stuff well too'
Nope.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0196229/quotes
dont play games WELL TOO!!!
well not good, well engadget, well!
It's really simple, ladies and gentlemen. Bad parents bring up bad kids, who are bad students and do badly in life. The games don't have anything to do with it.
It's really sad when some posters claim that they learn to read playing games, instead of learning to read from school.
Ah, you people! I'd like to concur with the posters who correctly assumed certain types of video games definitely improve reading skills. RPGs, strategy games, and adventure games contain whole books worth of text. People who like to delve into these games not only read all of the in-game text, but also the manuals. Of course the language in them isn't as diverse as that in novels, but they do at least expand your vocabulary and improve your grammar.
English is my third language, and although I do admit I've also read plenty of English language novels, a lion's share of my specialized vocabulary, related to fantasy, science fiction, Old English, poetical English, etc. has most definitely come from the aforementioned types of games.
There *are* games out there that require critical thinking. There *are* games that require you to read to get ahead in the game. Hell, I'd even claim that MOST games teach you something. As another poster mentioned, hand-to-eye coordination, logical thinking, patience... You name it. There are games that improve our musicality and body coordination (e.g. singing/dancing games) and there are memory games or just plain old brain busters.
So ok, if someone only plays CS or any other game that places emphasis purely on action and has little text, it may affect your school success negatively. But even this is only if you do NOTHING ELSE in your spare time. If you're intellectually inclined when you start gaming, you'll be drawn to games that hone your intellect. Nuff said.
I don't see many commenters noting that this is a bit misleading -- the headline should have been "Study shows most gamers have crappy parents". Before I had video games, it was "do your homework, then you can go out and play". After we got our first Nintendo, it was "do your homework, then you can play your game." It's not effin' rocket science, people. Parents need to be involved in their kids' educations (especially if they're stuck in public skrewel), and if they're not, their kids will fail. Ever has it been.
Hmm... I'd acknowledge that there is vocabulary to be learned from reading the text in an RPG, but that for the most part is just dialogue. I don't think that's a good enough substitute for descriptive paragraphs like you'll find in any book of fiction.
Not to mention there are some books people should simply read because they are classics. Being a fan of satire, I think everyone should read Catch-22 at some point. I cringe violently when someone implies that watching the movie is a substitute for reading the book.
I realize books don't entertain as easily as video games do, but there are some really good books out there. I will say that I didn't like a lot of what I read in high school, but I happened upon books out of the classroom which I did like. Reading doesn't have to be a chore.
That having been said, now I must go play WoW for eight hours.