Health benefits of video games mirror role-playing games

The Week recently outlined the seven health benefits of video games, many of them mental and emotional. In addition to the physical benefits that improved motor skills and vision, a University of Utah study discovered:


Video games can also reduce stress and depression:


These benefits are similar to those enumerated by Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax, as I explained in The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games:

Role-playing games are actually quite beneficial, including sublimation of aggression, the encouragement of "imagination, creativity, reading, group cooperation, social interaction, and the benefit of mutual assistance even with diverse racial perspectives" (Gygax 1989:150).

Additionally, video games help improve decision making skills:


These findings align with role-playing game benefits as described by Gary Alan Fine in my book:

Beyond educating players on the details of history or the theories of the future, Fine (1983:62) also listed other acclaimed attributes derived from role-playing games, including the ability to synthesize information, decision-making, leadership, and role-playing as a skill. Role-playing is by its very nature a teaming activity, which requires both decision-making and leadership for the team to be successful. Role-playing as a skill is better described as empathy, the ability to put oneself in another’s shoes to help understand them. Child psychologists, adult counselors, and business people all use role-playing as a teaching tool to help understand a different viewpoint, and fantasy role-playing can help in much the same way.

For the full list see The Week.



, RPG Examiner

Michael "Talien" Tresca is a game designer, author, communicator, and artist. He is the National RPG and Sci-Fi Movie Examiner and recently published three books, the non-fiction history of gaming, The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games from McFarland Publishing, his fantasy fiction debut,...

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