Those video game players with more autonomy, competence and relatedness, thus who feel free to be themselves, and usually feel capable and have closeness and intimacy with others, often play video games because they like to. Those low on these traits often become obsessive game players, they have to play a video game. Moreover the first group enjoy their game play and feel energetic afterwards, while those in the latter group often feel more tension after game play and they usually play more hours. In the end you have those video game players that want to play and those that .....read more »

As always the answer to this question is not simple. From recent research it's concluded that brain training games on paper are more effective and efficient than on computer consoles (Nintendo DS, in this research). Meaning that the task completion time was shorter on paper and the error rate was lower on paper. However the advantages of using the console Brain Training is that games are more arousing and induces "a heightened sense of flow". Flow being loss of self-consciousness, blurred feeling of time, and feeling of enjoyment and control during gaming. Moreover, these effects were for gamers of all .....read more »

This is from an excellent overview about video games and the brain: Video Games Affect the Brain—for Better and Worse. The most important conclusion to be drawn after reading the post on Cerebrum of the Dana Foundation is: With the exception of educational games, most video games’ effects on brain and behavior are unintentional on the part of both the designers and the players. Nonetheless, research suggests that the effects are real. Video games are neither good nor bad. Rather, they are a powerful form of entertainment that does what good entertainment is supposed to do—it influences us. Since I am biased .....read more »

Recent gadgets such as the handheld portable Nintendo DS video game console, portable Sony Playstation Portable (PSP), iPhone and iPod touch go with video games. The advantage being obvious that any moment waiting can be used to play a video game. Screens of these portable media consoles are comparable with television and video monitors in terms of resolution and fidelity but not in size. Gaming on a video screen or television is in my experience much nicer. In a recent published study they compared how physiological and psychological effects of portable consoles may differ from those of television-based consoles. Difference in .....read more »

Gaming among college-aged men may provide a healthy source of socialization, relaxation, and coping. In college aged men there was no significant correlation between BMI, academic performance, social functioning and frequency of online game play. Women and men differ hardly in performance with online gaming. Women probably use gender neutral characters and names, they probably game as much online as men. Online game players score higher in openness, conscientiousness and extraversion compared to non players. They are eager to learn and master new challenges, they are motivated by competition and they enjoy social activities which can all be provided by online .....read more »

It's no secret that Dr Shock enjoys a video game now and then. Time flies when I am having fun, at least that's what I thought. In recent research this phrase: "time flies when having fun" doesn't apply to playing video games. Surprisingly the enjoyment values recorded for each task in this trial, 8 minutes reading from screen and 8 min video game play, and 24 minutes game play, were not correlated with the time estimation values. It didn't matter whether you enjoyed your self or not, this didn't influence your time estimation (wrong or good). The results from this .....read more »

Gaming among college-aged men may provide a healthy source of socialization, relaxation, and coping. In college-aged males: there were no significant correlations between participants’ BMI and frequency of electronic game play there were no significant correlations between academic performance and frequency of electronic game play there were no significant mean differences between other variables related to social functioning (e.g., relationship status) and frequency of electronic game play, revealing no obvious trends in interpersonal functioning for those who play games more or less frequently. other media usage was either not related to frequency of electronic game play as for magazines or was inversely related, .....read more »

While playing video games on a computer men generally exhibit greater activation of the mesocorticolimbic reward circuitry and also greater connectivity. Male were more effective in gaining space and learned the implicit goal faster than females. This was the only observed gender difference in performance. The mesolimbic pathway is thought to be involved in producing pleasurable feeling, and is often associated with feelings of reward and desire, particularly because of the connection to the nucleus accumbens, which is also associated with these states. Recent research has pointed towards this pathway being involved in incentive salience rather than euphoric mood states. A .....read more »

Interesting lecture about the development and future of video games by a video game designer: David Perry. Davis Perry is a programmer since childhood and a lifelong gamer, Perry has a special understanding of the mechanics that make games fresh, fun, emotionally involving -- and addictive. This lecture contains two small videos about the evolution of video games and and it's future. A lot of interesting facts such as that 43% of gamers are female, the most video games are bought by 37 years old, 83% of video games are non violent. Game designer David Perry says tomorrow's videogames will be more .....read more »

We all know the attitude of the Chinese government towards Internet: China's Crackdown on the Internet. Especially online video game playing is used as excuse to block the Internet. In China Internet addiction is a major problem . Another explanation: Another explanation for Internet addiction could be a creative manner of censorship by the Chinese government. Internet is a relatively new phenomena in China, a side effect of its booming economy and technological advances, but how to control this development and how to fit it in with its communist government? In a recent published article excessive game playing is proposed to .....read more »