why do teachers tell us to play video games

Rewards Along the Way – short, encouraging ‘great job’ or small wins add to the bigger wins and continues to motivate.

You can keep training and upping your level of play as you get better on your own time.

Safe Failure – If you lose, you get to start over.

Choice and Self Direction – From making your own Avatar, picking your tool, or level, kids are more likely to engage with choice.

Measuring to peers openly to see where you rank.

Competition – with yourself or others to reach a goal.

Can educators learn from these psychological measures to help keep kids engaged in learning? Simple Psychology of Video Game Play

Social media apps also use psychology to motivate and keep you coming back for more. Video game development teams hire psychologists and neuroscience experts with the goal of keeping you playing without knowing that is what is happening. What makes video games so addicting and so powerful? Why are some kids who are diagnosed with learning disabilities and can’t focus in an academic situation, so focused and skilled at video game play? What is the secret sauce to video games and keeping kids engaged?

In 2019, The World Health Organization voted to add “gaming disorder” to the international classification of disease and South Korea declared gaming disorder a public health crisis, concerned that more than 600,000 children struggle with normal functions as a result of gaming addiction. This is not just a US phenomenon, but a world-wide one. It should be no surprise then that 91% of children between the ages of 2-17 play video games and that video game addiction is on the rise with boys more addicted compared to girls (12% vs 6%, respectively). Wall Street reports record growth in sales from the large video game players such as Nintendo, Microsoft, and Twitch with record sales over 60 billion dollars. If there was one industry outside of healthcare that thrived during the pandemic, it is the video game industry.

Why do teachers tell us to play video games