Victorian Lit. or Video Games?
by Steve Watters on 09/19/2007 at 10:06 AM
Research reported in USA Today shows a GPA drop among college students who play video games:
First-year students whose roommates brought a video game player to college studied 40 minutes less each day on average, according to a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research. Those 40 minutes of lost study time translated into first-semester grades that were 0.241 points lower on the 4.0 grade scale.
The study's authors, Todd Stinebrickner, an associate professor of economics at the University of Western Ontario, and his father, Ralph Stinebrickner, a professor of mathematics and computer science at Berea College in Kentucky, were not trying to prove anything about video games. The study sought to determine how much of an effect study efforts have on grades.
The article ends by saying the researchers weren't necessarily saying students had to give up playing video games:
He added that he does not think these findings mean students should give up distractions such as video games. In fact, happiness also can be a factor in how well a student does in school.
But the findings could help counselors educate students on the importance and impact of studying.
I didn't play video games in college, but I do remember a season of playing FreeCell in graduate school that definitely cut into my study time. FreeCell is nowhere as compelling as today's video games, but it is more compelling than some of the thick material I was supposed to be studying. Thinking back to some of my studies as an undergrad, I'm pretty sure I would have chosen video games over reading assignments in subjects such as Victorian Literature.
How about you? If you're currently a student who plays video games, would you objectively rate your gaming as 1) making you a less diligent student, 2) having no effect on you as a student or 3) making you a better student?
1. Ted Slater said the following at 11:14 AM on Sep 19
I remember when I was working on my thesis taking long breaks to play Solitaire on my Mac. Now there's a mind-stimulating game.
2. J.T. said the following at 11:27 AM on Sep 19
I'm a college junior and I play some video games. My GPA is 3.54 and they don't really cut into my study habits. But, I am a math major, and therefore don't need to study as much as, say, a Victorian Lit major. Something I would like to see is a study on other facotrs on GPA. By other factors, I mean quality of diet, amount of exercise, alcohol consumption, socialness, and any other major part of a college student's life.
3. Bethany D. said the following at 11:29 AM on Sep 19
Personally I would rate myself as a 2, having a null net effect. Yes I spent some time playing video games that could have been spent studying, but more often I played with a friend as a much-needed study break.
Looking at what the researchers were originally going after, I think that another question to ask ourselves is "how is my ____ (playing video games, solitaire, IMing, etc) affecting the people around me?" I know a few people who do a good job balancing their gaming and studying, but their video games cause quite a distraction for their roommates; even though video games might not be a problem for the owner, they should try to be sensitive to how they are affecting their roommates.
4. erin said the following at 11:34 AM on Sep 19
When I was studying for my comps, I used Text Twist and Super Collapse as my means of distraction (hey, at least Text Twist is a word game). I don't think they really hindered my studying much, though, because I limited myself to 30 minutes of game time. I would love to hear from someone who feels that video games have made him/her a better student. Unless you're in graphic design, I really can't see how video games would make someone a better student.
5. David Bromberg said the following at 11:35 AM on Sep 19
Given that I was a computer science student who went on to work in the video game industry, I'd definitely say my video game playing (which was reasonable, not addictive as I would be willing to wager the majority of cases are) helped my studies.
I wonder if similar studies have been done wondering if pleasure reading or watching movies occasionally hinders or helps studies? Seriously guys, stop ragging on the video games.
6. Christina said the following at 11:51 AM on Sep 19
I remember playing zelda for the game boy my sophomore year...
I had also been studying a lot on Partial integration in Calculus.
I had the strangest dream that night. Something about being zelda trying to get through a dungeon by solving a partial integration problem. It was sick.
Needless to say, I beat zelda and got an A on the test :)
7. Eric said the following at 12:13 PM on Sep 19
Let me set a couple of things straight about myself first.
I have not been to college, so video games as a distraction from my grades has not been an issue.
I do not play video games with any regularity.
I predict this post's comments will be comprised of several groups of people.
One group will be people who played games in college and continue to play games today. They will say that their gaming had little to no effect on their grades.
The second group will be people who think that video games are to blame for every social ill in the world today, and think that everyone who has ever enjoyed a game is a basement dwelling mama's boy without a life.
The third group will be the gaming moderates. They think that games are more or less ok, if played in moderation.
I think the challenge of a good game has it's place. Victorian lit also has it's place. Is one more important than the other? That is at least part of the issue here. I think stretching the brain and learning new things is an important exercise. If that means you sit and read Charles Dickens for fun, more power to ya. If it means you mow your way through hordes of Combine troops in Half Life 2, while solving tricky puzzles, that is up to you and you can enjoy it, be challenged by it, and learn things from it.
The second question is that of the morality of the action. Is reading more moral than playing video games? Nor is the question limited to video games. If you read romance novels is that better or worse than playing Doom 3? Romance novels don't have killer zombies that need to be dispatched with shotguns, but they can be just as damaging to the mind through creation of unrealistic expectations for relationships.
Or perhaps the problem is with the education system for creating an atmosphere wherein people are more interested in books or video games than real life.
Just a thought....
8. Evan said the following at 12:14 PM on Sep 19
Playing video games, if you just look at it on the surface, probably hurts my studying time, but studying more wouldn't have done much good for me so far. And I'm pretty sure that even if I stopped I'd find some other way to distract myself anyway.
9. peter said the following at 12:44 PM on Sep 19
two things:
1. Games aren't the problem, lack of self control is.
2. A few years after school, GPA doesn't matter, I have bad memories of studying, and good memories of playing video games. As Michael Scott says, that is a win-win-win.
10. Dave said the following at 4:54 PM on Sep 19
I played video games a lot in the early part of college. Yet my GPA didn't go down until I started dating and joined the university theatre company. So...does that mean that video games are good, but dating and extracurricular activities are...bad?
I'm so confused. Time to play Playstation. ;- )
11. Alex C. said the following at 5:38 PM on Sep 19
I'd say that I'm maybe...2 and 1/2 ^^. I play video games a lot, and have almost all my life, and I've maintained a consistantly high GPA through high school and the 3 years of college I've had so far. Of course, in the end, I couldn't really prove that games *havn't* had a negative effect on me, since I don't have any period of "no games" to compare my current situation to (maybe I would have had an even better GPA without games, but as I said, I've played them all my life)
But the reason I'd guess I'm 2 and a 1/2 is that there have been some small incidents where I think my playing games has improved something in relation to school. You'd be surprised at how many history facts I learned from playing "You Don't Know Jack", stuff that came up in some of my classes, lol. And I think my knowledge of video game plots (and movie and anime plots ^^) has enhanced the experiences that I've gotten out of certain classes, like Film Studies. Of course, that kind of thing can't be quantified by grades or anything like that, so you'd have to take my word for it.
12. ptschett said the following at 9:16 PM on Sep 19
My highest-GPA semester (all A's in junior year engineering classes, but for that lousy B in Basic Electrical Engineering 1) ended with 2 weeks in which I beat Descent 3, got better than 100% on a final thanks to the curve, went on my first date, and got serious about my involvement in a campus minstry... not seeing the problem here :)
13. Paul said the following at 9:38 PM on Sep 19
Man, this site likes to hammer the video game... I play about 1-2 hours a week (usually with my brother). It's good bonding time with him, and it helps get my mind off of the stress of school, so I'd be a 3 I guess.
Also, my best friend at school is happily engaged, a 3.9 average student, and plays video games about 10 hours a week. His fiancee actually uses the time to hang out with him and get closer to him.
It's not the game, it's what you make of it. And anyways, if it makes your college experience better, might it now be worth a mere 0.24 points off the GPA???
14. Thomas said the following at 12:37 PM on Sep 20
I'm going into college as an ex - video game addict. My first two years of high school were racked with video games and I'm not sure it was good for me so I asked God to release me from my addiction and he did, for which I'm sincerely grateful.
As far as gaming goes, it has it's purpose and on occasion with some friends I'll play a game. I really don't think that gaming is the source of all social ills but I do think that it can act as a good excuse for not living life. I asked God to release me when I realized I was more concerned with gaming than with hanging out with friends. I guess for me the addiction came from the fact that gaming was so much easier than life, if I screwed up I could just press the reset button...but that's not the way life works and as God has shown me life is much more fulfilling when it's lived un-hooked from an X-box.
In any case remember gaming is not evil in and of itself but it can become an idol and at that point it's time to let go if possible.
15. NeedACatchyName said the following at 2:56 PM on Sep 20
I think the cause and effect are reversed here. Evan's post seems to hit the nail right on the head. If I had chosen not to bring a video game machine to college, then I would have wasted time surfing the internet instead. If I had chosen not to have an internet connection, then I would have wasted time watching TV instead. If I had chosen not to bring a TV to college, then I would have found some other way to waste time instead. In other words, I didn't goof off and not study because I wanted to play video games; I played video games because I wanted to goof off and not study. See the difference?
FWIW, I graduated summa cum laude with a degree in engineering, so I seriously doubt that video gaming had any detrimental effect on my academic career.
16. Andrew said the following at 5:10 AM on Sep 21
I'll echo what Peter said - too much computer gaming may be a real problem for people with lack of self-control, (but in the absence of computer games the person may find other distracting pass-times).
I played moderately while at uni - and I achieved a pretty high GPA. I'm sure I could have done a little better, but I would only trade part of the time I spent gaming for better education. Gaming was a key way to socialise with my friends, and I also believe that games develop many skills, (including skills useful for piloting the church data-projector software).
17. Chris Krycho said the following at 12:16 PM on Sep 21
I'll actually go with (3) here, in the same way that I'd put (3) for my reading fiction and non-fiction related to school, watching movies, and doing things like contributing on this blog and writing my own. We need relaxation time; it's an integral part of human life. And, as Al Mohler referenced in something Boundless recently promoted, some of that time on the Sabbath should be dedicated to doing things like simply enjoying a good novel. So yes, video games have made me a better student, as have all the other things listed above, by being a valid form of relaxation that has proved mentally stimulating along the way.
18. Chris Krycho said the following at 12:25 AM on Sep 22
Oh, and one other thing. You posed the question "Victorian Lit, or Video Games?" I say both. I usually manage to get in about the same amount of each in a given semester (with the balance tipping toward Victorian Lit). And I'm a physics major, so getting Victorian lit takes some work and some dedication and some schedule mashing...
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)
Applicable, perhaps?
19. Rachel said the following at 11:26 AM on Oct 18
I'd say 3 - I'm in my sophmore year, didn't have a console freshman year, and I consider video games mostly as a fun way to relax - plus, as a computer science major who's looking to go into the video game industry, I could see myself doing better with some gaming experience. It's improved my hand-eye coordination and my reflexes, which were both lousy to begin with - the difference mostly shows when I'm driving. My favorite thing to do with video games is to get a bunch of friends together to play with my xbox and study - there's only three controllers, so whoever isn't playing can study, that way we get breaks but there are limits on how much we can play cause everyone has to take turns.