After a long day of working through his physics problems and writing essays, sophomore Logan Boyland heads home to complete his work; when he’s done, he sits down at his messy desk, powers on his blocky PC and enters his virtual world.

“I mostly play video games to get away from the depressing real life and enter the life of the game,” expressed Boyland.

Though he admits that video games sometimes interfere with his responsibilities, Boyland manages to get back on track. Boyland believes that he is “slightly more intelligent than the average person” because of his video game experiences.

“I started playing games at a young age,”said Boyland.

“When I started out, it was mostly educational games. I also played a lot of generic games like Zelda and Mario. Through the years, I think that games have helped me to learn how to read, how to problem solve
and become an overall better person.”

Boyland’s mother, Annette Taylor, also believes that video games have taught her son valuable skills. “When Logan was younger, he played Pokemon a lot. There were subtitles in the game, so he learned how to read from playing Pokemon,” said Taylor. “Video games do a great job of developing hand-eye coordination and also to expose kids to different cultures.”

Not only do video games help to enrich a child’s learning experience, but they also provide them with the chance to develop themselves further when they move on to more vigorous games. In a recent study, researchers concluded that people who play first person action games, such a “Call of Duty,” have a higher capacity to learn than those who do not, according to National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, a multidisciplinary scientific journal.

Some action games tend to have daunting tasks that are fast paced and require endurance and logical thinking to complete. Meanwhile, the gamer witnesses explosions, interesting graphics and an intriguing story to keep them more engaged.

“The first day I got Bioshock, I played 14 hours consecutively,” said Boyland. “It was a lot of fun. I was playing a lot because I was immersed in the story. It was very actiony and made you think, and I like that about games.”