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      Videogames: Dispelling myths and tabloid headlines that videogames are bad

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      Proceedings of the 28th International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference (HCI 2014) (HCI)
      BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference (HCI 2014)
      9 - 12 September 2014
      Videogames, violence, obesity, social, depression, flourishing, wellbeing, mental health
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            Abstract

            Videogamers are often portrayed as adolescent overweight males eating fast food in their bedroom, and videogames often blamed in the media for violent crime, obesity, social isolation and depression. However videogaming is a mainstream activity. In Australia 65% of the population play videogames (Digital Australia 2014), and humanity as a species play about 3 billion hours of videogames a week. This paper dispels the myths and sensationalised negative tabloid headlines that videogames are bad by presenting the latest research showing that videogames can help fight depression, improve brain function and stimulate creativity; that gamers have higher levels of family closeness and better attachment to school; and that videogames help boys and young men to relax, cope and socialise. Children and adolescents deliberately choose to play videogames in the knowledge that they will feel better as a result, and videogame play allow players to express themselves in ways they may not feel comfortable doing in real life because of their appearance, gender, sexuality, and/or age. The potential benefits of videogames to the individual and to society are yet to be fully realised. However already videogames are helping many gamers to flourish in life.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Contributors
            Conference
            September 2014
            September 2014
            : 52-61
            Affiliations
            [0001]University of the

            Sunshine Coast

            Queensland, Australia
            [0002]Queensland University

            of Technology

            Queensland, Australia
            [0003]Johns Hopkins

            University

            Baltimore, MD, USA
            Article
            10.14236/ewic/HCI2014.9
            0524cb0b-1926-4f0c-942c-e3a1541110e3
            © Christian M Jones et al. Published by BCS Learning and Development Ltd. Proceedings of the 28th International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference (HCI 2014), Southport, UK

            This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

            Proceedings of the 28th International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference (HCI 2014)
            HCI
            28
            Southport, UK
            9 - 12 September 2014
            Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)
            BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference (HCI 2014)
            History
            Product

            1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

            Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2014.9
            Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/
            Categories
            Electronic Workshops in Computing

            Applied computer science,Computer science,Security & Cryptology,Graphics & Multimedia design,General computer science,Human-computer-interaction
            violence,flourishing,obesity,wellbeing,Videogames,social,mental health,depression

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