“Stop playing video games. Video games aren’t preparing you for the future; they’re a waste of time. They have no value, are rotting your brain and make you antisocial.” As concerned parents and educators, we’ve repeated these phrases or similar sentiments to our children hundreds of times. We were wrong.

A growing body of scientific evidence from well-known and respected organizations such as the National Science Foundation and the Federation of American Scientists is beginning to show that video games have intrinsic educational value and that kids are not wasting their time playing this form of 21st-century entertainment.

Yes, the content of many of these games is objectionable, but so is the content of many books. Certain books have been censored over the years because of horrific content, yet books are used in every educational institution known to humankind. Video games need to assume the same status as books in our educational systems. The video-game format is not the problem; it is the content. The format, it turns out, is educationally sound and intrinsically motivating.

Video games require players to master skills that are in demand in today’s fast-paced, connected world. These games require strategic and analytical thinking, problem solving, making informed trade-offs, planning, forecasting and rapid decision-making. These are essential modern-day skills. On the other hand, our current school systems, at every level, are based on a model established in the 1800s.

Video games are similar to the computer systems used today by bankers, manufacturing managers, retail professionals and other workforce employees who rely on computers to gather distributed information and present it graphically in a clear, concise manner. These systems give the workers the ability to interact with the data, see more detail and run what-if scenarios so they can make rapid decisions, solve problems and forecast future needs. Employees are immersed in video game–like computer interfaces on a daily basis.

Video games are even making their way into executive boardrooms. The May 2008 issue of the Harvard Business Review contained an article, “Leadership’s Online Labs,” which indicated that Massively Multiplayer Online Role Play Games (MMORPGs) with exotic names like World of Warcraft, Everquest and Runescape, teach leadership skills. The article discusses how, in today’s global economy, leaders of organizations must lead virtual teams of individuals from all over the world to accomplish business goals. It then describes how players of online games learn similar leadership skills by leading groups of fellow game players through challenges to accomplish specific tasks. The article recommends incorporating MMORPGs into leadership development programs for managers leading global teams.

Massively multiplayer games also have an inherent social quality. The players of the game must communicate thoughts and ideas over a computer network, often with people they interact with only virtually. In a global, distributed working world, these types of social skills are critical for success. Instead of rotting the brain, video games are preparing children’s brains for work they will be performing in the future.

Rather than banning video games from our schools, universities and homes, we need to embrace the technology. Video games offer excellent attributes for learning: clear goals, lessons that can be practiced until mastered, immediate feedback and a sense of accomplishment at achieving a goal. These positive educational attributes are too important to dismiss. Our educational institutions cannot continue to ignore this new medium. We owe it to our children to intelligently create and choose video games to introduce to the classroom. We need to break the instructional mold of the 1800s and move into video game age–based education.

Karl Kapp is a professor of instructional technology at Bloomsburg University. He is the author of several books including Gadgets, Games and Gizmos for Learning. He regularly blogs on topics related to education and video games at kapp.blogspot.com.

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