According to new research by ESSEC, one of France’s premier business schools, playing sports games can increase the chances of participation in real sports, especially among young males. 38 percent of boys who play sports games also practice the same sport in real life. Overall, 75 percent of gamers play some sort of real sport, which goes against the stereotype of the lazy, sedentary gamer.
“Video games are frequently demonized. We now know that these fears are unfounded,” said ESSEC Marketing head Thierry Lardinoit. “While it is difficult to fight against the consumption of video games, which has become more and more widespread among youth, we can use this consumption to further the realistic goal of encouraging physical activity among adolescents.”
“There is a strong correlation between playing video games and participating in real sports. Watching television is a threat to physical activity. Video games are not, however.”
“Video games have traditionally been developed for entertainment purposes but they can also have positive side effects. The ESSEC’s findings that playing sports video games can increase the likelihood of playing the sport in real life is a case in point,” said TIGA CEO Richard Wilson said.
“More generally, video games can be used for educational and training purposes. A fifth of U.K. games business make educational or serious games, making an explicit feature of learning,” he added. “A number of studies suggest that video games may help to promote skills such as visual and motor skills, strategic thinking, relationship building, computer literacy, collaboration, competition, multi-tasking and experiential learning.”
