The Social Benefits of Video Games

We hear a lot about plausibly serious harm done to youth who excessively play video games, particularly violent video games. We also think there's probably something wrong with the amount of time some games encourage. To do extraordinarily well in World of Warcraft, a gamer has to spend probably 50-70 hours a week for several weeks, even months. That's an expensive hobby to say the least in terms of opportunity costs. Which is why this article is kind of interesting (pdf warning). Speaking to one gamer who has attained the level of "e-famous" within the WoW, Tom Chatfield writes:

"[A] recent article in the Harvard Business Review, billed under the line "The best sign that someone's qualified to run an internet startup may not be an MBA degree, but level 70 guild leader status." Is there anything to this? "Absolutely," he says, "but if you tried to argue that within the traditional business market you would get laughed out of the interview." How, then, does he explain his willingness to invest so much in something that has little value for his career? He disputes this claim. "In Warcraft I've developed confidence; a lack of fear about entering difficult situations; I've enhanced my presentation skills and debating. Then there are more subtle things: judging people's intentions from conversations, learning to tell people what they want to hear. I am certainly more manipulative, more Machiavellian. I love being in charge of a group of people, leading them to succeed in a task."

Of course, I know some people who would interpret that second-to-the-last-sentence negatively [ed: do we really want people to be more Machiavellian?], but I think there's clearly something to be said that success in the real world does require at least some degree of rationality and competitiveness. I'm still reading it now, so may update this post later.