MMO Gamers Test Better in School, Study Finds

Now, here's something to keep tucked under your caps: according to a recent study by Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology psychologist Alberto Posso and published in the International Journal of Communication, kids who play online games every day do better in their schoolwork.

Specifically, studying 12,000 students in Australian high school (like a normal high school with slightly more scorpions), it was discovered that there's a correlation between between academic achievement and a desire to play games online, specifically MMO's, and that people who logged some game-time in every day scored about 15 points higher in reading, math, and science. Alberto Posso attributes this correlation (not CAUSATION, pay attention) to the fact that gameplay equips players to apply and sharpen knowledge they learn in school in order to solve puzzles and critically think, but he emphasizes that video games are by no means the cure to our educational woes.

"These findings can be interpreted as suggesting that whereas frequent online gaming possibly sharpens a number of skills needed to perform well in school... excessive gaming may begin to have a marginally negative effect on educational outcomes.”

So, we can't go blaming good scores on video games, but we could argue that people who enjoy MMO's are typically the people who study harder and get more from their education. Or, they have parents who only allow them to game if they score well. Both could be true.

Still, an interesting nugget to keep in mind, I'd say!