Apparently playing games online can increase productivity at work and help you kick your bad habits! Now, I am not one to rain on parades (ok I am) but these two items are both research work sponsored by games companies. It seems to me that both Popcap.com (makers of Bejeweled 2, Zuma and Peggle) and Real.com (owners of GameHouse Games) are trying to get the rest of the world involved in what anyone who plays games already knows. What does everyone know? That online games are fun and they can help you take your mind off of things. It's really a no-brainer and the fact that people are just getting this is not news to me or any of the people who play games on Games.com.
I bring this up because I am a bit of a contrarian and hope that people will question when they see reports like these. Question the source of where information comes from and why they are putting it out there. For Popcap and Real it is about letting people know that they make games and their games can make you better worker or help you kick bad habits.
What do you think about these sorts of news items? Do you think games can really help people? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1. I totally agree. When I was unemployed several years ago, I spent the time retraining myself so I could get a job online. I was a smoker then and basically smoked whenever I was on a computer! For me it just went hand in hand. Mouse with the right, ciggy with the left.
Posted at 3:22PM on Jun 26th 2008 by lcourtines
2. Hey I play games all the time online and well I hate to say it the longer I'm playing the more i smoke. I can't see where studies would show otherwise. I guess you can say I'm a social smoker and I usually chat while playing in the mornings along with my morning coffee I tent to smoke more during that time than I do any other. For me to quit I would have to stay off my computer and I don't see that happening.
Posted at 11:14AM on Jun 30th 2008 by Phillip