Many benefits: Playing motion-controlled video games on consoles such as the Wii could not only improve your skills in the virtual world but also when competing in real life.
Playing motion-controlled video games on consoles such as the Wii could not only improve your skills in the virtual world but also when competing in real life says a new study published in the International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations.
The study was completed by a team of researchers from Penn State University who looked into how motion-controlled video games could affect a user's performance when undertaking an activity in the real world.
Motion-controlled video games require players to use the motion controller -- as well as their own body – to control the movements of the video game's avatar.
In the study 161 participants were randomly divided into three groups: one that would play a motion-controlled game, one that would play a push-button controlled game, and a control group.
The majority of the participants had a good level of experience playing both video games and motion-controlled video games, however only limited knowledge of the Wii game used in the study, which involved playing 18 rounds of golf.
After the motion-controlled and push-button controlled groups had finished playing the video game, and the control group had finished filling in a questionnaire, all the participants where then asked to putt balls in the real world from 3ft, 6ft and 9ft.
Their results showed that participants who had played 18 rounds of golf in a video game using a motion controller performed better than participants who hadn't played the video game at all, and significantly better than those who had played with a push-button controller.
Commenting on the reason behind the findings, Edward Downs, formerly of Penn State and now at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, explained that the action of putting in the video game was close enough to the real-life action of putting to give the motion-controlled participants extra practice, which then enabled them to perform better.
"These games are getting people up and physically rehearsing, or simulating motion, so we were trying to see if gaming goes beyond symbolic rehearsal and physically simulates an action closely enough that it will change or modify someone's behaviour," added Downs.
Explaining why those who used the push-button video-game controller did worse putting in the real world putting exercise than the control group, Downs explained that "the control group didn't have to spend the previous 45 minutes translating button pushing into putting behavior, so they came in with more of a clean slate."
Both Downs and co-author Mary Beth Oliver believe that motion-controlled games also have the potential to improve real-world skills in other areas, with Oliver believing that the findings may be applicable to areas as diverse as music, art and even physical therapy. However further research would be needed to measure how far the effect goes. — AFP Relaxnews
