Gamers are unfairly lumped as social enigmas, people who live in basements and go out only to buy pints of beer on the nearest london brasserie or any store that sells booze and chips. Now with this latest finding, we may all start looking at gamers in a different way. In a recent study conducted by Constance Steinkuehler, a professor of Education Communications, there has been evidences that playing videogames foster a scientific habit of mind.

In a recent study conducted by Constance Steinkuehler, a professor of Education Communications, there has been evidences that playing videogames foster a scientific habit of mind.

Ms. Steinkuehler, who also plays World of Warcraft, has studied just how players think while playing games.  She noticed other players’ methods, including her clanmates, when trying to beat a boss or the way people contribute to message boards by posting their theories of how to do this and that within the game, which all in all has a striking resemblance to the scientific method.

Her paper, Scientific Habits of Mind in Virtual Worlds can be found here.

Personally, I believe in the principle of alchemy, the one that says “nothing is ever lost, but merely transferred or allocated to something else.”  Most people, nagging parents in particular, say that videogames are just waste of time.  It’s true that most gamers would rather spend the whole day at home while playing WoW or whatever game that has got them hooked at the moment, hence limiting their daily activities to just playing videogames.  But I wouldn’t go as far as saying that the time they spend only goes to waste.  It’s more of an allocation of productivity.  Whatever time they lose from, let’s say, exercise, they make up for it by learning how to effectively apply the scientific method to their daily lives, just like what Constance Steinkuehler says.