Sports Games Encourage Gamers to Play the Actual Sport

New research has been unveiled which claims that children who play sports-themed games are more likely to actually take up that sport in real life than children who don’t.

The research flies in the face of claims that the videogames industry should bear some of the responsibility for the childhood obesity crisis in the USA.

FIFA, NBA and NHL games are generally seen as positive steps towards encouraging a child to play a sport, acting as a guidebook for the rules in addition to being a pathway towards familiarity with the stars of particular sports. The research appears to indicate that these familiarity with the sport boosts self-esteem and allows the child to better interact with fellow fans in addition to improving their sports-related skills and knowledge.

Brock University psychologists Paul Adachi and Teena Willoughby studied 1,492 students from eight different high schools in Ontario, Canada as part of the study. Students were examined from the beginning of their high school careers right through to the conclusion, with self-esteem levels being measured by a questionnaire in the 9th and 10th grades, followed by surveys asking how regularly they played sports-themed videogames in the 11th and 12th grades.

“This finding suggests that sports video games may provide a safe environment for adolescents to develop sport-related skills and knowledge, and experience the thrill of victory,” claimed the researchers.

“We found support for a long-term, bidirectional association between sports video game play and involvement in sports,” continued the report, which was published in the Psychology of Popular Media Culture journal.

Of course, there is an unsurprising correlation between those who already played sports and the ownership of sports-themed games, however the research did also find an increased familiarity with a sport gained from gaming increased the likelihood of participation in that sport.

The researchers added “Playing sports video games predicted higher self-esteem, and in turn, self-esteem predicted greater involvement in (actual physical) sports.

“This finding suggests that sports video games may provide a safe environment for adolescents to develop sport-related skills and knowledge, and experience the thrill of victory, which over time may enhance their self-esteem, and, in turn, encourage them to participate in real-life sports.”

This all means that videogames can act as a “safe” way of treating shyer students the rules of various sports, allowing them to learn in their own time and build familiarity and confidence before exhibiting their new-found passion on the sports field or track.