Is Play always Play?

Play ceases to be play when it becomes an obligation. - David Elkind, PhD

I think any MMO player understands how this applies to gaming. It's my guess that eventually we'll come up with another word to describe the experience of spending time in a virtual world.

The Plastic Brain

One of the most interesting things about issues relating to electronic media and psychology is that of brain plasticity. It's not like you were just born with a certain kind of ready-to-go brain with certain strengths and weaknesses and that's what you've got ("Type 17-B, strong math skills, weak art and rhythm"). Most people don't realize that their brains grow, change, and develop in response to their environment.

I'm not trying to put a crash course in developmental neuropsychology here - though I'd like to. The most basic thought is that brains become custom-tailored for skills that the environment promotes. The kind of stimulation you have, particularly during childhood, to a very large degree determines the kind of person you become. And the good news is that even if there are deficits during childhood, things aren't set in concrete. The brain is more like plastic and always amenable to certain amounts of change and growth - though it takes longer to make new neural connections as a brain gets older.

Those who spend large amounts of time involved in activities that revolve around language will develop strong neural connections in the brain to build these kinds of skills. The same thing for certain kinds of physical activities. People with truly amazing talents and abilities very often developed those abilities during childhood which grew stronger as they matured. Kids who have been playing lots of computer games since they were toddlers generally have far faster keyboard responses than people who start to play as adults (but do they know how to dance? Do they care?).

If brains don't get enough of the right kinds of foundational experiences certain basic skill areas may never develop. In many cases this accounts for things we describe as "learning disabilities", or things we're "just not very good at."

So what does this have to do with gaming?

The ways we interact with our environment influences the development of our mind, body, and personality. Any media we are exposed to for an extended period of time affects the underlying neural circuitry of the brain that is being established during childhood and adolesence. If we understand this principle we can see how important it is to assess the amount of time kids spend immersed in electronic media. It's not just a question of the kind of content within the media, but what are they not doing in primary life that is actually foundationally necessary to grow effective brains.