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In a USA Today opinion piece, Mary Flanagan, a professor of film and media studies, the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor in Digital Humanities, and director of Tiltfactor Laboratory, writes that video games are too often denounced as violent occupations that spark violent behavior in young people. There are plenty of games that don’t fit this description, and can, in fact, be of benefit to the player, she writes.

“There is an inordinate focus on violent games,” writes Flanagan, herself a designer of video games, “but many video games have positive influences. Research shows that digital games can promote hand-eye coordination and foster abstract thinking, better decision-making, systems thinking, problem solving, logistical planning, strategy, and accuracy under duress.”

Flanagan is a Dartmouth Public Voices fellow.

Read the full opinion piece, published 7/24/14 by USA Today.