Video games fill psychological need

[mandy]

If you're having a hard time convincing kids of all ages to pull themselves away from their video games, there's a deep-rooted psychological reason, a study by U.S. researchers suggests.

The survey by psychologists at the University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y., and virtual worlds researchers at Immersyve Inc. indicates that people enjoy video games because they are satisfying at a fundamental psychological level.

The research published Tuesday in the journal Motivation and Emotion found that the driving force that draws people to games was not fun — which doesn't keep players interested — but instead a sense of achievement, freedom and even social connectedness...

full article: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/...61227.html

[chiquita]

The draw of video games "also can be experienced as enhancing psychological wellness, at least short-term," Ryan said.

This has been validated in other more intensive based research studies that have been conducted.