The Psycho-pedagogic Value of Video Games and E-sports

Abstract

The human race inherited its neurobiological endowment not as an exclusively human thing but rather from all the species from which we evolved. Let us take play as an example. The concept of play has always characterized the human sphere, accompanying the child in all his stages of development and promoting psycho-evolutionary growth. To play has been recognized as the primary source of memory stimulation, attention and concentration, favoring the development of the schemes of perception and the powers of comparison and communication in the individual. Recent research in 2013 highlighted the notion that video games give adolescents and young adults the opportunity to increase and perfect social, cognitive and emotional skills, contrarily to the risks and negative effects one hears so much about. They do this through the use of the video game as a true social “gym”, used in the same way as any other peer interaction, thus promoting mental health and well-being.