Good news for anyone who’s ever been criticized for playing too many video games: virtual building games like Minecraft can boost creativity. This, from researchers at Iowa State University.
Researchers split 352 participants into four groups: one group played Minecraft with specific instructions; another played Minecraft without instructions; and the remaining participants either watched a TV show or played a racing video game.
After 40 minutes, researchers tested the participants’ creativity in several ways. One task was to draw an unearthly creature from a foreign planet. Creatures that resembled humans would receive a low creativity score, while less human-like creatures would receive a higher creativity score.
Researchers saw that participants who played Minecraft without instruction earned significantly higher scores on these creative tasks than those who played Minecraft with instructions, as well as those who watched TV or played a racing game.
This study suggests that Minecraft, and other virtual building games, can increase creativity so long as the player has creative freedom.
Source: Blanco-Herrera, J. A., Gentile, D. A., & Rokkum, J. N. (2019, June 23). Video Games can Increase Creativity, but with Caveats. Creativity Research Journal. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10400419.2019.1594524
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