Many people have a sterotypical view on videogames, that they are rubbish and useless and dont bring any benefit, so i went on a rampaging research and found two reasons why they are indeed usefully awesome:

America's Army Player Saves Two Lives: (Found this article which is about a gamer who has been playing AA and has been using its medical skills from the game, to save two real lives from a car accident... read on)

"Thanks to America's Army's virtual medical training classes, Paxton Galvanek managed to saved the passengers of an SUV which lost control and flipped around five times.

Needless to say, America's Army is a free tactical multiplayer first person shooter game owned by the American Army.

In America's Army, players must complete several virtual medical training classes before they can play as combat medics. Through the game, players learn to evaluate and prioritize casualties, control bleeding, recognize and treat shock, and administer aid when victims are not breathing.

According to the game's official site, the incident took place on November, 23, 2007.

When Galvanek saw the SUV flipping, he rushed to the flipped car while his wife called 911. Assuming the role of first responder, he quickly assessed the situation and found two victims in the smoking vehicle. Needing to extract them quickly, he helped the passenger out of the truck and noticed he had minor cuts and injuries. He told the man to stay clear of the smoking car and quickly went to the driver's side where he located a wounded man. He pulled the driver to safety on the side of the road.

Galvanek immediately noticed the man had lost two fingers in the accident and was bleeding profusely. The victim had also suffered head trauma. Galvanek located a towel, put pressure on the man's hand, and instructed him to sit down and elevate his hand above his head while pressing the towel against his lost fingers. Galvanek then attended to his head cut and determined that injury was not as serious as his hand.

Roughly five minutes later, an Army Soldier in plain clothing arrived on the scene of the accident and informed Galvanek that he was medically trained and could take over until the paramedics arrived. He looked over the injured men and told Galvanek that he had done a great job. Once the Soldier assured Galvanek that the two men were in stable condition and there was nothing more he could do to assist until the paramedics arrived, Galvanek left the scene and continued on his journey."


The second one is quite interesting:

Canada's universal healthcare has one catch: patients can go for a long time before seeing specialists—apparently years. That's why at least one Canadian researcher is studying drug-alternatives to pain management. And in a recent study, researcher Simon Fraser found that subjects playing fully-immersive games (they tested a 3D skiing title) reported less pain than the subjects taking drugs.An interesting and pleasurable idea to pass the time!

Also, according to Canadian physicians, videogames can be more effective than drugs alone for people who suffer from chronic pain.

Scientists observed that participants at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver felt more comfortable playing “virtual reality games” than taking pain medication alone.

Researchers note that videogames apparently have the potential of providing a safe, partial alternative to addictive medicine.


Makes me feel Go0o0d about Video games