Wish you had some more ... mature friends to romp around Azeroth with? Then show grandmom and grandpop this new study conducted at North Carolina State University. According to the study, complex massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) like World of Warcraft (WoW) could help cognitive functioning in some older folks, VentureBeat reports.Researchers, like NC State assistant professor of psychology Dr. Anne McLaughlin, from the university's Gains Through Gaming lab had a group of 60 to 77-year-olds play WoW on their home computers for about 14 hours over two weeks time. The university then tested their cognitive skills against a group of non-granny gamers, otherwise known as the control group. Interestingly enough, the granny gamers saw increased cognitive function when stacked up against those who didn't play.
"The people who needed it most - those who performed the worst on the initial testing - saw the most improvement," NC State associate professor of psychology and study co-author Dr. Jason Allaire told VentureBeat. In short, it looks like some dungeon diving in good old WoW might do your grandparents some good. However, the study apparently found no change in the memory department neither before nor after game play.
This might be enough to convince grandma and grandpop to pick up the virtual sword or spell book, but it might not be enough to help them remember to pick another game card. That said, if you're tapping the elderly for guild mates, then you might have another problem entirely.
Do you know of any older folks who play WoW or any other games, for that matter? What other benefits might these games have for those people? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.