Gaming can promote cognitive growth. Games can provide puzzles and challenges that players must figure out and overcome. Some games require that the player multitask and prioritize objectives to find the best outcomes. Players can learn to make good decisions quickly. Some games can simulate real-world science, history and economic systems. Some studies have shown that people who play games are better at tasks requiring short-term memory recall.
Some games can teach beneficial lessons to the player. These games can be instructional by design to teach a lesson in history or another school topic; this has been called educational software or edutainment. Other games simply involve real-world topics or scientific principles, where the player learns about those by playing it. Video games have attracted controversies due to how they are produced, their content and how they are played. Many games feature violent content, which may lead to the player becoming desensitized to violence. Some have linked playing video games to violent acts and other antisocial behavior.
