SPEAKER SERIES | Brains, UX and Games : The Psychology of Video Games

Are Video Games Good or Bad For Players?

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📅  Student session: APRIL 08 8 | 2:15–3:00 pm 

     Family session: APRIL 08 | 4:30–5:30 pm 

📍 Where: ASH Multipurpose Room | 755 Ashbury Street in San Francisco, CA

👇 Admission: Free registration with RSVP

Register today 

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The Topic

Video games are one of the most popular forms of entertainment today. Although billions of people seem to be having fun playing them, the question still looms: could they also be bad for us? Many things have been said about the impact of video games on players in the past few decades, more specifically about their potential negative effects, while their potential positive effects have often been ignored. Video games have been accused of making players violent, isolated, dumb, or addicted. Just like rock'n'roll and comic books before them, video games worry parents and policymakers. But does academic research confirm these worries?

The Psychology of Video Games: What Does the Research Actually Say?

Video games are among the most popular forms of entertainment in the world — yet they remain one of the most misunderstood. In her book The Psychology of Video Games, cognitive psychologist and game industry veteran Célia Hodent cuts through the noise to offer a clear, research-based portrait of what games actually do to our brains.

The Good

Research suggests that video games offer real cognitive benefits. Certain action games have been shown to sharpen visual attention skills, while games like Tetris can improve spatial reasoning. Beyond individual skills, games may also foster a "growth mindset" — the understanding that effort and perseverance, not innate talent, are what drive progress. Some games have even been associated with improved well-being and prosocial behavior, and educators are increasingly using titles like Minecraft and SimCity as genuine learning tools in the classroom.

The Bad — or Is It?

Concerns about video games causing aggression, poor school performance, or social isolation have circulated for decades. Yet the scientific evidence remains heavily debated and largely inconclusive. As the American Psychological Association noted in 2020, attributing real-world violence to video games is not scientifically sound. Similarly, links to poor academic performance, where they exist at all, reflect correlation rather than causation — a child struggling at school may turn to games, rather than games causing the struggle.

What About Addiction?

The question of video game "addiction" is perhaps the most charged. While a small number of people do develop a pathological relationship with gaming and deserve support, many researchers caution against overstating the phenomenon. When the World Health Organization introduced "gaming disorder" as a diagnosis, it sparked significant pushback from the scientific community, with experts warning that the evidence base remains insufficient and that moral panic may be driving the conversation more than sound science.

The Bottom Line

Like any activity, what matters most with video games is balance — ensuring play is age-appropriate, doesn't crowd out sleep, physical activity, or social connection, and is part of a varied and healthy routine. When those conditions are met, the research suggests there is far less to fear than popular discourse might lead us to believe.

Join Us on April 8

These are questions every family is navigating — and rarely with the benefit of a genuine expert in the room. We are delighted to welcome Célia Hodent to the Lycée's Ashbury campus on Wednesday, APRIL 08 for two sessions designed for our community.

Our CM1/CM2 students will have the opportunity to explore the world of games — from board games to video games — in an age-appropriate, engaging format, including a conversation about how some games are deliberately designed to keep players hooked. The evening family session will go deeper, covering the psychology behind game design, the real risks and benefits the research points to, and an important conversation about inclusion and gender representation in gaming.

On Wednesday, April 8, we will welcome Celia HODENT to the Ashbury campus for two information and Q&A sessions on the psychology of video games — what games can offer in terms of learning, as well as the risks they carry and the lack of fair gender representation (in a simplified version for the children).

Student session: Wednesday, APR 08 — 2:15–3:00 PM — CM1/CM2 in the multipurpose room

• Board games and their value for learning, with a connection to the Game Week

• Video games: the pros and cons, and how they are designed to create addiction (an extension of the documentary students will have watched two days prior: Et si on levait les yeux? Une classe face aux écrans)

• Student Q&A

Family session: Wednesday, APR 08 — 4:30–5:30 PM in the multipurpose room 

• Presentation on the psychology of video games

• Risks and benefits

• Inclusion and lack of gender representation

Register today 

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ABOUT OUR SPEAKER AND VILLA ALBERTINE

Celia HODENT holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Paris 5 Sorbonne, specializing in cognitive development, and has built a distinguished career at the intersection of brain science and game design. After early roles at Vtech and Ubisoft — where she applied cognitive science to player experience and game design — she went on to lead user experience at Epic Games, working primarily on Fortnite, before becoming an independent consultant advising game studios worldwide. A passionate advocate for ethical design, she chairs the GDC UX Summit and founded the Ethical Games initiative, championing a human-first approach that places players' well-being above business goals.

She is a consultant, speaker, and acclaimed author of The Gamer’s Brain: How Neuroscience and UX can Impact Video Game Design & The Psychology of Video Games.

Celia HODENT recently participated in a panel on Scaling Challenges and Ethical Considerations in Game Production in the event Beyond Play: A French-American Community Event on the Future of Video Games organized by Villa Albertine, the French Institute for Culture and Education, operating under the French Embassy in the United States, dedicated to making French language and culture accessible to American audiences through residencies, public programs, and Franco-American partnerships. The San Francisco branch is particularly connected to the tech and digital world — Villa Albertine positions San Francisco as the node for exploring the digitalization of our world.

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