Beyond Fun: An Assessment of Video Games as Emerging Educational Broadcasting Media in Nigeria

Abstract

Video games are evolving media that have become more realistic, complex, broad and social in nature recently. This study assesses the positive effects of video games against the backdrop of their educational, social, emotional, cognitive and motivational value. The assessment is based on how video games use has evolved over the last two decades and the use of video games as broadcast education content in Nigeria. The study, hinged on the Social Learning Theory, argues that video games have the potential to educate and inform. The study was carried out using three online databases: Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost and Science Direct. The conclusion is that video games actively shape the way we interact with each other and can be used in conjunction with other traditional broadcast media as an education medium in Nigeria. It is recommended that there should be an on- going research on the effects of video games in educational broadcasting in Nigeria.