This brings up some anecdotal memories. I used to attempt to be as good at Sid Meier's Pirates! on the Commodore 64 as my mom when I was a kid. And my dad and I used to have 4th and Inches tournaments with our friends. Each experience brought us closer together as a family and helped me socialize with adults before I was a teenager.

That seems complicated. What is a "quality" game? According to Metacritic, Grand Theft Auto V is the highest rated video game in Playstation 4 history. Is that quality, or is there a different definition according to this article? http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/all/ps4/filtered

Again, no citation. However, Dr. Bavelier actually says that "...action-packed shooter games have quite powerful positive effects on many different aspects of our behavior.” https://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_bavelier_your_brain_on_video_games

Yes! Also, kids can become overweight from eating garbage, eating too much, exercising enough but having genetic issues with weight gain, etc etc.

Great news: very few people in the known universe, if any, are "always" inside playing video games. This is a ridiculous thing to say.

Again we come across the term "too much" with no clear definition of what that means. There is no statement that "studies show" this either. Is this just the writer's opinion?

Here is an excellent spot to add a link to some studies. I would love to read about them. I would like to know how many studies show these seemingly great benefits.

Obviously. This isn't really saying anything at all. How much is "too much" video games?

Just going with it will likely have you failing to meet your deadlines. It doesn't work all of the time. A better strategy is to adjust down your expectations when crisis hits and you fall behind. Failure is a common and expected result of an attempt at anything of substance.

Which reminds me kids: backup everything, ever.

Um, hello? Caffeine rushes are just as great at 4pm.

This is a terrible thing for someone to read when they are struggling to get words out. When it's tough to write, writers find that they can put zero words down in infinite hours.

This sentence disregards the ability of measured gambling to teach some of the most important lessons of gaming. All games have the ability to have serious and lasting consequences. To say that is not true is to pretend that a holiday dinner with family of mixed political and religious views always goes swimmingly. My own wife held a grudge against me for decades because I teased her about winning Monopoly when the #fakerule of Free Parking was set in place before we started playing. My dad still doesn't talk to certain family members because of his inability to politely trade in Civilization. I still hate my older brother for making that terrible deal with my little brother who thought it was innocuous. Gambling can teach real loss and real danger, and it can be done at the smallest stakes. Teaching people to evaluate evidence and make the best decision based on that instead of fluky past results prevents some from poorly choosing because of hindsight bias. Also, it can teach someone how dangerous dumping emotion into gaming environment decisions can be.

I don't think anyone should deny the draw of a video game over a "more traditional" game. The entry level of the video game medium is such a low bar that many people, including my own spouse, say they don't like "video games", but will play Trivia Crack, or Words with Friends without a second thought. Video games is the easiest way to grab the attention of the most people, in my opinion.

Not to sound snarky, but I am certain older generations were open to outside-the-box learning as well. Certainly games for centuries have taught lessons of morality and economics, such as Gyan Chauper and Pallanguzhi in India (1).

1. (2013, February 10). Foundation meets demand for traditional Indian board games. National, The (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates).