Chamber and committees

I thank my colleague Clare Adamson for securing the debate, in which we have heard great speeches so far. It was good to hear Minecraft being mentioned. I was very glad when that went digital, because I had lost track of how much money I had spent on replacing scratched disks.

The world of gaming has undeniably undergone a remarkable evolution. We have witnessed a journey that started with iconic arcade games such as Space Invaders and has now evolved into mind-blowing virtual reality, in which we immerse ourselves in uncharted worlds, confront fresh challenges and conquer epic quests. My mum has a little shot and crashes into the television, too.

Here in Scotland, as we have heard, gaming contributes around £350 million to our economy, and home-grown cutting-edge creativity from companies such as Rockstar North is a source of huge national pride that goes beyond Dundee.

With three teenagers at home, I am no stranger to gaming. Although I nag them about screen time, I have also seen the positive impact of gaming on my kids’ personal development, critical life skills and cultural awareness and I will focus on the positives of gaming in my speech. Gaming can be much more than just childhood fun; it can play a fundamental role in enhancing educational experience by improving cognitive function and the learning of facts and by increasing cultural awareness.

The built-in rewards systems of points, levels, progress bars, track advancement and feedback make games especially motivating and stimulating in comparison with other educational interventions. A study by researchers at the University of Vermont, “Association of Video Gaming With Cognitive Performance Among Children”, found that children who played video games for three hours a day showed higher levels of brain activity in areas associated with attention and memory than were found in non-players.

I have my own examples of that. During a random dinner table conversation, we were surprised by our teenage son’s in-depth knowledge of Egypt’s people, geography, history and artefacts. When asked if he had been studying Egypt at school, he said that he had learned from the game Assassin’s Creed, explaining how he had used detailed maps for navigation, collected ancient artefacts to move up through the levels and completed quests to earn points that could later be spent on medical aid and advanced equipment, meaning that there was a little bit of maths in there too.

Young gamers are clever problem solvers. They are confronted with challenges and rise to the occasion to solve complex cognitive tasks by using critical thinking and creativity. Repeated failures are steps on the road to success, fostering resilience in the face of setbacks and encouraging gamers to persist in honing their skills and keep pushing their limits. Those are all essential life skills. Believe me: my children do not give up until they achieve an epic win.

Gaming can act as a form of escapism for many, but it is also an experience to be shared with others. Through mutual objectives and achievements, gamers build strong social connections and relationships with children who live on the opposite side of the world.

Online gaming can be especially meaningful for autistic people and others with neurodiversity because communication happens on a level playing field without the challenges of trying to read facial expressions and body language, which can be a daily struggle. Gaming is a more comfortable, autonomous and goal-driven way of making friends. It has been suggested that interest in gaming is higher among autistic people, and it makes sense that having a structure and predictable rules would be appealing to that group. Positive reinforcement can motivate autistic people to keep playing, increasing their ability to engage with others.

Although I acknowledge that gaming can be associated with problematic behaviours, it is really important also to acknowledge the benefits. Parents are used to imparting lessons to their children, but we can learn valuable lessons from them. I have certainly found that gaming is a way to do that and there is something amazing and quite wonderful about learning from our children. I encourage parents to engage with their children’s gaming. The next time that they feel the urge to nag a child about screen time, they could instead take time to join in with the play, celebrate their children’s achievements and be led by them, on their own terms. Any parent doing so would also be playing their part in Clare Adamson’s call for support for Scotland’s gaming ecosystem.

Thank you.

I will come back to the national care board in a wee minute, convener, if that is okay. I just want to give Dave Moxham the opportunity to respond to my first question.

Dave, what do you think about the role and the purpose of the national care board? What should become of the integration joint boards that we have at present?

Thank you, convener. I thank the panel members for coming along this morning.

As we know, stage 1 of the bill has been extended to find compromise and consensus. What impact do you expect the agreement between the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on shared accountability to have on the national care service proposals?

Perhaps I can follow up on that. Are you expecting any particular impacts on your trade union membership from that shared legal accountability?

Are people reassured by the fact that it is no longer proposed that there will be any transfer of staff or assets from local authorities? Has that provided reassurance?

That is helpful.

Cara, you mentioned the national care board. What do you believe its role and purpose should be?

What do you think will become of the role of the integration joint boards that exist presently?

I have no interests to declare.