PARENTS often complain their children spend too much time on computers, but a new team at the University of York believes, playing online games could actually yield a huge benefit for science and society in general.

It may sound far-fetched, but Professor Peter Cowling, who leads NEMOG – New Economic Models and Opportunities for Digital Games – says there is a vast amount of data generated from every button push.

And the university team has been set up to bring together researchers and the digital games industry in the hope that they can use this information to devise games that address social and scientific objectives.

It’s already started with games that help the motor skills of recovering stroke patients.

Then there are the findings gleaned from a virtual pestilence in World of Warcraft, which Professor Cowling says are far more detailed than could ever be the case in a real outbreak.

It may sound stranger than fiction but if NEMOG’s research proves successful who knows what benefits a simple computer game can yield.

We will follow this story with great interest.