is computer gaming good for children?

I personally love computer games, and im 16 years old. Computer games to me, have taught me from a very young age, many different skills. For instance dawn of war, is a pc game which is all based upon stratergy and units, and thus from the game I picked up interesting stratergies which have opened up my mind, and have helped me got better at solving puzzles in real life and made me better at other real time stratergy games, furthermore I have even improved my chess stratergies. However I would say that it does depend on the type of game the child plays, which will ultimately lead to what the child learns. Maybe violence games are not the way forward for young children deffinetly,as they could pick up bad habbiats. However gaming to me, like call of duty 4, if a first person shooter, and what I love about games is how they bring people together, both adults and children game, but all at different quantities and levels, however the reason why people game can be for many reasons. Just like books, if you had a bad day, than you can escape and forget the past and unwind your mind into the game and cheer you up. Also if you are angry then you can take your anger out virtually! rather than physically.

I think there's nothing wrong with computer games, as long as it does not interfere with life's "schedule". The moment someone plays computer games instead of doing what needs to be done in the "real world" - then this is an addiction that can hurt the person, as well as his family. There are some people who are addicted to online as well as offline games (I think I'm one of them) and get over it. On the other hand, there are some people who take it over the edge, and can actually die from playing computer games (like people who do not sleep or eat during long periods of playing). Playing computer games can be fun, and even educational, but like TV or even using myLot - precaution should be taken. My solution? Get some hobbies you like doing, that would not be related to computers like sports, hiking etc. One can also give oneself chores to do during the day, and allow a limited amount of time for gaming. All in all, I don't think this is such a bad phenomenon, until it actually destroys one's health.