Are computer games good for you?

Since the days of the early computer games of pong, pacman and space invaders through to today's craze with MMO (massively mulitplayer online) games such as World of Warcraft, parents across the globe have despaired that children are wasting their lives on pointless rubbish.

But how would you feel if computer games could have a social good?

Perhaps as confused as me when I saw this article which says how online gamers have helped with an important breakthrough in understanding how the HIV virus works, and so helping research towards more effective treatment.

This form of collective working on a common project through the Internet is called crowd-sourcing, and it is beginning to be used in a number of different fields, from film reviews to the scrutiny of academic papers. Maybe one day we will even do a crowd sourced report for the General Assembly's Blue Book.

The Church of Scotland supports work around HIV AIDS through the HIV AIDS Programme.

The Internet is a tool, and can be used for good or ill.  We published earlier this year a major report on the ethics of the Internet which you can read here.