GAMES, SPORTS, and SOCIAL EFFECTS

What effects—positive, negative, mixed—do particular games or sports have on the societies around them? How seriously should sports and games be taken? Are they luxuries or necessities? Are certain games or sports either underappreciated or overvalued? How do sports and/or games foster useful physical, cognitive, and/or social skills? Should some kinds of games and/or sports be larger parts of educational curricula? Do professional sports (and their facilities) take up too much space and attention? Is there evidence that certain kinds of games/sports (including, but not necessarily limited to, shooting-based video games, militarystrategy board games, and contact sports) foster harmful kinds of aggression and competitiveness? If so, what can and should be done to address such effects?