Video games will rot your child’s brain, ruin their eyes, and maybe turn them into murderous thugs.

That’s been the official line trotted out by the tabloid media for over three decades. And while the graphics, immersion, and reality found in games has jumped exponentially since the early days of Atari, not a single credible study has been able to prove the above.

In fact, it’s been the exact opposite.

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Research has shown that age appropriate video games can help fast-track a child’s learning and development. This can include fostering social skills, improving reading comprehension, helping relieve stress, teaching new skill sets, and general cognitive development.

For parents whose only exposure to video games has been the 18+ violence associated with titles like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty, that may seem counterintuitive. But the reality is video games have changed, and there are now whole genres dedicated to more freeform, abstract games. These titles allow players of all ages to explore new worlds, solve puzzles, and be an active participant in the narrative.

But does that put them on par with books? And is that a fair comparison?

Diversity is the spice to life

Kids can learn important skills playing video games.

Today’s video game landscape encompasses a huge variety of platforms – smart phones, PCs, video game consoles, tablets – and an even broader variety of actual games. Mainstream staples like FIFA and Call of Duty may dominate the official charts, but the new digital landscape means it is easier than ever before to experiment with new ideas, and deliver them to a audience via download services.

Some of the most successful and critically acclaimed video games to emerge in recent years have forgone violence, enemies, and even traditional ‘goals’ in favour of more personal, immersive experiences. In the process, they’ve allowed people to explore, learn, and experiment at their own pace. And they’ve built a profitable niche in the process.

Daniel Donahoo is a Director at Project Synthesis, a Melbourne-based consultancy group that works with the education sector on games and learning. In the past, he’s developed software to help students learn about human rights and Shakespeare. But he’s also an advocate of commercial software like Minecraft and Little Big Planet being used in classrooms.

Minecraft: a game about building worlds that is popular the world over.

“[These games] gives kids a space to fail, to make mistakes, to share, to learn from each other by being connected in multiplayer spaces,” he explains.

“There is a richness and a new recognition of children’s capacity as learners that this new evolution in game-based learning is offering.”

It’s a view shared by Dave Perry, an industry veteran and creator of the Earthworm Jim franchise.

“I remember when I was at school, I came across some middle-aged siege weapons in a history book, and you’d have just a black and white image, and it was really boring,” he recounts in the documentary, Video Game.

“Recently, I had a six-year-old kid giving me her opinion on those same weapons, based on her experiences using one in game.”

All the books, all the time

One of the most critically acclaimed mobile games released in 2014 was an adaptation of Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days. Entirely text driven (with accompanying silhouette stills), the game places you in the role of valet, and tasks you with making a series of transport and logistic choices to arrive at your location on time.

Life is Strange follows a different tangent. It’s a first-person adventure in which you assume the role of a teenage girl exploring her house. With no enemies and no puzzles to solve, its main feature – the ability to rewind time – sets the scene for a nostalgia-driven story about adolescents and choices.

These two titles are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the expanded scope and reach of video games in 2015. And while neither is pitched at children or identified as an educational title, they offer unique experiences that can entertain adults and children alike, while providing the latter with subtle educational insights.

But does that mean video games are the new books?

Ask most industry experts and they’ll tell you that video games are the culmination of every story-telling medium we’ve ever had. They’re paintings, radio, television and books all rolled into one. The main difference is they’re interactive experiences, in which you can control the outcome, and sometimes the narrative.

Granted, there’s plenty of schlocky violence out there.

But to dismiss the entire medium based on its most commercial properties would be like judging books based on a Dan Brown novel.