Multi-player video games 'take brains'

Research has shown that two popular video games act like IQ tests, with the most intelligent players gaining the highest scores.

Both games, League of Legends and Defence of the Ancients 2 (DOTA 2) involve chess-like strategic thinking.

Scientists discovered that high levels of skill in both games correlated with having a high IQ.
A similar association has been seen between IQ and chess performance.

Games such as League of Legends and DOTA 2 are complex, socially-interactive and intellectually demanding, said Professor Alex Wade, from the University of York.

Our research would suggest that your performance in these games can be a measure of intelligence.

Research in the past has pointed to the fact that people who are good at strategy games such as chess tend to score highly at IQ tests.

Our research has extended this to games that millions of people across the planet play every day.

League of Legends and DOTA 2 are both Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas or Mobas, action strategy war games typically involving two opposing teams of five individuals.

The researchers found that First Person Shooter games in which players view the action through the eyes of characters they control did not demonstrate the same link with IQ.

York PhD student Athanasios Kokkinakis, the study's lead author, said: "Unlike First Person Shooter (FPS) games where speed and target accuracy are a priority, Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas rely more on memory and the ability to make strategic decisions taking into account multiple factors."

The findings appear in the journal Public Library of Science ONE.