Does “stop playing video games, you’re wasting your time” sound annoying? According to researchers gathered at the American Psychological Association convention in Boston, this is completely untrue! On the contrary, it appears that today’s gamer is tomorrow’s top laparoscopic surgeon!

It may sound rather strange at first, but the researchers backed up their affirmation by using an eloquent example: World of Warcraft. The world’s most popular multiplayer online game has already attracted millions of ardent gamers from all over the world and continues to expand.

What many thought to be a waste of time now proves to actually stimulate thinking, improving skills in systematic investigation and problem solving. Psychologist Douglas Gentile, co-author of the study, explained that surgeons who’ve played video games in the past were better predictors of surgical skills that years of training and surgeries performed didn’t provide.

“So the first question you might ask your surgeon is how many of these (surgeries) have you done and the second question is ‘Are you a gamer?,” Gentile said, as quoted by the Associated Press.

In addition to the chat rooms, where players interact and share knowledge to solve problems, the forums on World of Warcraft are just as relevant, showing that gamers are capable of creating an environment in which informal scientific skills are being exchanged.

Although it appears that young people think more strategically than more mature people, and that they see the game from different perspectives, World of Warcraft enthusiasts seem to be more likely to develop scientific skills.

That of course doesn’t guarantee that by playing a video game you’ll become a brilliant surgeon or some sort of genius. Even World of Warcraft advices us to “take all things in moderation,” so enjoy playing and don’t forget you have a life outside the game.