Online Games helping in classroom instruction

Do online games really help students learn or are they a distraction? In my experience as both a student and a teacher, I feel that online games are a very good way to present as well as learn information. Students learn the information in an indirect way, gaining knowledge as well as skills to strengthen them in the subject matter. For example, in foreign language instruction, the utilization of games to learn regions and cities are very useful for students and teachers. Students gain a stronger visual learning experience having to  concentrate in a very detailed manner to map out the geography of Italy in a certain time period. As they keep doing this, their memorization skills become stronger as well. This is very good because games like these help to strengthen skills that can be utilized in all subject areas as well facilitate the foreign language learning process and present a fun environment for students