5 benefits of video gaming that nobody tells you about
One glass of wine per day will improve your health and wellbeing, one bottle of wine per day makes you an alcoholic. Same goes for video gaming. While one hour of playing daily can be highly beneficial, if you are unable to stop, your social, professional, and personal life will face some challenges.
The alternative realities hidden behind all sorts of video games have become more and more tempting for people of all ages over the last few years. Research made in the United States at the beginning of the decade showed that 97% of children and teenagers play video games at least one hour per day. Millions of gamers worldwide are spending hours gaming, the same (or more!) as a full-time job would require.
The numbers indicates that video games are one of the favourite leisure activities for most socio-demographic groups. And still the social stigma associated with this type of entertainment is quite high. Almost everybody is doing it but talking about it still remains in the taboo realm.
The negative consequences of getting involved in video gaming were already thoroughly described. But besides the legitimate warnings, being a moderate gamer also comes with a great range of benefits.
Social skills
Video games, especially MMOs (massive multiplayer online) are a fertile environment to improve your social skills. You will team up with people that could potentially become your friends, ally with some others and compete against everyone else. Depending on the level of your involvement, different areas of incredible complex social networks will be revealed to you.
Even if you are a noob, you will still have plenty of advantages. You can become more natural in communication after you exchange all sorts of messages on the multiple chats that such games feature; you will experience teamwork and coordination; develop a sense of responsibility and learn how to handle inevitable conflicts. If you choose to play together with people from outside your country, you will even get familiar with cultural differences and be able to practice foreign languages.
Still, the most rewarding social challenges are unlocked only if you stick with one game long enough to become a regular figure in that universe. If you achieve a leadership position in your faction/alliance/guild, you will improve management skills by trying to bring your team to the final victory. And if you are not charismatic enough to play the role of the leader, you can still influence decisions, practice negotiation and compromise, and run diplomatic missions.
The best part in any video game is that your identity is given only with a username and an avatar. You can literally be whoever you want. You can try different types and strategies of communication that you would be shy to use otherwise. And then, if these prove successful, you can confidently apply them anywhere.
A bonus idea is to integrate your real friends, family or significant other into the game you are playing and you will soon notice a boost in your relationships.
But be aware! Video games based on social interaction are the most addictive ones!
And be aware once more! The hierarchy of an alliance in an MMO can be taken very seriously by regular players. You wouldn’t want to end up with a cult of personality and then feel strange in real life when people don’t call you boss or even your highness!
Brain performance
Any game you could possibly play, no matter how easy it is, will make you use cognitive processes. Functioning as a muscle, through training, your brain will become sharper and faster and you will achieve an overall better performance.
Some games are designed especially for brain training and include puzzles with an increasing degree of difficulty that helps you practice memory, coordination, reaction and problem-solving skills. A study made by the Cambridge University even suggested therapeutic benefits for people who experience early memory problems.
Furthermore, studies reveal that also the most discriminated type of video games, those which are based on violence and involve a lot of shooting, will have benefits in areas such as development of perception, attention and reaction.
To get the most out of a game in terms of cognitive capacity and overall brain performance, the best choice you can make are strategy games. They challenge you with having to make zillions of decisions, based on particular situations. Like in chess, in order to be successful, you will have to correctly assess the preconditions and then use your predictive ability to imagine the various outcomes of your possible moves.
My personal opinion is that, in this regard, the games with the simplest interface will better let you focus on thinking through your decisions. Tribal Wars or Imperia Online might be more rewarding than Total War. The lack of distractions and 3d innovations might even motivate you to master the mathematical mechanisms behind the battles. And if you succeed so, I strongly encourage you to apply for Mensa!
Creativity
Games can teach you to think outside the box, by facing you with countless obstacles before a win. Some of them can even unleash your artistic talents and creative imagination by giving you a white canvas where you can input your weirdest ideas.
Sandbox games in general welcomes you into an open world where the only limit is your imagination. You can play with designs, patterns, colours and shapes and you can create your own structures. Creating these kind of possibilities for user input offers a guaranteed unique experience. Even a battle royale like Fortnite gain its huge popularity because it allows players to create structures while trying to become the ultimate survivors.
Minecraft is a classic in this regard, the name being almost a synonym for creative gaming. Both the design and the rules of Minecraft are awfully simple: objects made of pixels and an open world where the only limit is your imagination. Still, the pixels of Minecraft create history and develop art. Users from all generations shape complex structures and even created their own games inside the matrix with which they were provided.
And creativity can go even further. You can grow your own utopia and test your skills of being a dictator in games like The Sims, where you are in charge of just about everything that concerns the life of your sims.
General knowledge
Some of the games try to reproduce the real world at a historical time while others are aiming at the creation of alternative spaces. But regardless, you will learn a lot and acquire generous information without even realizing it. You will be exposed to history, geography, mythology and much more.
Education through gamification has been gaining a lot of attention lately, because of its capacity to stimulate the attention of the student in the long run.
If you are interested in combining learning and gaming, the best options you have are either simulation games or interactive stories. The first ones reproduce, sometimes in great detail, whole periods of history and social processes. To give you an example, Democracy is a game where your task is to be re-elected as the president of a chosen country. While you try to win a future mandate (and the game) you will inevitably get a very complex understanding of the political processes involved in a campaign and you will get acquainted with the many stakeholders. If you happen to be a student in Political Sciences, this can be the only research you need to pass an exam on political campaigning.
Stress relief
You probably already experienced this benefit, and this was a big reason to go back and play again. Games are awesome stress relievers. They give you time to be alone while doing something predictable and still entertaining. They open new realities helping your mind take a break from day to day problems.
In matters of stress relief there is a pretty solid hierarchy between single player games and multiplayer ones. The competitive component between real players, specific for the last ones, can have a perverted effect if you get too involved in the game. Instead of relaxing you may end up with a new tension, with overwhelming responsibilities and a team that depends on you to be there at certain times and to give your contribution. So, if you are already stressed out by work and personal problems, don’t try World or Warcraft! Instead you can choose an easy Bejeweled type of game or if you need more mental stimulation, a sandbox game that will also boost your creativity, an interactive story or even a complex simulation game like Hearts of Iron. And if you really like online multiplayers, try to stay away from alliances and all their drama.
Any video game you play or plan to try in the future comes with its considerable list of benefits. You will improve your cognitive reactions, social skills and you will get your little oasis of peace far away from the burdens of real life. Never forget, though, that all these advantages apply ONLY for moderate gaming.
The alternative realities hidden behind all sorts of video games have become more and more tempting for people of all ages over the last few years. Research made in the United States at the beginning of the decade showed that 97% of children and teenagers play video games at least one hour per day. Millions of gamers worldwide are spending hours gaming, the same (or more!) as a full-time job would require.
The numbers indicates that video games are one of the favourite leisure activities for most socio-demographic groups. And still the social stigma associated with this type of entertainment is quite high. Almost everybody is doing it but talking about it still remains in the taboo realm.
The negative consequences of getting involved in video gaming were already thoroughly described. But besides the legitimate warnings, being a moderate gamer also comes with a great range of benefits.
Social skills
Video games, especially MMOs (massive multiplayer online) are a fertile environment to improve your social skills. You will team up with people that could potentially become your friends, ally with some others and compete against everyone else. Depending on the level of your involvement, different areas of incredible complex social networks will be revealed to you.
Even if you are a noob, you will still have plenty of advantages. You can become more natural in communication after you exchange all sorts of messages on the multiple chats that such games feature; you will experience teamwork and coordination; develop a sense of responsibility and learn how to handle inevitable conflicts. If you choose to play together with people from outside your country, you will even get familiar with cultural differences and be able to practice foreign languages.
Still, the most rewarding social challenges are unlocked only if you stick with one game long enough to become a regular figure in that universe. If you achieve a leadership position in your faction/alliance/guild, you will improve management skills by trying to bring your team to the final victory. And if you are not charismatic enough to play the role of the leader, you can still influence decisions, practice negotiation and compromise, and run diplomatic missions.
The best part in any video game is that your identity is given only with a username and an avatar. You can literally be whoever you want. You can try different types and strategies of communication that you would be shy to use otherwise. And then, if these prove successful, you can confidently apply them anywhere.
A bonus idea is to integrate your real friends, family or significant other into the game you are playing and you will soon notice a boost in your relationships.
But be aware! Video games based on social interaction are the most addictive ones!
And be aware once more! The hierarchy of an alliance in an MMO can be taken very seriously by regular players. You wouldn’t want to end up with a cult of personality and then feel strange in real life when people don’t call you boss or even your highness!
Brain performance
Any game you could possibly play, no matter how easy it is, will make you use cognitive processes. Functioning as a muscle, through training, your brain will become sharper and faster and you will achieve an overall better performance.
Some games are designed especially for brain training and include puzzles with an increasing degree of difficulty that helps you practice memory, coordination, reaction and problem-solving skills. A study made by the Cambridge University even suggested therapeutic benefits for people who experience early memory problems.
Furthermore, studies reveal that also the most discriminated type of video games, those which are based on violence and involve a lot of shooting, will have benefits in areas such as development of perception, attention and reaction.
To get the most out of a game in terms of cognitive capacity and overall brain performance, the best choice you can make are strategy games. They challenge you with having to make zillions of decisions, based on particular situations. Like in chess, in order to be successful, you will have to correctly assess the preconditions and then use your predictive ability to imagine the various outcomes of your possible moves.
My personal opinion is that, in this regard, the games with the simplest interface will better let you focus on thinking through your decisions. Tribal Wars or Imperia Online might be more rewarding than Total War. The lack of distractions and 3d innovations might even motivate you to master the mathematical mechanisms behind the battles. And if you succeed so, I strongly encourage you to apply for Mensa!
Creativity
Games can teach you to think outside the box, by facing you with countless obstacles before a win. Some of them can even unleash your artistic talents and creative imagination by giving you a white canvas where you can input your weirdest ideas.
Sandbox games in general welcomes you into an open world where the only limit is your imagination. You can play with designs, patterns, colours and shapes and you can create your own structures. Creating these kind of possibilities for user input offers a guaranteed unique experience. Even a battle royale like Fortnite gain its huge popularity because it allows players to create structures while trying to become the ultimate survivors.
Minecraft is a classic in this regard, the name being almost a synonym for creative gaming. Both the design and the rules of Minecraft are awfully simple: objects made of pixels and an open world where the only limit is your imagination. Still, the pixels of Minecraft create history and develop art. Users from all generations shape complex structures and even created their own games inside the matrix with which they were provided.
And creativity can go even further. You can grow your own utopia and test your skills of being a dictator in games like The Sims, where you are in charge of just about everything that concerns the life of your sims.
General knowledge
Some of the games try to reproduce the real world at a historical time while others are aiming at the creation of alternative spaces. But regardless, you will learn a lot and acquire generous information without even realizing it. You will be exposed to history, geography, mythology and much more.
Education through gamification has been gaining a lot of attention lately, because of its capacity to stimulate the attention of the student in the long run.
If you are interested in combining learning and gaming, the best options you have are either simulation games or interactive stories. The first ones reproduce, sometimes in great detail, whole periods of history and social processes. To give you an example, Democracy is a game where your task is to be re-elected as the president of a chosen country. While you try to win a future mandate (and the game) you will inevitably get a very complex understanding of the political processes involved in a campaign and you will get acquainted with the many stakeholders. If you happen to be a student in Political Sciences, this can be the only research you need to pass an exam on political campaigning.
Stress relief
You probably already experienced this benefit, and this was a big reason to go back and play again. Games are awesome stress relievers. They give you time to be alone while doing something predictable and still entertaining. They open new realities helping your mind take a break from day to day problems.
In matters of stress relief there is a pretty solid hierarchy between single player games and multiplayer ones. The competitive component between real players, specific for the last ones, can have a perverted effect if you get too involved in the game. Instead of relaxing you may end up with a new tension, with overwhelming responsibilities and a team that depends on you to be there at certain times and to give your contribution. So, if you are already stressed out by work and personal problems, don’t try World or Warcraft! Instead you can choose an easy Bejeweled type of game or if you need more mental stimulation, a sandbox game that will also boost your creativity, an interactive story or even a complex simulation game like Hearts of Iron. And if you really like online multiplayers, try to stay away from alliances and all their drama.
Any video game you play or plan to try in the future comes with its considerable list of benefits. You will improve your cognitive reactions, social skills and you will get your little oasis of peace far away from the burdens of real life. Never forget, though, that all these advantages apply ONLY for moderate gaming.
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A student of life and probably for life. She likes putting theory into practice and to challenge norms. Currently on a mission to understand human behavior and interaction. Always on the lookout for the next challenge.