A lot of people in the world have always pinned games as unrealistic, and that there are no benefits to playing them. This stigma still floats around the gaming generation, and is even passed around after it becomes evident that there are still adults who love wasting time on these games. But should it still be considered a time wasting activity? After all, decades of new research has shown that playing games actually have benefits attached. So if you’re considering the idea of stopping your gaming habits, consider these reasons to keep your controller around. At the end of it, you just might look at Driver Ed games in a different light.
10. Games Teach Failure While They Fosters Success
Coddling a child can be a double edged sword. On the one hand, if you coddle too little, distance grows between you and your kid. However, too much coddling can often result in the child never really feeling any sense of loss or risk. Games don’t factor that in their experience, as there is always a clear objective and many conditions for failure. Of course, while games of today are a little easier than their predecessors, they still present a challenge to your child, regardless of whether or not the rewards are tangible.
9. Listening and Observational Skills are Improved
Every game needs to have a plot, and while a lot of titles are designed in such a way that they basically funnel players through levels, others choose to make you listen. Perhaps the best examples of these types of games are Silent Hill 2 and Spec Ops: The Line. In both these games, objectives are fed to the player with an overarching plot to string them together. However, there are clues, which can be found if a player listens close enough, that hint at the more sinister nature of the game. Basically, they enhance a person’s ability to observe the world around them so that they search for the proper clues.
8. Hand Eye Coordination is Improved
Virtual reality, while close to becoming, well, a reality, it’s still a prospect that’s a bit far away. That’s no problem though, because a person’s interaction between the controller and the actions on the screen improves their hand-eye coordination. While making actions on the screen, players are also more likely to become speedier in making inputs, whether it’s on the controller or on the Keyboard.
7. You Add Points to Your Dexterity
Okay, so while you’ll never become as dextrous as your thief in Dragon Age, games can make it so that you are able to perform difficult tasks with your hands with relative ease. In fact, many different surgeons often turn to video games as a means to sharpen their skills when it comes to the scalpel. You can actually say that they’re levelling up their skills through this method, and that’s pretty awesome.
6. Teamwork
High school was a hard time for people who loved video games too much, but if there’s one thing that those jocks got right, it’s that Teamwork is integral in life. MMOs are probably the best example of teamwork, as gamers often band together in “clans”. When they do, players are assigned specific jobs that need to be done in order for the team to win. This is the essence of a team effort, and games often use this to make games more fun. If you still feel like this isn’t true, just look up Overwatch Battlefield 3 on YouTube. You’ll see a ton of tactics poured into a virtual military game, which is a welcome change from the arcade style game.
5. Problem Solving Becomes Slightly Easier
Games are designed with a ton of problem in store for you and often they are slung at you at a rapid pace. This is one of the roots of gameplay after all, but at the end of it, it also increases the likelihood that you get better at solving problem in real life. On top of that, you’re also more likely to improve your reaction time.
4. They Help You with Stress
Ever had that certain fantasy that many different office workers after getting ripped apart by their boss? You know the one and don’t try to pretend you don’t get those angry flashes every once in a while. Well, if your feel more stressed than you usually do, games that involve simple puzzles often help lessen that feeling, and they calm you a lot faster than those yoga exercises would.
3. You Become Doc Ock
In terms of your brain that is. A gamer who has been playing for a few years is more likely to be able to keep track of several actions at once, than a person who avoids games altogether. Basically this ties in with the 5th benefit as you get better at tackling real world problems with relative ease.
2. Educational Use
Have you ever played the new Assassin’s Creed? The one that’s set during the Revolutionary Era in America? Well, if you have, then you might have noticed just how accurate the facts are in that game. In fact, if you look upon the whole series, and cross reference the dates with times in history, you’ll find that almost every event is accurate. Barring the idea of a bunch of assassin’s protecting the freedom of the world; all those games could serve as substitutes to history books. At the same time, it’s been proven that a stimulated student learns more than a student who simply reads to learn.
1. Games are Just Fun
There is no truer reason to keep playing video games than this one. You didn’t get into gaming because you wanted to learn something, nor, because you wanted to find some hidden benefit to it. Every gamer gets into gaming because video games are extremely fun. They have the ability to bring you into new worlds, where you can do whatever you want. Do you really want to give that all up?
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