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5 Life Skills You Can Learn From Playing Video Games

Remember when people used to say video games promote violence? Indeed, the industry can easily be misunderstood, especially by those who don’t play video games at all. But as the hobby becomes more popular among the masses, scientists have been able to gather enough data to see if gaming really does have significant real life effects to players.

What they found out will be a relief to a lot of anxious parents. For one, gaming DOES NOT promote violence – or at least there has been no found correlation between gaming and a general proclivity to violence, according to an interesting series of experiments conducted by a team of researchers from the University of York.

In fact, video games may actually be beneficial to those who actively participate in them. So here you can check best place to buy video games

Dr. Peter Gray of Psychology Today laid out the many advantages of gaming including enhancing intelligence and creativity, increasing motivation, helping regulate emotions, and even unexpectedly, gaining social skills when players get involved in multiplayer setups.

But more than anything, video games teach you skills that are in many ways, very useful in real life. Here’s a great list of reasons why video games are more than just fun.

#1. Video Games Teach You to Be Accountable of Your Actions

Many action RPG and other story-driven games such as Alpha Protocol and Guardian Heroes rub an existential aspect to their gameplay by throwing in a punch of realism and urging their players to make a choice that leads to a unique trail of personal circumstances.

By placing fate in the player’s hands, they become aware of the weight of their decisions, forcing them to contemplate on the possible futures and determine the best course of action.

Sometimes, they may choose something more drastic, often out of curiosity to see how things play out. This exercise in critical thinking is one that is decidedly handy in many real-life situations.

#2. Video Games Help You Get Good at Negotiating

Success in negotiating requires mastery in other skills such as active listening, speaking concisely, problem-solving, and a good understanding of people and what makes a good deal, in general.

In many choice-sensitive games, the player’s circumstance is often dictated by how they deal with other in-game characters. This often forces players to calculate risk and put pieces together in order to achieve the most desirable end.

A lot of times, these necessitate making a series of “good decisions” which often give out a pattern following the same general principle.

Learning what makes people tick, coupled with great problem-solving skills, make many gamers good negotiators.

#3. Video Games Help You Get Better at Juggling Multiple Tasks

While playing a game, the player is exposed to hundreds of visual information which they are expected to keep track of. The games themselves demand players to remain actively aware of their surroundings to achieve goals and progress.

On top of that, the player must master the game controls, regardless of whether they’re using a gaming PC or a console, and learn the game mechanics, accomplish missions, side quests, and perform an array of mental gymnastics.

All these require an incredible level of multitasking and is a repetitive theme in many games. Being a practiced multi-tasker is a winning skill, not only in video games but also in real life: both in managing simple household tasks or more complicated productivity goals at work.

#4. Video Games Improve Your Problem-Solving Skills

No matter how simple a game is, it still fits with the primitive framework of any structured play which is, to get from point A to point B by accomplishing X.

The rich history of gaming has manifested a great variety of permutations on how to execute this but the principle remains the same. It could be in the form of puzzles, choices, navigating the streets of 18th century Havana, or accessing the mainframe of a high-security facility without alerting the guards. All of which require the players to perform the right set of actions to overcome.

This very important skill easily spills into real-life, often when you need to make critical decisions that need thorough thought.

#5. Video Games Change Your Perspective About Mistakes

Life is a series of successes – and also failures. Often, before you succeed, you will have to try many times and rise back up after falling through. Resilience is a prerequisite for happiness. And this is a skill that a lot of games like hay day, clash of clans, and dragon mania are particularly good at.

A certain challenge may call for a restart or the storyline itself might present a scenario of failure, all of which teach the player that mistakes are but a step in the ladder towards something greater.

This perhaps is one of the most important, yet often overlooked lesson in gaming.

Steve Max
Steve Maxhttp://www.webzando.com/
A long time digital entrepreneur, Steve has been in digital marketing since 2010 and over the past decade he has built & executed innovative online strategies for leading companies in car insurance, retail shopping, professional sports and the movie & television industry.

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