Gaming gets a bad reputation sometimes. People think that those who game are lazy, or that they are boring, uneducated and so much more. You can gain some life skills from playing games.
Gaming can actually have a lot of real world benefits for those who take part in it, making it quite a valuable use of time if it’s not done in excess, the same as everything else in this life. If you’re not sure how games can do this, then it’s a good thing that you have come across this article as that’s exactly what we are going to be looking at. Keep reading down below if you would like to find out more about this topic.
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4 life skills you never knew you can get playing games
Below are some important life skills you can develop from playing games.
Social Skills
The first thing that we are going to look at is social skills. If a person plays a game that allows them to interact with other people, this can help them to develop their social skills, particularly if this is something that they lacked previously. While it might take a little while to transfer this to the real world, speaking with people online can actually help people to build their confidence when communicating. It’s not easy to achieve this goal if you are someone who struggles with communication on a regular basis, but not having to look someone in the eye while you do this is a great first step.
You can then take the basics that you learn when doing this online, and transfer it to your real life. For example, you may find that you are taking the lead more in online games as your confidence grows, and without you even realizing that this is what is happening, you are growing your ability to lead in real life situations. It might not seem the same, but the basic foundation is there, you just need to work on your ability to do this when the people are in front of you.
Critical Thinking
Games can also help you with your critical thinking if you are playing the right games. There are some that give you options on how you want to proceed, and the game will then progress based on your choices. Each time that you are given an option, you will have to think carefully about the consequences, and how the decisions that you have made up to now have brought you to where you are. Doing this, making mistakes, and learning from them will help you to develop your critical thinking in the future.
You will start to find it easier to analyze all of the different possibilities and outcomes of each choice that you have to make, allowing you to make the one that is going to be most beneficial to you. This can be applied to your everyday life, your career and any other aspect of life that you want to apply it to.
Basic Skill
Basic skills are also developed when you play games. For example, when you are playing a game on your computer and you have to look at ad blockers, you can figure out the best ad blocker for safari by looking at the options, reading reviews and so on. This helps your decision making.
You are also developing your fine motor skills when playing games. Some people struggle with this, and it can actually be a really good way to develop and refine them so that you find it easier to do these things going forward. It’s a benefit that not many people think about, but an important one.
Problem Solving
Last but not least, there are games out there that can help you with your problem solving skills. Kind of similar to your critical thinking, but problem solving is an entirely new skill that you need to have in order to get you through life. Being able to look at problems and work out the solution, or the best way forward is something that a lot of people struggle to do. Of course, you need to play the right kind of games to develop here, but a lot of games at least have some kind of problem solving element to them.
We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the ways that games can help us develop ourselves in real life. While games get a bad reputation, it’s definitely worth seeing underneath the fun side of it, and looking at the real pros that gaming can achieve for people. Now that you have a better understanding of how this can be done, perhaps you can use this in your own life going forward.
Asides these life skills you can develop while playing games, games are also a source to relieve stress and anxiety. So, if you’re not playing games, what are you waiting for.
I completely agree games can have real world benefits! Plus there are all different games that can help with a variety of skills.
Games are now being used at the work place for training too. Thanks for stopping by