Recently, there have been discussions regarding gaming as a disorder. Gaming habits can be harmful to anyone if it takes too much of one’s time and if one gets addicted to it but when it is done in moderation, gaming can actually be of advantage for so many individuals. Many people and the media think that online gaming fosters addiction, immaturity, and violence but like any other thing that isn’t done in moderation, it becomes bad. The point that anti-gaming activists and media are missing is that online gaming can actually help individuals develop life skills.
There are a lot of important life skills that online gaming can help you develop no matter what stage in life you are in but here are some of the most important life skills that you learn and develop from online gaming:
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Patience
You can never succeed in online gaming without having enough patience. In online gaming, you would lose a lot of times before winning and it’s a normal part of it. Losing is always a part of the game because you learn from it and this is the way you are able to come up with strategies in order to win next time. Just like in life. Failure is a normal part of life. You need to experience things over and over again in order to become better at it and succeed the next time you try again.
There are many games that are repetitive and they are designed that way and on purpose to test how far you would go. If you have enough patience and are able to endure repetition and routine while playing online games, then you can apply the same skill in real life. In real life, you suffer first and patiently wait for the rewards that you will reap off when the right time comes. This is also known as “delayed gratification’. When the right time comes, you get a bigger and better reward.
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Strategic Planning
There are a lot of online games that involve problem solving and strategic planning. Steady and hardcore players love those kinds of games that stimulate the brain and make you think and come up with a strategy.
There has been a study in recent years that some online games can help train the brain to improve strategic thinking and become more agile.
Online action games can help speed up decision making but real-time strategic games can help an individual promote his or her ability to think in an instant and learn from previous errors or mistakes.
The flexibility of our cognitive skills is not a fixed straight but can be improved and trained. Our cognitive skills decline as we age but there are ways in order to keep our brains working and one of them is online gaming.
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Dedication and Commitment
Gamers are dedicated to their game but the dedication varies on so many aspects and levels. They may spend only a few hours a day playing the games that they like but they always go back to those games. Some players keep on trying new games in the market but there are those who still go back to the original games that they love and have been accustomed to.
There are different metrics in order to measure a gamer’s dedication. But measuring a gamer’s dedication is not what matters the most. What matters most is that playing online games can teach an individual dedication and commitment which he or she can apply in real life. Gamers who are dedicated to their game usually go for what they want and they stick with what they want. This should be lesson that should be applied in real life. When you want to achieve a certain goal, your dedication and commitment in achieving that goal with drive you to work hard and pursue it.
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Hand-Eye Coordination
There have been studies that showed how playing online games and video games affect an individual’s motor and sensory skills. Playing online games can help you improve your sensory and motor skills or the coordination of your eyes and hands. Many online games allow players to focus on the game while touching keys without having to look on the controller or what they are pressing. Playing online games require a quick and accurate reaction to events that are happening on the screen. When gamers get used to this, they are able to apply this important life skill in real life.
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Communication
Online gaming can help one improve his or her communication skills. You won’t survive the gaming world if you will not interact with other players because this is how you gain insight and strategies in playing different games. It doesn’t matter if you only get to communicate with other players through online chat. What matters is that you get to socialize and communicate with other people which is a very useful skill in real life. You will encounter problems in real life if you have problems in communication.
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Multitasking
Gamers are good at multitasking. They are used to doing so many things without losing focus on what they are playing. Playing online games can help improve an individual’s multitasking skills even if they are not good at it previously.
As people grow older, they lose their cognitive skills including multitasking. There is a decline in cognitive skills if you don’t get to use them regularly. It’s easy to lose focus and get distracted by a lot of things but with online gaming, your brain is trained to keep focused on what you are doing without being disturbed by other things. For example, you can still read a book while drinking coffee and listening to music at the same time.
