How Can Online Gaming Teach You Something?
Gone are the days when online gaming was just a means of killing time or making new friends. With the advancements in technology and gaming concepts, online gaming can very well act as a platform that provides educational value along with entertainment. Whether you play Capital Gains or just want to have a good, fun time with your online buddies, online gaming has got you covered. But that’s not all because you can also learn quite a few things through online gaming. Below are some of the ways online gaming can be educational.
5 Benefits of Online Gaming
1. Playing online games can speed up response time – If you thought killing zombies in an intense online game was just about the thrill of it, you may be wrong. Researchers at Rochester University discovered that users who played online video games had improved troubleshooting skills; the researchers posed problems that must be solved in a set time. In the fast-paced world that we live in, life-changing incidents can be just one wrong decision away. Depending upon how accurate your decision-making skills are and how fast your reaction time is, life-changing incidents can be good or bad. This is why having good problem-solving skills can ensure that you make the right decisions quickly.
2. Enhancing memory skills – our education system depends significantly on a student’s memory skills. Even if you spend hours learning a detail but fail to remember and recall it when needed, it does you no good. With the increasing subject contents that students have to study every year, it is only helpful that they have enhanced memory skills to remember everything they have learned and retain the information for a longer period. Playing online games can help you boost your memory functions, as found by the University of California. It has been seen that playing online games helps a person set goals that require concentration and imagination and, in turn, helps them to remember the necessary details to achieve them. So, if you thought playing video games was all about completing levels of increased difficulty, you may have been wrong.
3. Improves critical thinking ability – Critical thinking refers to the ability of a person to make informed decisions based on an accurate analysis of a given problem or issue. Whether you are a student or a working professional, problems can arise in your field of study or workplace, which you may be required to solve using your critical thinking skills. If you have played video games all your life, you may find it a tad easier to cope with the situation than those who have not. But do not take my word for it; the Monterrey Institute of Technology has published an article underlining the underlying ethical, philosophical and social basis of these games and their ability to make players think and improve their critical thinking.
4. Helps to learn new languages – Who would not want to learn an additional language? If you’re going to learn a new language, perhaps to add a feather to your cap or show off to your family and friends, you should know that video games can be a good place for you to make the learning experience fun and educational at the same time. Helsinki University has found that when it comes to familiarizing yourself with a new language and learning it, video games can do more than was initially asked of them. They can be useful for learning other languages through on-screen instructions, chats for communicating with other players, or the narration of the story itself. Maybe it is time to give your French or Spanish a go and play an online game in those languages to try and get better at them.
5. Encourages teamwork – Going solo is not for all occasions, especially if you are a student or a working professional working with a team. Be it your science project or a business deal, learning how to work together in a team, especially in the face of conflict, is vital to the profit of all. As surprising as it may sound to some, according to the Institute for the Future (IFTF), which is a Californian organization, online multiplayer games help to boost teamwork in problem-solving.
Conclusion
Online gaming does have other benefits, such as improving hand-eye coordination, improving leadership skills, learning to be persistent, and so much more, all of which can be quite educational if looked at from a broader perspective.
