Video games as learning tools-How it can help us observe life
By: Mariam Shengelia
Tags: Video Games, Teamwork, Growth, Improvement, Self

Games can be storytellers, strategy setters, and overall big innovators for new viewpoints. This means gaming can provide us with skills, understandings, and ideas, even though it’s many times regarded as useless or a waste of time, the observations I’m about to mention from my personal experiences playing different types of games, will be a weapon of justification for your recent quarantine video game addiction or a hobby.

#1-Self-observation and introspection can start from a W key

What do we do when we play games? We think, plan, and most importantly, act. This can provide us with an opportunity for understanding ourselves better. This is especially true for casual, single-player campaign games. They allow you to indulge in the story, take action, and explore different types of adventures. An important point worth mentioning here is that during these experiences the player is usually playing as a character, exploring the environment alone. This gives the player a chance to evaluate their self-reliance skills and even make them more confident about handling certain situations alone with greater courage.

#2-It can be a great way to educate yourself

Video games can be educational. Many of them have a historical context to them and are drawn from real-world events. Games such as Assassin’s Creed and Tomb Raider can serve as a great way to explore history and actually give a visual representation of historical environments and events.

#3-Cooperation and teamwork in action

being able to rely on oneself is great, but there are situations in life when we need to manage teamwork and cooperation and figure out how we can make ourselves better teammates. Games such as Valorant, CS:GO, Dota, and other online games otherwise known as esports games are the main examples. They allow a player to develop a better awareness of what cooperation resembles or get a new perspective on the concept of teamwork. In games where strategy is important each individual has an opportunity to develop better listening skills, an understanding of when to take a lead, and when to obey and follow the set plan. These attributes not only improve our ways of strategizing but also help us understand how to contribute to the team without creating a tense or confusing atmosphere while tackling tasks given.

#4-Failure is not a verdict

you get so many chances, of course, you’ll try again. In casual games, the story focuses on adventure, it doesn’t necessarily force you to do anything perfectly, you just have to keep trying. When I first failed in a game and noticed that it didn’t end at that point, I encouraged myself to try again. When I successfully completed an objective, failing was not something I worried about anymore, it was progressing. Progressing through failure in the game taught me that learning from mistakes and making those mistakes in the first place, was not discouraging but interesting. These situations provided me with a space for improvement and in my mind, instead of getting discouraged, I started learning.

#5-Adventure

video games can sometimes be dangerous since they provide fictional worlds where we can easily indulge and maybe become a little addicted. But, if an individual manages to keep video game consumption at a healthy rate, it can be healthy and even beneficial. Going back to the idea of adventure, video games do create an atmosphere of adventure and show how essential adventure is to human nature, it can be inspiring, exciting, or resemble some type of growth to us. Most importantly, video games can make us understand what type of adventure we like, because every human experiences “adventure” differently, for some, going on a hike makes a great adventure while for others, exploring their city is the perfect environment for interesting travel, the, there are people who like many different types types of environments equally, but exploring video game’s setting can give us clues to what types of atmospheres draw us the most.

#6-It’s another sign of change

games to a certain degree resemble life, characters have stories, passions, and people they love. All the emotions we experience while playing a video game reflect something about us and give perspectives on ourselves. So, if used correctly a video game can be a great tool for exploration, self-reflection, and growth. Many games portray a passage of time where we get to know the character we’re playing and sometimes even witness their whole life, growth, and shaping and this gives the same effect as a book or a movie inspiring us.

#7-Games as a way of talking about social and personal problems

Story-driven games such as Life Is Strange and Detroit: Become Human talk about personal and societal problems and this way, inspire change. Playing such games can give teens or adults space where they’ll feel supported. For example, life is strange, even though not a traditional video game with broad types of exploration and play technique, can give teens a comforting space while taking them through the lives of teen characters in the game.