Things that Video Games have Taught Us

There is a general notion among people that video games are only for two categories of people – kids and geeks! Agreed that these are the categories of people who play the most, but video games are designed for everyone. Often you end up learning many things from these games just like you learn from novels and other books. Here is a list of things that players can learn from video games.

Hardships are a part of life

This is probably one thing that every video game teaches us. There is a fixed goal and you have to go through many hardships to reach that goal. For example, for Mario, the goal is to get to princess Peach; for Link, the goal is princess Zelda. Many of us sulk because we have to get up early, get ready and go to work! That in itself is a hardship. But think about the video game characters and their hardships! Ah what a relief, right?

Team play

Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games teach us the importance of a team. Take the new World of Tanks for example, you are a part of 30 tanks team in the game and you will have to co-ordinate with other players to win. What about the various sports games we have today? FIFA World Cup 2010 is the perfect example which teaches people the importance of teams.

Planning leads to Success

Strategy is the most important part of any MMO game. You have to have a plan in hand to go fight against an enemy. The players who go ahead with a plan will always have a better rate of success than the ones without it. War games in particular work only on strategies. Games like Age of Empires and Total War are some of the best examples of strategy based games.

Try, Try Again and Again

Video games teach us how not to lose hope, if we lose in the first attempt. Mario jumps off into oblivion between the walls but still you get one more chance to play. What is important here is that no matter how many times we fail in games, we still get chances to play. So no matter how many times you fail, keep trying because in one of these attempts, you will definitely succeed.

Overcoming fear

Batman fights Harley Quinn, Bane and joker all by himself in Batman: Arkham Asylum to protect Gotham City from these notorious evils. He isn’t afraid of the asylum and its inmates. There are always few things we will always be afraid to do in life. But video games teach us that no matter how bad those fears are, you will have to fight them in order to be successful.

There are many things we learn from games. Some things we consciously notice and learn, while other we learn without our own knowledge. So the next time you are playing a game, don’t play just to have fun, to pass time or to bust stress, play it to learn something new.

Guest post by Penny Copper, who is a representative of BB Guns