Indeed, video games have become an irreplaceable part of our lives. There are a lot of different games that attract individuals who have various interests. They help people to get distracted from the burdening routine and relax. Moreover, video gaming is the primary source of entertainment for most students. Some of them tend to spend many hours playing their favorite games.
Therefore, a lot of parents consider video games as time-wasters that negatively affect the lives of learners. Parents think that games force undergraduates to waste time instead of doing homework or attending over-curricular classes.
However, the truth is that video games can make students smarter indirectly. Indeed, there are a lot of games that gamify the learning process and help students grasp new skills faster. But, the majority of video games aim to entertain players. Despite this fact, they also can help learners to get smarter. Let’s take a deeper dive and discover how video games affect students.
Strategic Thinking
These days, many video games need players to develop strategies to reach the final levels. It’s not enough to follow direct instructions to succeed when playing video games. Players are required to develop a lot of different strategies on how to solve different issues and pick the best ones to pass certain levels in a game.
In the case of online games that gather a lot of real players online, students need to build detailed plans to overcome their rivals. They ought to develop complicated strategies to gather more resources and apply them better than their rivals. They have no chance to re-play a game with real players to try one more time. When playing with real people in real life, students learn to choose the most reliable options to succeed. Also, they learn to adjust their plans in case circumstances change.
It forces the development of strategic thinking that helps learners in real life. They learn that thinking about every action and its consequences is required to attain success. Moreover, students learn that it’s needed to analyze any possible paths to solve a problem and to pick the best way to achieve success.
Ability To Focus
It’s vital to learn to focus for students to get smarter. These days, undergraduates experience a lot of issues when doing their homework because they can hardly concentrate on crucial activities. They get distracted frequently by their mobile phones, noises, or other factors. The constant distraction decreases their ability to learn at a high pace and grasp all the materials efficiently. Video games teach learners to keep concentrating on a certain activity. To complete challenging tasks or overcome rivals, they need to pay attention to all the details and concentrate on certain goals. In essence, video games help students learn how to fight major distractions and focus on completing a particular goal.
Call for Imagination
In most cases, it’s not enough to follow instructions to complete tasks in video games and overcome rivals. In order to win, players need to use creative thinking to develop new and innovative ways to overcome challenges in virtual worlds. Successful players always need to understand what other players do and develop new ways that nobody used before to attain certain goals. Consequently, students who play video games frequently develop their imagination. It helps them achieve better results when in college. The ability to develop creative solutions can complete challenging academic tasks and increase their ability to grasp new material faster by developing new ways of learning.
Communication and Cooperation
Most games need players to communicate with other individuals. When playing online games, students need to cooperate with other players and form teams that work together. They learn how to analyze the strengths of every individual. Also, they learn how to combine every member’s skills to achieve success effectively. With the help of video games, learners develop their communication and cooperation skills. They are extremely helpful when studying in college. With the help of these skills, undergraduates can easily build a team of students and manage them to complete challenging academic tasks faster. They can use virtual collaborative environments to obtain new knowledge and share them with others.
Problem Solving
Students frequently experience issues when studying in educational institutions. They face different kinds of challenges that need them to develop optimal solutions fast. Students who ask their mates for help frequently hear the “pay someone to do your homework” response from their friends. Indeed, it’s a good idea to delegate academic paper writing to skilled professionals when you face any issues. Experts will help you compose a paper that matches outstanding quality even if the deadline is short.
However, students who tend to play video games regularly aren’t afraid to cope with challenging tasks. They analyze different options and pick the best solutions to achieve the desired result. In essence, problem-solving is a very helpful skill for acquiring new knowledge, and it can be gained with the help of video games.
Memory and Learning
When playing video games, it’s required to remember a lot of information. Usually, players need to remember all the details about characters, capabilities, and other perks that help win a game. Modern video games force players to remember a ton of new information because games imply hundreds of characters and items that can be used. Also, they need to remember all the strengths and weaknesses of different characters to use them correctly. It forces the development of memory and fast-paced learning.
Decision Making
To win games and help teammates overcome rivals in video games, students need to make the right decisions quickly. Any delays may cause the loss of precious time. When playing video games, students increase their alertness and reaction. Usually, they have only a few seconds to analyze the situation and consider what to do. The ability to make decisions fast affects the outcome of online games. In essence, they learn to make decisions fast. After making a decision, they create plans on how to attain goals set and follow them. The decision-making skills help learners achieve success and learn new skills faster.
