Benefits of video games
Before you rush in the rest of the article to convince your parents to let you play video games longer, read the following! When we talk about benefits, it is for “reasonable” use of video games. So yes, what does it mean? 1 hour a day? 3 hours? 6 hours?! It depends on several factors. To understand, allow us to use a famous phrase of the famous physician Paracelsus: “All is poison, nothing is poison, it is the dose that makes the poison”. Let’s take an example: everyone knows that water is good for your health. That’s right unless you drink a very large amount in a short time. This is called hyperhydration and you can die! On the contrary, arsenic, which is a very powerful poison, is also necessary for the good functioning of the human body at a very low dose. All this to say that video games are not good or bad in themselves, but that it will depend on how we use them.
So how do we know if our use is good or not? Well, it’s pretty simple. Imagine what you did last week and ask yourself these questions: In the week, did I have regular contact with my friends and family? Did I have time to do my homework? Did I play sports or any other activity outside the house? If you answer yes to these questions, it is that your consumption of video games is good. However, if the only memory you have of last week is your 58 top 1 on Fortnite or your 241 FIFA games (unless you had the holidays of course), maybe it’s worth it that you take a look at the heading “addiction? “ below. Anyway, excessive gambling makes obsolete the benefits that a video game could bring you,
The brain
Yes, it is now scientifically proven that playing video games is good for the brain! Video games are a little like the weight room of your brain. Contrary to what one may think, your brain evolves constantly, it loses neurons, it creates, it lengthens and shrinks throughout your life. This is called brain plasticity, which is the ability of your brain to constantly adapt to novelty, to be ready for learning. And precisely, novelty and learning are words that fit wonderfully with video games. When you start on a new game, you must first immerse yourself in the universe you discover. It goes through the sight with the graphics, but also by the hearing, with the sounds and the music that you discover. But that’s not all! You also need to learn how to interact with the game through your keyboard, mouse or controller. In the end, except smell (for now), all your senses are put to use. To handle this, your brain must create a lot of connections between its different parts, called brain areas. What’s interesting is that these brand new connections are not only useful for video games but all kinds of real-life situations.
Creativity, imagination, strategy, and problem solving
You probably know Minecraft. Based on the principle of “blocks”, similar to Legos, which stack on top of each other, this game, very popular, allows you to build almost anything you want, in a gigantic world, where the only limit is your imagination. Thus we have seen reconstructions of cities, with details up to the tree, through the creation of spaceships Star Wars or the solar system!
In addition to Minecraft, other games develop your skills. Some, by requiring the player to think differently to solve puzzles or to find the best strategy to bring down the enemy fortress, stimulate problem-solving. And what’s great about all this is that the scientists have demonstrated that it’s transposable to the real world. So what you learn in the game, you can also use it in real life.
Learning
It is well known when you start a new game, you have what is called a tutorial at the beginning of the game. This is the moment when you learn to control the game, to discover its universe and its operation. Then comes the moment to put all that you have learned in practice, by actually starting the adventure. And here you continue to learn, to improve, to become better. This is why video games are very effective because they make you want to improve by rewarding you constantly. Did you finish a mission? You earn XP and gold coins and you can improve your gear and your appearance. If you die? No problem, you just have to start over with your last save, you lose nothing (except for a little while). Thanks to this system, it is easier to make mistakes to learn than in real life, you are not penalized. And when you fail, you can start again and find different ways to act to finish the game. That’s why there are some schools abroad that are starting to use video games as a learning method.
Social link creator
The image of the lonely player staring at his screen with a zombie look and a trickle of drool flowing at the corner of the lip has hard skin! Nevertheless, this image does not correspond to reality, because we know that the vast majority of gamers play online with other people and must cooperate to win. As evidenced by the success of Fortnite, PUBG and other World of Warcraft, connected worlds have never worked as well as they do today. It is sometimes even a micro-society that hides in these games, with its codes, its language, and its universe. Some people have even met their soul mate in a game like this, before getting married and living together in real life!
In a slightly different register, local multiplayer video games are legion and FIFA, Mario kart or Call of Duty between friends parties are generators of social links.