Gaming For Good: How Video Games Can Improve Your Mind

Video gaming is one of the most popular pastimes globally, and not just with young people. Those of us who grew up with early consoles and gaming PCs have continued to enjoy playing games, which means that today’s older generations are still into gaming in its various forms.

Video Gaming Security

Whatever your preferred genre or platform, it is important to properly manage your security. Most online games now collect some personal data from the player, whether it’s email address, personal details, or even financial details.

Players wondering how to identify trustworthy online casino platforms should consider advice gambling experts like Vlad Grindu, who suggests checking for licenses and ensuring the sites have regular fairness audits.

Video Gaming Benefits

Technological advances, including the widespread accessibility of mobile devices capable of playing solo and multiplayer games, have seen many more people become avid gamers.

While video gaming has long had a negative reputation for dulling the mind and causing untold social problems, studies, and extensive research suggests the opposite is true. Regular video gamers can enjoy a host of cognitive and mental improvements, while online games can even improve social skills.

It’s Fun

The point of video gaming is to have fun. It is a form of entertainment, and this means that players should gain some enjoyment from the games they play. When games lose their enjoyment, it is time to consider moving on. Having fun can help lift your mood and potentially even help to reduce stress, anxiety, and signs of depression. To ensure gaming continues to provide fun and entertainment, players should try and restrict the total time they spend gaming. If it becomes a chore to play, it’s no longer fun and has become more of a habit.

Also, ensure you’re comfortable, take regular breaks to get drinks of water, and don’t let gaming take over other aspects of your life. Also, consider mixing it up occasionally. Play a different game, try multiplayer instead of solo, and just try playing games a little differently. Remember – the KD ratio isn’t life.

Problem Solving

Most games present some form of problem that the player needs to overcome to succeed. Some problems are solved linearly. For example, when you reach a boss battle, you know the ultimate goal is to beat the boss. Other problems may require more lateral thinking. The boss itself might be immune to your attacks, but if you can bring down a structure on top of it, it’s unlikely to be immune to a falling building.

The more you have your brain take on problem-solving puzzles, the better it gets at these types of actions, so the more problem-based gaming you play, the better. Try puzzlers, platform games, and even some word and puzzle-style mobile games if you really want to boost your problem-solving capabilities.

Cognitive Abilities

Cognitive abilities include the skills required to learn, process information, and reason. They determine your ability to be able to perform tasks, recall information, and pay attention to the task at hand. A lot of video games require these skills, and one of the benefits of playing games is that they tend to offer graded difficulty.

When you start a new game, it offers tutorials and then starts you off at a relatively gentle pace while you get used to the mechanics of the game. This effectively trains your brain gradually and, as you progress so too does the difficulty of the game and the problems your brain has to contend with, meaning you will experience gradual but sustained improvements in your cognitive abilities.

Better Coordination

Gaming requires strong hand-to-eye coordination. You see the action on the screen and then need to react to it, typically by touching the screen, moving the joystick, or pressing the buttons. The quicker you respond, the more likely you will succeed and achieve your desired outcome.

As well as being a necessity for online gaming, this is another skill that can be improved through regular gaming. A lot of genres require and can help train hand-to-eye coordination. First-person shooters require players to react to incoming threats posed by other players, while sports games have similar requirements and offer similar benefits.

Social Skills

Gaming was once quite an insular activity, primarily because we didn’t have the Internet as a means of connecting players with other players. However, with the advent of the Internet and the increased popularity of online gaming, we are more connected than ever before.

During lockdowns, we found the real benefit of online gaming, and it has the potential to improve the social skills of players. Not only does it mean more communication between people, but it means working with other people to achieve a common goal.  

Enhanced Empathy

Gaming has the potential to enhance empathy in its players because most games have players take o the roles of others. For example, first-person shooters drop players into battles where they are being chased and shot at. It can give players a very basic idea of what it is likely to live in those situations.

Even sports simulators can highlight the amount of practice and the physical requirements of playing professional sports, enabling players to empathize with professional sportspeople. Anybody who attempted the 1,500m in Daley Thompson’s Decathlon has at least a very basic understanding of the effort required to complete long-distance races.

Improved Multi-Tasking

Modern video games are a lot more complex than the likes of Pong. Today’s games require that players are multi-skilled and can perform various tasks, often at the same time. Multi-tasking is a critical life skill and it is learned.

Open-world and sandbox games have the player perform many different tasks, assigning multiple quests or missions at a time while also having them battle on the way to quests and try to reach other milestones. Such games can help improve multi-tasking while also demanding multi-tasking skills.

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