Gaming is more than a fun pastime or a way to switch off and relax. There are skills you learn through gaming which you’ll apply in the workplace and beyond.
Teamwork
via GIPHY
It doesn’t matter if you’re playing multiplayer social simulation games such as Animal Crossing or survival games such as Fortnite – it’s up to you to ensure the safety and wellbeing of your team mates.
Like traditional sports, players learn to cooperate with others, build new relationships and become better communicators. Although players can be under immense pressure during gameplay, gamers learn how to keep calm and support each other. All of these skills will help you later in life, when you’re managing projects or working with your colleagues.
Quick decision making
Ever played Grand Theft Auto? It’s one of the most popular games of all time due to player freedoms as you conduct jobs for various syndicates across US cities. You’re in an open-world environment where you make the decisions to achieve your goals. But the choices you make heavily impact your result, so you’ve got to react quickly. Otherwise, game over.
In today’s busy work environment, making clear and confident decisions is crucial to productivity. By thinking on the fly during gameplay, analysing the environment and reacting in a calm manner, players can make quick and accurate decisions.
But not so fast! Many games penalise you for rash decision-making. Like you’ll need to understand in the workplace, there are negative consequences if you rush decisions. Gaming helps you to practise this, with the option to retry when you don’t get it right the first time.
Leadership
Whether you’re a leader in the office or captaining your esports team to victory, every team needs strong leadership qualities. An alternative to traditional team sports, competitive gaming offers a space for natural leaders to emerge. Esports leaders motivate other team members, encourage friendship, build resilience in challenging environments, strategise and identify players strengths and weaknesses.
Murdoch Esports Vice President, Morgan Humphreys, says that leadership in team sport or the workplace is no different from leading a team to victory in gaming.
“Esports is no different to tradition sports in the sense that players need two teams of people to compete against each other with the goal to win.
“The teams need to be organised, have team spirit and persevere through challenges. Captains of esports teams organise meetings, plan training schedules for players, manage people and set expectations all significant skills to the modern workplace.”
Enhanced multi-tasking skills
If you take away the cute animals and rainbows, Animal Crossing is a stressful game! Your character needs to maintain a house, pay bills, go on quests, forage for food, interact with neighbours and more. You’re also dealing with the intruding and invasive behaviour of the island’s residents. It’s a long list of tasks to complete in this virtual paradise, but someone’s got to do it!
Almost all games have multiple conflicting stimuli and storylines all at one, forcing gamers learn to switch from one task to another without getting thrown off their game. Throw in the need to communicate, via voice or text, with your teammates and you’ve got a complex multitask challenge in your hands. What could be better preparation for the multitasking required in a busy office environment?
Improved communication
Like any team sport, multiplayer games like Dota require players divided up into two teams. The popular real-life strategy game sees teams working together to bring down their opponent’s heavily guarded base.
But you may be working with a team of strangers, so that’s where the possession of effective communication skills is required to encourage team-members in a stressful environment.
Successful players are known to criticise constructively, have empathy, give out compliments, suggest solutions and are concise with their thoughts. Not only does gaming help players to effectively communicate within a challenging environment, it can assist with performance across the modern workplace.
Patience
From waiting your turn or attempting to level up, gaming gives players the chance to learn the art of patience. Sometimes players may be on the verge of a massive win but must conquer the challenge in front of them, teaching players the reward of hard work.
Staying patient and persevering through a challenge are key elements of success in the workplace and personal life. Keeping at it when times are tough makes success feel more rewarding and will be appreciated by your future employer.
Problem solving
In all games there are problems to be solved so players need to flexible, creative and innovative in the way they handle these ongoing hurdles.
Gamers have to learn from their mistakes and think out-of-the-box in order to solve problems, yet follow the rules of the game. Often, they’re tasked with solving these complex problems in split seconds. But they learn the important skills vital to the modern workplace including reacting swiftly, finding solutions and remaining calm under pressure.
Technology skills
People who play games don’t just play on computers – there are consoles, mobile devices, portal media players and tablets. As a gamer you need to keep up with changing technology and understand how it works.
Many gamers pick up specialised technology troubleshooting skills to define the problem and find the best solution. This is a perfect skill for a modern age where technology is imperative to our working lives, but almost always destined to fail at some point. Imagine impressing your boss when you creatively problem solve a major troubleshooting challenge all thanks to your exemplary gaming skills!