What life skills can games teach us?
When we think of video games, it is sometimes associated with violence (e.g. first person shooters), addiction (e.g. World of Warcraft), a distraction and/or just a general waste of time. My Dad was the one who first drew my attention to gaming back in the early 1990’s with the Sega Genesis though I actually wish I had chosen the Super Nintendo now that I look back.
Since the age of the first smartphone over a decade ago, mobile games have soared in popularity and games are no longer just something for the “hardcore” audience. Young children, older adults and even females play games — some for leisure, some more competitively. In this article, I propose some of the life skills that games can teach us, especially younger children.
1. Social skills and problem solving
Social skills are crucial for us to function in society. If you are not able to talk with and deal with people, your potential for growth and success can be severely limited. Now, how can we learn social skills through playing? Think of games where kids have to alternate using controllers when there are too many kids present. Games like Mario Kart and even sports titles only allow for small groups of 2–4 people at a time meaning that if there are more people, then controllers will have to be shared for everyone to have a chance to play.
Problem solving in games is a common occurrence. Take for example, The Legend of Zelda series, which has many puzzles throughout the game’s dungeons. Players gain new items and must learn how to use them to solve puzzles and progress through the game. These types of games also teach kids patience and perseverance as certain puzzles may take numerous attempts to solve. Games like Portal 2 have stimulating puzzles that can also give us confidence upon completion. The ability to think creatively and solve puzzles can be applied to real life scenarios as we continue to grow and develop ourselves.
2. Creativity
Playing games can improve our creativity skills. Creativity is one skill we are taught as kids when we learn to draw and paint but then are guided out of that phase as we grow older. Think of professions that utilize creativity such as the user experience field — UX designers constantly have to be creative and innovate in their day to day roles. Leveraging games that help boost creativity from a young age can only help us progress in our adult lives, no matter what field we go into. Take for example, Super Mario Maker. Super Mario Maker lets you create your own custom Mario levels based on items and design themes from previous Mario games (e.g. Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario World).
You’re given an almost blank canvas, a stylus or controller and around the interface are all the items and tools you need to create your favourite levels. As a parent, you can take this a step further and ask your children to explain their thought process for their level designs to slowly get them thinking critically about the decisions they made and why they made them that way. It’s a great way to get their creative juices flowing along with helping them practice their communication skills. As a parent, it allows you to share in the experience with them and hear their perspective.
3. Team work
Certain games require players to team-up together to solve challenging puzzles. For example, a Snipperclips for Nintendo Switch lets you team up with 2–4 people where you play the characters of Snip and Clip. In each challenge, players have to cut each other into different configurations to overcome tricky obstacles. As you cut each other into the right shapes, you’ll interact with objects and solve creative puzzles. In all stages of life, we will have to work in teams, whether on school projects or during our working careers so learning how to work well with others to accomplish a goal at a young age primes us for future team-based interactions.
4. Time management
This skill will probably require more parental intervention but if you budget a set amount of time for kids to play games, you help them better manage their time. For example, if their play session is getting close to finishing, you can remind them that they have only 5–10 minutes left so if they have reached a save point, they may want to consider whether it’s worth going forward for only 5–10 minute and losing that progress since there may not be a save point coming up. It’s up to parents to reinforce time management otherwise kids will keep asking for 5 more minutes and then we just lose control. When we work on projects, take quizzes/tests and exams, we have to manage our time and the sooner we can learn this valuable life skill, the better off we’ll be.
5. Decision making
Games can also help our decision making skills. At crucial points in time during gameplay, a player may be faced with a choice — to go down one path or another. Those decisions may then influence their character or the games story moving forward. Players then have to live with the result of those decisions and continue progressing forward. In life, making decisions can be difficult and so being comfortable making a decision, one way or the other is a crucial life skill. Decisions made while playing games can teach kids to think about the future repercussions of those decisions which can then translate into adulthood as we start making more significant life choices for ourselves.
Kids are going to play games, no matter how hard you try and avoid it or hide it from them — instead take advantage of the rich learning opportunities that games can provide that will help teach kids key life skills. They’ll thank you for it when they’re older!
