Games have been a part of society since our earliest days. We have always loved to find ways to fill our spare moments and keep us entertained. From the earliest card and dice games through to the most technologically advanced VR video games, gaming is a much-loved pastime.
A lot of criticism is leveled at people who play video games too much or spend extended periods playing cards. But these games aren’t just a mindless waste of time – we can actually learn many important life skills from gaming.
Of course, leveling up your fishing skills in World of Warcraft won’t translate directly into being good at fishing in real life but in this article, we’ll go over six useful skills that you can learn from gaming.
Strategic thinking
Gaming is a great way to build your strategic thinking abilities. Card games are one of the best types of games for developing this skill. Blackjack, poker and baccarat are three of the leading table games that teach strategic thinking skills. This is because they aren’t entirely based on luck, like most casino games. Instead, they are games where your ability to read the cards, the dealer and the opposing players can give you an advantage.
Playing baccarat you need to bet on the hand that will be closest to nine and this can require a tight strategy. Honing your strategic skills at an online casino is a smart choice because unlike at a land-based casino, you don’t have all of the distractions. Since it’s a live casino game, though, you can still get the experience of interacting with a dealer and the cards.
Puzzle solving and critical thinking
Puzzle solving has become a key part of many of the top video games since the days of Half-Life and Portal. Puzzle games in general have an appeal across a wide audience. Even a simple puzzle game like Tetris has a massive appeal – and a big effect on our brains.
Scientific studies have found that solving puzzle games – Tetris in particular – has a positive impact on the brain’s ability to process information efficiently. Even without scientific backing, it’s easy to see how other puzzle games can positively affect our brains.
The more practice we have solving puzzles and thinking critically about situations, the better we become at it. If we become familiar with these skills in our gaming life, it will be easier to put them into practice in our daily lives.
Patience
Getting good at games requires a lot of patience and effort. A video game boss level might take dozens of tries to beat, or a chess endgame pattern may take hundreds of games to be able to identify and outmaneuver before it can be played. Playing the same game while making small changes and learning is a key part of gaming.
Patience is essential for being good at games, and patience is also an important life skill. Life is full of moments where a bit of patience can go a long way. Anyone who has baked a cake can tell you that taking it out early in a moment of impatience can ruin all your effort. An act of impatience on the roads can lead to a ticket – or in the worst case, an accident.
Equanimity
No one wins all the time and no one likes a sore loser. Being able to handle a loss with some grace is an essential life skill. We’ve all heard about gamer rage and know that it’s a problematic phenomenon, so not every gamer has learned this skill but games are a great place to learn it.
If you have practice in staying calm and collected while you’re losing when you’re playing games, it’s easier to stay calm in serious life situations that may not be going your way. For example, getting worked up during a performance review when you find out you’re not up for a promotion won’t help you in the future, but being calm about the situation will make you look better at work.
Reading people
Being able to read people and their motivations is a hugely important life skill. It can help you protect yourself from being taken advantage of and to identify when someone is being honest with you. Games can help you develop this skill in a lower-stakes environment.
Poker is the ultimate game for developing this skill. To be a successful poker player, you need to be able to read your opponents and figure out if they’re bluffing. You also need to be able to mask your own emotions and potential tells. These skills obviously translate well to life in general.
