How Being A Game Addict Helped Me

The contents of this blog are purely based on personal opinions. Any similarities to existing contents are of pure coincidence. Any materials used for the blog belongs to their rightful owners.

There's still this stigma on gaming or gamers where they are seen as wasting their time or having no future, which I had experienced everyday and constantly for the entirety of my childhood and youth.

The Problem

To a certain extent gaming can become an addiction and we've seen that on a lot of people, it also reshapes a lot of parts specially their character specifically temperament. But most of what society seen are the rotten parts of it.

I agree that it will become a problem, no refuting that since I've basically experienced that myself. My mom would beg me to go home and help her, I would occasionally crash out and I was the walking description of laziness.

Even now there are bad and worse things that gaming had given me that I can't get rid of like a naturally lower attention span and a lack of enjoyment due to high dopamine needs.

But we aren't going to talk about that in this blog. Rather than that, we will try to see the best things gaming can give and see it on a better perspective.

Long Term Benefits

People often see and judge the current situation which is why they tend to label gaming as a bad thing. But they couldn't be more wrong because the benefits lie on the long term and it absolutely changed my life.

English

I have specifically written this first since it's often overlooked even though this probably has the biggest effect long term, and it singlehandedly helped me throughout the course of my life.

In a world where everything is English, you can't fathom how much it would help someone if they at least grasp this language.

Here’s a list of reasons of why English is essential today:

• English can be used widely to communicate with people
• Technology today uses English as the base language.
• Since most of the learning materials are in English, it helps with better understanding thus better and faster learning.

English serves as a base for cognitive growth and communication. Specially in a country where speaking English opens a lot of doors for career opportunities.

Critical Thinking

This is also something gaming has been encrypting on a gamers mind, critical thinking is such an asset that most people don't realize. Creativity lies on an active and critical mind, it makes it easy to think outside the box and create unconventional solutions.

It it such a coveted skill that takes years to master, and yet gamers are basically getting it unknowingly.

Creativity and Problem Solving skills also lie on this category

Communication

Although not everyone would agree to this, but most of the games promote realtime audio feedbacks and messaging boxes ingame. Yes it can be toxic, but as I said we are focusing on the good side of it. A lot of people became friends through games, people who are socially anxious can communicate freely and joyfully, and people who are trying to learn and communicate are welcomed warmly. It is not a joke when I say that majority of my communication skills are from gaming. I met and conversed with different people and places and it's amazing to experience the game with them.

Stress Management

People who are constantly challenged are calm in a challenging situation. And for gamer's who are exactly like that everyday is probably nothing to be surprised about. I've personally experienced this myself when I often find myself looking for challenges myself, turning simple tasks into challenging ones and I see hard things as worth my full focus rather than as an object of fear and anxiety.

I've seen and experienced worst when I was gaming, things like failure and loss, so much that it actually helped me build resistance. Along with the mind that relentlessly says there are ways to do things and achieve them.

Teamwork

A lot of games specially RPG's and MMORPG's have a role based gameplay, not only does this enhance the person's understanding of their worth and use, they can also efficiently bring out the best of their role in any situations.

And since majority of the games are online, and mind you they are communicating and working together with people that are basically strangers, yet they still produce results. I myself can testify how a lot of games help me understand my role and sometimes act as a leader, delegate task and communicate.

That's just not all of it and I am pretty sure there are more benefits out there than what my mind can think of and what I personally experienced. Sure gamers have a lot of gray areas they need to work on, but so does normal people, we all do. That is why this stigma to gamer's being a bum and without a future should not be normalized.

After all, gaming is not just an escape. It's a real skill and it shapes how the person thinks thus creating a unique and unforeseeable future.