10 Excellent Reasons To Play Video Games

9. Failure

Anybody can win, but it takes strength of character to cope with failure. There are basically two forms of failure which people experience: recreational (while playing sports, for example) and work-related (not achieving a pass mark in an exam, not getting chosen after a job interview). Both forms, depending on your lifestyle, are relatively uncommon €“ that is to say, it€™s unlikely you€™ll feel as if you€™ve failed on a daily basis (unless you play sport very regularly). There is one notable exception, which is in (you€™ve guessed it) the life of a video gamer. Gamers have to deal with failure up to 80% of the time (according to Nicole Lazzaro), and they subsequently learn to tolerate failure and actually see it as part of a learning process. This is (obviously) no bad thing; in fact it€™s exactly the sort of lesson parents might want their children to learn. Prove It There€™s quite a good blog entry by psychotherapist Mike Langlois about the effect on youths of failure in video gaming, or, if you fancy your science a little more detailed, you can read this (which shows gamers generally prefer to take responsibility for failure, and prefer games which challenge them considerably as they then have to learn to improve). This also opens up some interesting questions about how failure should be handled in video games, which you can read about here.

8. Eyesight

Did your parents tell you that staring at a screen all the time would make you go blind? Tell them that regularly playing video games is a highly recommended treatment for those unfortunate enough to be born with cataracts (not only during childhood, but continuing into adulthood), and see how they react. Perhaps they€™ll point out you don€™t have a crippling eye disease. Not to worry, video games also help the rest of us with such abilities as distinguishing differences in shades of colour and processing visual information more efficiently €“ and the results last for months after actually playing the game. Anybody who€™s played Call of Duty will know the importance of quickly picking out enemy fighters amongst the (somewhat) bleak, urban landscapes. It€™s important because if they identify you first, they€™ll shoot you, which will greatly decrease your enjoyment of the playing experience and quite possibly the quality of your day in general. Therefore, video gamers (almost regardless of genre) become quite practised at picking out the salient details from a screen packed with visual information. Playing GTA? You€™ll want to choose your route through traffic quickly. Command and Conquer? Any enemy threat on radar needs to be dealt with as soon as possible. Viva Piñata? That Pretztail will take out your Bunnycombs if you don€™t whack him first. It makes sense that this skill, used constantly while playing video games, translates to our daily lives. Prove It This Telegraph article talks extensively about the benefits for those born with problematic eye conditions, and Reuters talks here about the other potential long-term positives. This article gives a lot of information, and also identifies some of the ways that improving your visual attention can help you in daily life (such as while driving, or chasing angry piñatas away from your garden).