8. They Increase Your Vocabulary
Thanks to Skyrim, my six-year-old nephew now knows the meaning and the contextual subtleties of words like Illusion, Conjuration and Elemental and is able to fully understand the implications of a Civil War. Whether he should be playing Skyrim at his age is arguable, but the fact remains that his vocabulary, and understanding of said vocabulary, is vastly improved as a result. Of course, he reads age-appropriate literature, which is the greatest fuel for the vocabulary, but gaming can also do the same trick, despite many parents believing that theyre actually dumbed down. If, at 6, my Nephew can understand, contextualize and correctly use words and phrases like the ones I mentioned above, what then will he have moved on to by age 16? Antidisestablishmentarianism? Very possibly. Of course not every title is as smartly scripted as the next, just like every book isnt as smartly written as the next, but as you game throughout the years, youll be introduced to words and phrases youd have just never heard otherwise. And there are many professions that all but require a wide vocabulary; writing, politics, acting and presenting, marketing, engineering, science, the list goes on and on.