There are many media outlets and online publications playing on parents’ fears and publishing misinformation regarding video games. They claim they cause violence, make your children lazy, etc. etc. all of which is unsubstantiated and lacking in any credible scientific studies backing them. We have to leave this fear-mongering rhetoric behind and look at the actual facts about the benefits of children playing video games: this article is an attempt at presenting the other side of the story and showing you why it is actually a good idea to let children play video games in moderation:
Inspiring Creativity
Most games aren’t gruesome World War 2 games that only display red and grey, but rather depict colorful worlds with interesting objects and lore. The stories are varied and the narrative is complex, and most games try to incorporate unique gaming mechanics into their game. Due to the immersion and the fact that your child can control the characters, they will find themselves captivated by the world, and the games will spark their creativity and make them see things from different and unique points of views. This will be a skill that will help your child throughout their life.
Games like League of Legends, for example, have deep and interesting lore that would span a few novels were it to be written down. Mixing and matching characters from hundreds of mythologies around the world and creating a coherent world and story out of it isn’t an easy task. However, this game might be a little too much for some kids, and we always recommend parents to try out the games before letting their kids play. If you’re not much of a gamer, you can buy LoL leveled accounts to start out strong and try out the game’s features and story without any difficulties.
Problem-Solving Skills and Self-reliance
Games aren’t like other kinds of media and entertainment where you passively take in the information and aren’t required to engage at all. In games, you are required to pay attention and actively participate if you want to get anywhere. This quality of games has made it a primary source of teaching and honing problem-solving skills in kids:
- There are various dedicated video games with famous and beloved characters that teach your kid basic math, spelling, etc. all through fun tasks. While these games are rare to get by, getting your hand on one and making your child fall in love with it means they’ll be practicing their math and English skills in their free time. This is a dream come true for any parent.
- Most games that aren’t just randomly shooting and hacking at things involve puzzles and require a certain level of problem-solving. As the games incentivize you to continue playing, the children will learn to rely on themselves and try to solve the puzzles.
In fact, and you might be surprised to learn this, due to how successful games are in immersing kids and incentivizing them to solve puzzles, there is a new field called gamification that aims to turn the education system in a similar direction.
Language Learning
Video games usually tell their stories through textual, visual, and auditory mediums – all three working together are a powerful tool used to make language learning easier. Due to story and playstyle progression, you’re heavily incentivized to pay attention and keep up with all the different story elements. This means your kid will be invested and try their best to understand and hone their language skills. In the past, the general consensus was allowing kids to watch multilingual kids programs to learn a foreign language, but the consensus seems to be gradually changing, and gaming is becoming a more popular medium. Just looking at internet articles, you’ll find a dozen or so game recommendations for any one language that has a vocabulary set suitable for learning. Even the most popular language learning apps like Duolingo are trying to replicate key gaming mechanics due to how effective they are.
Teaching Empathy and Compassion
Not only video games don’t cause aggressive behavior, but could they, in fact, can cause your children to be more empathic and compassionate depending on the games he might play. People, essentially, learn to empathize with people when they learn their backstory, their motivations, and their hardships. That’s why novels are so great in teaching our kids to be more compassionate, and they are widely highly-regarded as one of the best ways you can bring up your kids. Games, however, give novels a run for their money – not only can they be highly text-based like novels, but they also have the visual and auditory elements to go with it, and the fact that you’re actively controlling the main characters and are responsible for their actions brings with it an extra moral dimension. These all come together to have a profound impact on your kids and teach them how others feel and act.
