People say that gaming is a waste of time. But is it really though? What if the way we game reflects our attitude towards life? Would that change our perspective towards gamers?
Gaming is part of our culture. More than 1.2 billion people worldwide game and it’s growing. That momentous feat was made possible by the growing number of smartphone usage in recent years.
But this article isn’t for those who just game. It’s for those who are good at it.
They beat the bosses with ease. They problem solve faster than the average person.
They advance to the next level rarely without failing. But most importantly, they don’t quit and uninstall just because they can’t get to the next stage in the game.
1) It equips you for different situations
In the book The Selfish Gene, evolutionary biologist and author Richard Dawkins wrote, ““Survival machines that can simulate the future are one jump ahead of survival machines who can only learn on the basis of overt trial and error. The trouble with overt trial is that it takes time and energy. The trouble with overt error is that it is often fatal. Simulation is both safer and faster. The evolution of the capacity to simulate seems to have cumulated in subjective consciousness.”
What is a game essentially? A simulation.
There are simulators of all sorts – truck simulator, taxi simulator, airplane simulator… goat simulator.
Games like SimCity and The Sims. You get the idea.
As you play a game long enough, your mind starts to see patterns of how things work. You can anticipate as well as react accordingly when it happens.
Life itself is a game. And the very fact that game developers have spent hours recreating different scenarios that may play out in life, gives us the imagination and tools on how to navigate uncertain terrain when it happens.
2) It tests you (when it really counts)
When you hit a plateau in your game, what do you do?
Do you hit pause and come back to it later and try again?
Or do you just flail your arms up in the air and give up?
Whether we like to admit it or not, the way we behave in one area of our lives tend to creep other areas as well.
Of course, it may be easy to say, “The game is of no real value to me anyway, I don’t want to waste my time on this useless game.”
That point is valid only if you decided to play the game only to try it out. That way you knew what you were getting yourself into.
But, if you decided to play the game because you wanted to finish it, but you didn’t – my friend, you just made up an excuse.
All you have is your word in life. When you say you are going to do it, do it! Don’t back out when the going gets tough.
3) It teachs you to be present.
One of greatest mistakes we all make on a daily basis is that we lack the focus to be in the present moment.
We are busy “time-travelling” to the future (thinking how I would want to be 5 years from now) and to the past (thinking about the regrets I’ve made).
Never really trying to ground ourselves to the very moment we are in.
The humidity of the air, the breeze of the wind, the sound of the crickets, the smile of a friend, the eyes of a stranger.
Have you not noticed till now that the very things we always have a vivid memory about was something that grabbed you and made you present?
That movie you watched, the time you danced for the first time in public, that song you listen while you lay on your bed and of course, that game you come back to every single night.
You wouldn’t be busy thinking about work tomorrow, because you would be too busy enjoying yourself.
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Gaming isn’t a waste of time if you are having fun. It has a lot of benefits unseen to those who haven’t truly experienced the sheer joy of it all. Keep these in mind, the next time you game, “Persevere and be Present!”
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