Yes, online gaming can boost social connection by helping players connect with like-minded people.
In recent years, the Craze for online games has increased beyond what we have ever seen. Many big and large-scale desktop games launched their mobile version.
As a result, battleground multiplayer games have become more accessible to the masses. The positive side of this proliferation is that online games are becoming more accessible.
On the other hand, a group of people on the internet believes that mobile games can distract students and have nothing for children and regular game players to learn from.
Even if there’s some amount of truth to such statements, those aren’t completely true. Mobile games are a great way to improve someone’s overall personality front heir communication their motor skills.
In this article, we’ve explored how gaming is helping individuals learn different behavioral and cognitive skills like teamwork, communication, and problem-solving.
Online Gaming On Social Skills
While the boomer parents might be of the opposite mindset, the Gen Zs and the millennials before them saw online gaming as a way to learn different social skills.
Collaboration
Online games take real-life problems and the attitude to work together on a virtual platform. For example, in a multiplayer game, a player has to not only play his part but also take care of his batchmates. They fight together and reach out to the players who need reinforcements.
Through gaming, we can learn the value of trusting and solving problems together with other teammates in the same game. These games help players build a sense of camaraderie and share experiences and accomplishments together. Players can also build the sense of being dependable and learn to depend on others.
Communication
Online games can also serve as an easy way to improve one’s communication skills. These games help players learn different aspects of communication from listening to speaking and understanding non-verbal cues.
Players communicate with each other through online chat or audio in-game communication. Gamers have to listen to instructions from teammates and opponents.
Active listening is a very important skill, and gamers can learn it when listening to instructions and teammates of their opponents. With careful listening, they get the information relayed to them and take steps accordingly.
Also, when playing, players can share their ideas and understanding about a game in a proper tone. These aspects of online gaming work as a way to help improve communication and learn the tonality of communication. Also, through gaming, players can learn non-verbal communication, like body gestures and signs shown by other players in the gaming world.
Problem Solving & Strategic Thinking
Most online games involve some level of problems that require a strategic problem-solving tactic. Whether you’re playing a battleground game like Call of Duty or Royal Reels online you’ll have to use your problem-solving skills to solve certain levels of challenges.
Through these games, you’ll learn to use your brain to analyze data and assess the current situation and consequences of a potential solution you implement. These skills help the player adapt to the changing scenarios of the game.
In short, online games train your brain and teach you to analyze data, foresee consequences, and find solutions to overcome hidden obstacles.
Also, these games provide a platform for developing and refining your strategic thinking and critical problem-solving skills. Players can apply these skills in their real-life experiences.
How Can Online Gaming Improve Social Connection?
Personal development isn’t just about learning. You’ll learn different cognitive and behavioral skills.
But there’s no point to anything unless you’re able to build a connection and social relationships using those skills.
Online games are played in the closed boundaries of a room. How is it going to help someone build social skills? Well, it can. Here are some examples –
Form Friendships
We live in a world where social anxiety and mental challenges have become more prominent than ever. However, these issues shouldn’t stop people from finding friends and building connections. That’s where online games can work as a solution.
Players can learn the true value of friendship and bonding from an online game. Several stories and films show the importance of gaming and how it helps people form friendships.
People with social anxiety find it more comfortable communicating online and finding their friends. People can play games together to find friends and form a strong bond. Whether a team is failing a match or celebrating a victory, gaming helps players share and build the true value of friendship.
Becoming Part Of A Community
Gaming communities are a way to bridge people from different cultural and geographical backgrounds. Whether someone’s playing an online casino like https://game-aviator.com/ or a problem-solving game involving a team, they can connect with people from around the world.
Online games are helping people transcend cultural and geographical boundaries. In fact, it has a significant importance when these players go out in the professional world and have to communicate and work with people coming from different and diverse cultures. Online games help build a sense of belonging and make an individual part of a community.
Strengthen Existing Friendships
Late-night gaming sessions and communication through online chats or in-game voice calls can turn strangers into friends. In fact, these games can help people strengthen their existing friendships.
Mental Health Benefits
In fact, many individuals find online gaming to stay away from stress, anxiety, isolation, and so on. These games often help build mental resilience through the sense of failures in games and achievement through wins. A gaming session often works as a way to help someone recover from their mental health issues.
Online gaming can also help people relieve their stress, trauma, and pain. We can say that these games are often ways to get away from anxiety, depression, and PTSD. In conclusion, online gaming is more than staying shut behind doors and spending hours on a computer screen.
It’s a recreational activity, a way to learn different skills, and a helping hand to people’s mental health. Hopefully, this article was helpful. Share your feedback through the comment section down below.