Back in the day, people would say that video games rot your brain. Now, it’s becoming pretty obvious that the opposite is true. In fact, playing video games has a bunch of positive effects on your brain. This guide will look at eight reasons why video games are good for your brain.
Memory and Cognitive Function
Video games can help improve your memory and cognitive function. This may be due to the fact that video games force you to make short-term decisions, which in turn helps build decision-making skills.
Spatial Visualization
Playing video games can help you to build your spatial visualization skills. Spatial visualization is the ability to mentally map out and remember where different objects are in relation to each other. This is particularly useful when it comes to recalling maps, for example, when playing a game of Team Fortress 2.
Perception and Vision
Playing some video games can help your visual perception and vision. Many current first-person shooter games, for example, require you to be able to judge height, distance, and depth in order to aim accurately use a gun or bow/arrow. These are skills that transfer very well into the real world (e.g., sports).
Decision-Making
Video games force you to make short-term, and sometimes difficult, decisions. For example, in a strategy game like Age of Empires II, you have to decide what units do what, how to best use your resources, and so on. The constant need to make these kinds of decisions is very similar to the kind of decisions that you’d face in a business setting. As a result, playing strategy games can improve your decision-making in the real world.
Curiosity and Learning
There is nothing more exciting than discovering new things or mastering something you’ve been trying to figure out. Whether it’s figuring out the mystery on how to get away with a crime in L.A. Noire, learning how to drive like a rally champion in Colin McRae Rally 3, or just finding your way into that secret base hidden away in the jungle, video games arouse curiosity and keep us learning new things.
Social Skills
Spend some time playing at the best online casino USA and you will see how gaming can improve your social skills. Social skills are essential to being able to work well with others in a group setting, especially if you’re playing competitively. Whether you’re communicating or coordinating with your teammates, these skills transfer very well to the real world.
Problem-Solving
This is another big one for strategy games such as StarCraft, where you have to constantly solve problems. You also get a lot of these problems in real life, especially when things don’t go as planned. The more you play games like StarCraft, the better you’ll be able to solve problems in the real world.
Mood and Motivation
There is a ton of research showing that playing video games can improve your mood and general motivation. Playing video games, and especially finishing a game that you’ve been working your way through with friends is very rewarding. As a result, it can help improve both mood and motivation in the long term.
By: Steve Jones
