I have played games since I can remember. At around 4-5 years old I've touched my first computer, and on it, using floppy discs, I started learning to play games. I had games that taught me cognitive skills, such as solving puzzles, remembering patterns and other games that taught me new languages such as English and French. Games, particularly those on consoles and the PC were a huge part of my childhood. We used to meet at my cousin, usually for 3-4 days per week during Summer holidays playing games together. Sometimes we played against each other, sometimes together, and other times I just observed. But it was always a nice time, for I was interacting with my family, laughing together, thinking out problems and creating strategies on the spot. These are skills I've taken with me to adulthood, and they help me every day during work.
Playing real-time strategy (RTS) games from around 5-12 years of age taught me to think quickly and find alternative solutions. Games I played included Starcraft I and II, Command & Conquer, Red Alert, Warcraft I, I & III and Age of Empires. I remember how me and my cousin developed a strategy of beating a map encounter by bending the rules and instead of building an army throughout the game, we stormed the enemy with a few units provided at the start and managed to win in a few minutes. This taught me to think of unique risky ideas which might fail miserably, but if they actually worked they transformed the core philosophy of the game. I also remember playing RTS-LAN games and understanding how bad I am at the game when I was destroyed by my friends. This taught me that however good I thought I was, there was always room for improvement.
Then came the the console age between 12-16 years old where I played a large diversity of games such as Role-Playing Games, fighting games, racing etc. These games were mostly single-player and helped me to develop a sense of independence. I could go through a game learning on my own and whenever we got stuck we discussed between cousins or friends and obtained information to advance in the game. At this same age we started dabbling into card games such as Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, which taught me how to interact with people but also showed me that I can memorise hundreds of names and all their interactions. These skills were also improved by learning combos in fighting games or learning cheat codes by heart in GTA Vice City and San Andreas. We also developed quick reaction time skills by playing shooting games such as Call of Duty which would come in handy 12 years later to avoid hitting a sheep with my car.
At around 15-16 years I started the infamous Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Game (MMORPG) called World of Warcraft (WoW). This is a period of my life where I learnt to work in teams. Joining a guild of 100 or more people as a teenager and getting kicked out for being a drama queen taught me the value of peace-keeping. I learnt how to treat people with respect and dignity and how to work with other people. I've played this game for over 8500 hours, and if this seems insane, it is. I made friends along the way, friends who I celebrated my 18th birthday with in-game, which felt more real to me than the forced birthday wishes in real life. And even though I have forgotten the names of these people, or the names of their characters in game, I can vividly remember being surprised by a digital cake and digital fireworks on an unexpected day which might have otherwise been another dull blip in my teenage years.
Playing in WoW taught me to grind for achievements, which means doing monotonous repetitive tasks to obtain rewards. Being part of guilds, as a new player, as a novice, as a growing skill-full player being assigned as officer, then raiding leader and eventually forming our own guild and acting as Guild Leader taught me how to always strive to improve, but at the same time be grounded. When working with a wide variety of people; some ambitious and striving for perfection way beyond your expectation, some lazy and some rather casual, you learn how to accept diversity and make use of their differences not just for your personal growth but for the growth of the whole guild. WoW has truly been a journey and a game I still enjoy occasionally to this day. I sometimes say that I play this game for it's story telling, but I feel that the reason I enjoyed it this long was the social interaction.
Lastly, came Magic The Gathering (MTG), a card game. This game has provided a space for playing in person with people I didn't know before and a common ground on which to talk with total strangers. It has allowed my friends to gather around a table and spend a couple of hours playing, ending with laughter or banging on the table, shouting profanities at their luck. Creating decks in my head from hundreds of memorised cards and their interactions also helped me learn how to connect the dots on a large scale. Playing the game taught me to think ahead and not to focus just on what I can do, but what my opponent is likely to play on their next turn. Thinking ahead is an important skill that this game teaches you when you find yourself being stopped by your opponent and told "Nope", denying your move and also teaching you the meaning of patience.
Games have been part of my life from the beginning and they have also affected a lot of people I know. Games do not make people lazy. Games help people fight depression. Games help people make friends and socialise. Games help people improve their cognitive and social skills. Games are not just games.
This post was inspired by this quote from the game World of Warcraft
