How video games can make you successful
They’re far from being a waste of time.
Almost all gamers have one thing in common: Being told to turn off our games by our family members. Probably many times over the years. And if you’re somewhat hardco…err, dedicated like me, you’ve probably gotten your games taken away at some point.
That’s because video games are seen as a purely recreational activity by many people, especially older generations. They don’t believe there’s any practical value at all; that gaming is a waste of time.
After years of playing games (for science, apparently), I’m happy to report that your parents were wrong. Thousands of hours spent in front of the computer made me a much greater person today than if I had traded those experiences in mythical worlds and futuristic wars for time in front of a textbook. And it’s not even close.
I’m not going to talk about making gaming a profession and earning money from tournaments — that’s as unlikely for most people as becoming a pop star. There are many improvements that everyone can realize, every time they pick up a controller. Gaming has taught me life-long skills and given me knowledge that would be difficult for young people to get elsewhere. It’s greatly improved my ability to process information and think critically. On the physical side, I’ve been able to maintain very quick reaction times as well as great balance and body control. But the greatest benefit from my gaming experience has been learning how to interact with people.
Learning the real world through a virtual one
Life is pretty simple when you’re young. Go to school, play sports, hang out with friends on the weekends. However, there aren’t very many opportunities to interact with people in real, grown-up situations. Through multiplayer gaming, millions of teens are able to participate and lead clans, managing relationships and desires between dozens of real people. They’re able to partake in complex financial transactions, purchasing virtual items that cost real time and effort to get. In most cases, the value of these items is unclear, so significant research and negotiation skills are required.
When I was a teenager, I put in a lot of time (an understatement) into an MMO called Runescape. I played the normal grind and quest gameplay at first, but after a few years I began trying a technique called merchanting, which involves buying items from other players for cheap and selling them for less cheap. I completed hundreds of individual trades, quickly learning about all the techniques that other people would use to get the best possible price, and adapting them to my own purposes. Some were based on psychology, such as promoting artificial scarcity in order to create fear of missing out (“Nobody else is selling this item right now except me”), some were based on market mechanics (Buying up items to reduce supply and increase the price), but the best strategy was converting patience into money. When I didn’t need to use items immediately, I could take my time to purchase it for a bargain price from someone who needed the cash now, and then take my time to find a buyer who was willing to pay a higher price to get the item quickly.
The time I spent in Runescape was instrumental in giving me knowledge about people, especially how their behaviors revolve around money. As virtual as it was, millions of people put months of real time and effort to earn that gold. Incidentally, the wealthiest players I interacted with were significantly stronger negotiators than any of the highly paid executives I met in my business career. They made deals focused on obtaining the best value, cross-shopped ferociously and were resistant to most tricks and techniques. I learned what people wanted, what they’re afraid of, and what they’re not telling you. I ended up making a heap of gold, which at the time was about 300 times more than the net worth of an average hardcore player.
Reaping the benefits
While gaming can give you knowledge and skills that you can’t easily find in other places, that doesn’t mean you can just mindlessly play games for hours every day and expect to get results. The first step you’ll have to take is to play well. Gaming is more than just pushing buttons and seeing flashy things happen on-screen. Playing well means adopting a mindset where you thoroughly learn the mechanics of the game world, and understand how those complex systems (such as abilities, items and effects) work together to create strengths and weaknesses in your play. Getting comfortable with the rules of the game let you to practice calculating and predicting the future, whether it’s the effects of a future patch, or the price of an item tomorrow.
In order to make the most of your game time, you must figure out how to improve. In multiplayer games, everyone loses at some point (probably at many points). Most players will hop straight into the next game, play the same way and do the same things that caused them to lose 10 minutes ago, but some will reflect on the mistakes they made and make an effort to correct them. This is the critical skill for developing competency in any endeavor, and one that surprisingly few people have. A side effect of seeking improvement in games is that I’m now painfully aware that I can make mistakes at any time, which helps me be open to new ideas and changes. There are many people who won’t admit they’re wrong in the face of evidence or failure, and that really hampers their ability to be as successful as they could be.
Now, it’s my career
Over the past twenty years, I’ve learned and improved many skills from video games, from business (MMOs) to teamwork (MOBAs), agility (DDR), and management (clans). But that’s not all. My gaming experiences took me from a standard office job in automotive business to my current career in mobile technology — creating an app that perfectly fuses gaming with travel.
Zonder — Collect the World is a travel game and the culmination of my experiences in two lifelong hobbies. When people visit attractions and interesting places like museums, parks and restaurants, Zonder lets you automatically collect those locations to earn XP, level up and create your personal Travel Profile as you build up real-life experiences. Unlike other similar apps, we’re committed to improving our game content, such as adding new places to explore and collect and creating fun ways to level up with partners and friends. I wouldn’t have had this idea nor the ability to design Zonder if I hadn’t spent all those late nights in front of a computer a decade ago.
Later this year, we’re adding over 750 different world landmarks in all 7 continents for our players to race and collect. We don’t expect anyone to get all of those places. But I’ve learned never to underestimate what gamers can achieve, whether it’s in virtual worlds or our own.
Addendum: I didn’t think I had to say this, but in light of recent events, I’d like to remind readers that video games do not cause people to become violent.
