Level up!: an opinion piece on the benefits of gaming for students

Video Games have been a staple in most homes since the 80’s. The prevalence of video games has sparked a conversation about whether playing them is healthy for kids. 

It must be understood that Video games come in multiple forms or genres. Each genre usually has a different idea behind it whether it is gameplay, story, or both.

“I like to play games like Call of Duty for it’s competitive nature, or Assassin’s Creed just for enjoyment and a dive into history,” said sophomore Amarion Cross.

Students use a lot of the skills gained from gaming in school even when they don’t realize it. For example, Cross playing Call of Duty for its competitive nature can help with self assessment when recognizing mistakes and trying to improve to win or succeed. Games like Assassin’s Creed also teach players real history which can give players a reason or motivation to look into these past events even more. Videogames can be considered another way of telling a story, just not in a book.

“I got into video games by noticing how different they were from movies, television shows and books, specifically how I had the ability to change the plot of the game’s story or control how the game functions,” said junior James Hayes.” In general, I have always felt that video games have a place next to literature and film.”

Lots of video games require the player to pay attention to minor details to get an edge in the game. Much like instances one could face in everyday life. In English, you learn about the inner workings of literature through novels and work to understand what the author is illustrating. The same skills are used when playing a game and learning what the developer is trying to convey. It doesn’t make sense to dismiss all video games as a waste of time.

And still, most people generalize that popular games today are not story driven and do not provide any benefit to players. 

“Games can require hand-eye coordination, critical thinking skills, spatial relationship skills and more,” said junior Xander Krell.

Players like Krell gain the ability to form a strategy.

“I think that video games provide a lot of benefit to the player outside of just being entertaining,” said Hayes.

Depending on the genre, players can gain different benefits from different types of games and that’s what makes them so great. Players have the right to choose what they want to play and what they want to get out of the game. It is okay to feel that videogames are not as educational as a book or movie; however, it is just not accurate to say that sitting down and enjoying a video game for an hour is a waste of time.