3 Ways Gaming Experience Can Benefit Your Career

Your parents, guidance counselors or significant others may have told at some point in your life to ease up on the video games — maybe because they saw it as a waste of time or they were concerned you’d rot your brain. Of course, you need to make sure gaming isn’t getting in the way of your responsibilities, but have you ever considered video games themselves as a path toward success? Here are three ways gaming experience can benefit your career.

1. Entertain With Video Games

Video games themselves are intended to entertain, but if you have an interest in entertaining, there are multiple ways you can use video games to engage an audience of your own. On the web series Game Grumps, Dan Avidan and Arin Hanson record themselves playing games and providing commentary. If you are comfortable with improv and can work on the fly, this could be a good approach for you. If making commentary on the fly isn’t for you, you can record your commentary separately and add it to the videos during editing — this works especially well if you want to show gaming highlights, perhaps for a game review channel.

Of course, if you work hard enough — and it does require hard work — you can also become a professional gamer and entertain entire stadiums full of fans.

2. Work Remotely

Remote work is becoming more and more popular as technology advances and as traditional workplace rules fall to the wayside. If you’ve played World of Warcraft, you might not realize how much you’ve prepared yourself to work on a remote team. If you think about it, it makes perfect sense, and a recent study from Missouri University of Science and Technology can back up the idea. Researchers found that people with more group achievements points in the game tend to be more savvy with technology, which benefits people working remotely. Consider what’s required for a successful raid: planning, communicating clearly with people you’re not seeing face to face and teamwork. Now turn your raid into a project such as building a website, and you’re all set — especially since you may be more technology-inclined than people who may be working collaboratively online for the first time.

3. Engage in Military Service

Similar to the studies related to the teamwork required for a successful World of Warcraft raid, video games can help people prepare for and maintain readiness in military service. In fact, the U.S. Army has even used video games for both recruiting and training purposes. Soldiers will go out on patrol in games while connected to their team and will be required to follow the same procedures they’d use in real life, such as using proper commands and how they are allowed to use artillery.

Studies have also found video games to beneficial for the mental health of soldiers.

Video games are a great way to relax, but they can be so much more. People used to associate video games and careers with either creating or testing video games, and while those are great career paths, you can find many ways to apply your gaming skills to your professional life.

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