As an online gaming scholar, I am devoted to highlighting the importance of online gaming in today’s society. I have shown the financial impacts and growth of the online gaming industry, as well as the social benefits associated with playing video games. In addition, I have discussed how parents can manage their child’s game time.
Read more: Parents of online gamers need to think twice before labelling the hobby
Online gaming can be a space for continued learning within an online environment, providing numerous benefits for players, all while keeping them indoors.
Keeping in line with existing curricula, I will highlight how five subjects can benefit from video games in the classroom: English, math, science, history and physical education. These games are meant as a supplement rather than a substitute to our existing school systems. Playing games can create a fun learning environment designed to keep our physically distanced selves at home, while remaining social and continuing to learn.
A recent survey from the United Kingdom’s National Literacy Trust has shown that more than 35 per cent of children who play video games believe they are better readers; the study also found that more than half of the participants read and write materials related to gaming at least once per month.
We would argue that many video games have better narratives than the stories read in school. While picking the best story games is a subjective task BioShock is a personal favourite, although it is rated M for mature players over 17 years old. I recommend interactive story games, which allow players to make choices that impact the rest of the game.
History can be taught by video games because they allow us to experience events of the past. Games like the Assassin’s Creed franchise (rated Teen or higher) allow players to experience historically accurate settings and interact with historical figures from the Crusades, Renaissance Italy, the French and American Revolutions, as well as Ancient Greece and Egypt. While the events within the games might not be historically accurate, developer Ubisoft is proud of the research that goes into their authentic settings.
People visit Games Week 2018, an event dedicated to video games and electronic entertainment on Oct. 5, 2018 in Milan, Italy. (Shutterstock)
A favourite of both scholars and gamers alike is Sid Meier’s Civilization franchise. Civilization (rated E for everyone) is a historical simulation game that has the player become a ruler of a historical civilization and strategically manoeuvre through the complex economic, political, technological, religious and cultural issues involved in building an empire.
Since the pandemic began, free-to-play games such as Fortnite, Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone have been even more popular. The game platform Steam recorded a record of 20 million simultaneous users. Xbox Live has seen an increase in usage, resulting in numerous outages in a couple of weeks.
As people strive to stay social during a time of physical distancing, online gaming is seeing a boom in users. With a user base growing each day, and people looking to not only kill time, but remain social, what better way is there to stay in touch with friends and family during a period of isolation than video games?
Before video games became popular, people would get together around the table to play board or card games.
While board games remain popular with the rise of board game cafés, we are unfortunately unable to get together with one another at these cafés. When video games became multiplayer, they were — and many still remain — localized, “couch co-op” games.
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