Many parents discourage video games and do not want them at home as they are afraid they will harm their children’s performance in school. However, the benefits of video games include improved focus, creativity, memory, language skills, and more.
The Importance of Video Games in Society
The video game industry lost its innocence a long time ago. Nowadays, it is a mature industry, admired for its technological prowess, innovative capability, and well-developed entrepreneurial vision. The numbers do not lie: the industry will finish 2019 with a global revenue of over $150 billion and year-on-year growth of 9.6%, according to market intelligence firm Newzoo.
With figures like this, it is not surprising that video games dominate the audio-visual industry, far ahead of film and theater. Not even Hollywood can compete with an industry that boasts 2.5 billion gamers around the world, especially with hits such as Fortnite, which has 139 million active players. The craze for this video game has crossed borders and is even challenging giants like Netflix, Disney, and HBO, its direct competitors in the battle to control the audio-visual content streaming space.
The Keys to Game-Based Learning
The benefits of video games have also extended to education through game-based learning. This teaching method uses valuable aspects of video games to impart knowledge to students. It is based on three key factors:
- It brings life into education: it turns learning into a fun, exciting game without boring lessons. Students assimilate and retain information almost without realizing it.
- It promotes motivation: students are the main characters in the story, and their success is rewarded with prizes, extra lives, bonuses, etc. This captures and maintains their interest in learning.
- It provides opportunities for practice: students can use the knowledge they acquire without getting into risky situations. This is what navigation and flight simulators, for example, are all about.