Rather than complaining about children gaming, parents and educators should be capitalising on this resource.
Gaming has gotten a pretty bad reputation overtime. Games that dramatize war and violence, espionage and intrigue, fantasy and science-fiction – or all of the above – are what is conjured up in the minds of most adults today when they think of video games.
To those who see gaming as at best distracting, and at worst a scourge responsible for underachievement of countless young people, technology is only making the situation worse. More than 83% of children aged 10-14 now have mobile phones, and the mobile gaming market saw revenue of $70 Billion in 2019 alone. Add to that the fact that mobile gaming accounts for less than half of all video game sales, and you get the picture.
Stories of children being shipped off to internet detox camps or YouTube clips showing children participating in marathon gaming sessions are perhaps one of the most immediately concerning issues to parents of young children today. That’s because many feel like they can sense the rumblings of such compulsive and unhealthy behaviour in their own kids.
Such concerns are completely natural. What occupies the minds of rightfully anxious and occasionally terrified parents as they watch their son or daughter distractedly taping away at their phone or staring intently at their computer screen is usually “How can I stop them from wasting their time on these game?”
Well, you can’t. And even if they continue to play games, this isn’t a bad thing. Even if they were to spend more time gaming next year than they have this year. The reason is that games, be they on consoles, PC’s or mobile, contain content that can enrich learning, inform opinion and engender debate in ways we have yet to fully realise.
As an industry, the games market now makes over $180 Billion per year. Companies like Microsoft have spent millions reinforcing the gaming arms of the business, bringing in unique studios leading to greater diversity in the games they can offer. Alphabet, parent company of Google, announced Stadia in 2019, a service that will allow users to stream and play console-level quality games through standard smartphone, tablet or laptop devices.
The immersive nature of games has been growing enormously. The visual sophistication of the medium has reached a point at which characters and environments can be rendered to be nearly indistinguishable from the real world. Characters now converse and interact in utterly believable ways, their gestures and facial expressions running the gamut of genuine human interactions. When experiencing a story in this way, the player is entirely absorbed. Whether the game be set in space, in the Wild West, or at the bottom of the sea, players feel they are there.
Beyond their sophistication is the competitive elements they contain. There are students who thrive partaking in sports and other physical activities. Others may lack the skill to play a team sport in the traditional sense. Video games offer those children a way to work cooperatively with others, forming groups wherein each uses their unique skill sets to further their team’s success. While it may not be what many parents consider to be sport in the traditional sense of the word, e-sports is a popular and growing area offering the same risks, challenges and rewards that regular sports would.
Of course, for certain studios, inane interactivity and short-term gratification are their bread and butter, however plenty more games with far more meaningful content exist.
To appreciate their value, we cannot just focus on arguments like ‘videogames encourage violence’ or ‘gaming leads to social isolation’. Afterall, in the pursuit of an honest narrative, sometimes violence is unavoidable (just ask Cormac McCarthy or Toni Morrison).
Instead, we should be thinking about how these games deliver their message, and drive youngsters towards those games that have the greatest rewards to be reaped.
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Cicero Group Limited
