As people who love gaming, we’ve all heard the classic argument that “gaming leads to violence” or that “gaming rots your brain” but those sentiments don’t hold true when you have experience in the esports world. Esports is a gateway to a career, personal development, and education in a different way than any other extracurricular. In this blog, we are going to dive into the benefits of gaming and effectively “mythbust” those stigmas that surround esports to demonstrate its benefits.
Video games rot your brain:
False: Of course, we preach moderation when considering total screen time, but video games played a moderate amount have been proven to minimize symptoms of mental health issues such as depression, and many individuals play video games to lessen symptoms of stress or anxiety. Furthermore, playing video games as a child is found to improve memory, executive functioning, and other cognitive skills later down the line.
Gaming leads to isolation and loneliness:
False: What most people don’t realize when they think of gaming is that it is almost never alone. Sure, while some individuals enjoy their single player games, most of the time gamers are playing a multiplayer game online together through communication platforms like Discord or Teamspeak. Getting the chance to socialize with friends after school or work is important for development, and after a busy day can be a great chance to relax with similar-minded individuals.
Gaming creates violent individuals:
False: A long term study about how gaming changes aggression, mental health, empathy, and executive functioning in healthy adults was done in 2018 with a violent game, nonviolent game, and control group that participated across a 2-month time period. The study concluded that no significant changes occurred in the participants across that period in any of those areas, opposing the commonly held belief that gaming nurtures negative feelings or habits.
Esports is Just a Hobby:
False. Esports can be a career path. Having knowledge about the game industry, even if it is just through playing games as an individual, is a great step into a career later down the line. Many colleges offer esports programs that cultivate learning in areas such as:
Broadcasting
Shoutcasting
Production
Media
Game Design
Marketing
Content Creation
Graphic Design
… and many more. Check out our blog “Careers in Gaming and Esports” for more info on the various career paths in the industry. But esports and gaming don’t have to just be hobbies, they can be the seed that is planted for a lifelong profession.
