From Game Room to Boardroom: Video game skills that can be utilized in the workplace

A new study by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has estimated that around 214 million people in the US play video games regularly, with smartphones, games consoles and personal computers being the most commonly used devices for adults.

More importantly, the vast majority believe that video games have had a positive impact on their lives. While there is often a stereotype that gamers are lazy or introverted, research shows that this is not the case and that responsible gaming can help to nurture important soft skills such as strategic thinking and teamwork.

If you have been looking to start a new career or switch to a new job, you may not realize that some of the valuable skills you have learnt during gaming can actually be transferred to professional work settings. 

Problem-solving

Creative thinking and problem-solving are two skills that gamers use regularly when playing sandbox titles such as Minecraft, where you have to use resources to craft tools and construct a mini-universe. 

When gaming, players are regularly presented with challenges that they need to overcome to progress, and thinking through all of the potential options and acting on a solution is often the only way to do this. This is especially important for gamers logging on to online sweepstake casinos, where you will need to understand the rules of card games and slots and apply critical thinking to win. 

This sort of on-the-spot, progressive creative thinking is invaluable in the workplace when important decisions need to be made daily. Your ability to do this during a tense hand of poker, for example, should also make it easier for you to address many of the challenges that arise in work environments.

Communication

Another crucial soft skill in the boardroom and general office settings is teamwork. You will need to converse with people, both in person and via emails, and there is arguably no better way to hone your communication skills than playing online multiplayer games.

In franchises such as Overwatch and Call of Duty, you need to continually update your teammates about where you are on the game map and what you are planning to do to win a round or achieve an important objective. Gamers are very efficient communicators, which is something that is highly valued at work. 

Resourcefulness

Being resourceful ties into problem-solving, but it is a general soft skill that is vital in games. This is because you often start out with only a basic toolset and need to make your way around a virtual world where there is no context or clues about how best to proceed.

While modern games have made it easier for players to progress via directions and pointers, gamers usually have a keen sense for how to adapt and thrive in virtual worlds. They know how to be creative and resourceful to get to a new level or unlock a new area of an open world. 

This is vital in work environments as you will often have to complete tasks on your own and take the initiative without any direction from management. This skill is even more important if you do advance to the boardroom as people will be looking to you for all of the answers. 

Determination

A determination to succeed is another soft skill that gamers forge through perseverance and a desire never to give up. This is especially true in online multiplayer games where only the very best players rise to the top. 

It can also be easy to get frustrated and abandon a single-player game entirely, but the vast majority of gamers take their time to learn and master the inputs so that they can progress and eventually finish and experience the whole game. At work, this level of determination can really be advantageous for a person’s career.

Coping with failure

Not always winning or succeeding is a harsh life lesson that everyone has to learn at some point, and young gamers are able to process this more quickly after defeats in online settings. This also feeds into perseverance and determination as video game players often bounce back quickly to try again.

Failure is something that you will have to cope with regularly at work as not every interview for a promotion, for example, will go as planned. Tapping into the skills you learnt while gaming can help you to take stock and move forward.

All of these soft skills are invaluable, not only in entry-level jobs but also in executive suites where industry leaders are using them alongside hard skills to succeed. You therefore shouldn’t feel guilty about gaming in moderation. You might just be learning something that you can apply in the corporate world in the future.