Gaming: an insight

I have never been a gamer. Of course, I played Candy Crush for a couple of weeks when it was first launched. Everyone was obsessed then. But I never play video games, neither on my mobile nor computer regularly. I am just not into it.

Since we were young, we have always been instilled with the attitude that gaming is bad for you. It’s bad for your eyes. It’s bad for your study. It’s addictive. Here I refer to video games, electronic games, games on your mobiles, iPads, so on and so forth. Of course, most of the people would accept and like board games and card games, though not so much with video games.

But recently, I was presented with some new ideas from a different perspective. This change of perspective first started when I heard about the game Civilisation from my boyfriend. He’s very into it, not in an addictive sense as he still has to graduate from uni. When he was telling me about the game, about the story line and his strategies, he talked so much about history, culture, architecture, even different languages. It wasn’t like he was purposefully ‘learning’ something, but indeed he was. He knew so much more about different civilisations, different world leaders and important historic events. He told me about what he did when he was Alexander the Great, Gandhi and Washington and so on.

Two months ago, I bought the new Nintendo Switch. I was first playing Mario Kart but soon got bored of it. Later on, I got introduced to the game called Zelda: A Breath of the Wild and sooner than I know it, I was somewhat addicted. Of course, the language you can learn from gaming is undoubtedly immense as a lot of games have only English versions. However, I am surprised how so much braver and more persistent I become when I am playing the game. In the beginning, I was always scared to approach new things. I feared to approach the different monsters. I heard how monsters became more powerful at night so I slept through most of the nights in the game until one day I was watching my friends play and I realised how much I had missed, sleeping through the nights. Some of the challenges in the game require trials and errors, exploration, creativity and problem-solving strategies. At first, I was frustrated how I had been walking for quite some time but still could not find what I was looking for. I was frustrated that I always failed and died. And some of the challenges I had no idea how to get them done in the first place. When time goes on, I do realise how now I tell myself to be patient, because I know what I am looking for will turn out soon enough. I die and get back up knowing that one day I will defeat however big the monster is. I remind myself that all the minor challenges and the monsters are a part of my training. If I avoid them now just so I could survive, I would never survive the great evil boss at the castle. I could never save the princess or the kingdom.

If the same happened in real life, I might have given up halfway. But in the game, I stay and I try. Imagine how my life, or your life, or your child’s life could be, if it was how we were in real life, brave, persistent and creative. The problems in the world we could solve, the hurdles in life we could overcome and the cooperation that could connect us all together.

If only.

Why not?