In this content, you will see the main soft skills you can learn by playing video games. That’s right, and you haven’t lost your mind: you can get real value from your console. Below, we will show how this is possible, through a study. Check it out!
The study
Manpower Group conducted a study and showed that it is possible to learn by playing! How so? They found that behavioral skills, which are a current demand from companies, can be learned through video games. And there is an interesting figure in this:
– 43% of companies have difficulty finding people with these soft skills
So, what does this mean in practice? That we need to look at video games differently. Forget the idea that they are only for pastime or entertainment. There are more than 2.5 billion players in the world, and they are learning something all the time.
So you can do it too, through these soft skills you can learn by playing video games!
Whatever your job is, consider that playing video games can be a great idea for moving up in your career through new soft skills. Or you can land your first job based on these interpersonal skills, too.
To finish the introduction, see what else Manpower Group said: “playing helps the brain create cognitive models, improving prediction and reaction to situations. For the job market, the skills help with things like cooperation and strategy.”
Another study
Before finishing the introduction, it is worth recalling another study. This time, from the University of Denver. It showed that the skills of video game players are 14% higher than those of people who don’t play video games.
That is why games are seen today as learning tools. And there are many educational institutions that use these methods during classes.
The soft skills you can learn by playing video games
We have seen the theoretical part of the text. Now we want the practical part: what are the soft skills you can learn by playing video games? Know that these skills are truly required by the job market, and you can even see them in every new job posting that appears on LinkedIn.
1 – Strategic thinking
This topic is the easiest to get right. After all, to learn and sharpen your strategic thinking, the recommendation is to play strategy games, in addition to those in the Puzzle format. The main games are:
- League of Legends (LoL)
- Sim City
- Pac-Man
- Candy Crush
This soft skill works together with other skills, such as planning, creativity, concentration, and persistence. This makes it possible to solve a wide variety of problems, in the game and in your career.
2 – Teamwork
To train your teamwork, consider games in multiplayer format, an option of the virtual environment that involves several players simultaneously. So, we have games such as:
- Pokémon
- Assassin’s Creed
- Prince of Persia
- Super Mario
In this type of online game, it is interesting to note its sociability. Actions must be thought out together, in order to develop skills such as collaboration, communication, deliberation, and, then, decision-making.
3 – Social perception
There are many video games that allow for the idea of social perception, which is another of the soft skills you can learn by playing video games. That is, it goes hand in hand with teamwork, but with a focus more directed at the manager in the pursuit of decision-making. Some examples:
- The Witcher 3
- Minecraft
These soft skills draw heavily on the concept of visual-spatial ability. The games let users build skills in understanding how objects move through space, as well as a sense of organization, which is essential for anyone in a management role.
4 – Coordination
Have you heard of indie games? In practice, they work in such a way that users don’t expect to beat a challenge on the first try. On the contrary, they already know they will have to try several times until they get the “knack” of the whole thing. The same goes for music games. For example, in:
- Mario Party
- Guitar Hero
- Rock Band
- Just Dance
In this way, they demand a lot of concentration, persistence, and coordination to carry out the actions of each level. It is also worth mentioning the strong power to train each player’s learning, as they need to keep improving to beat the challenges.
5 – Creativity
The truth is that creativity is present in almost every game in the world, whether on console, mobile, or PC; it is yet another of the soft skills you can learn by playing video games. But we can think of a few that work a lot with this theme, and it is always seen as a differentiator in job interviews.
- Lego
- Plants Vs Zombie
- Temple Run
- Little Big Planet
A curious fact is that these games are played even by children. So, when combined with the school environment, they can become great study references because they help with children’s creative development.
How to talk about soft skills on your résumé
After this text about the SOFT SKILLS you can learn by playing video games, it is now time to learn how to add them to your résumé. Is it a good idea to write there: “I play Lego”? In fact, the ideal is to do it indirectly.
What is recommended is that people add such traits without stating an opinion, or without it seeming that way. So, a strategy that works is to mention them in the professional experience and education sections.
For example, you can mention phrases like “advanced leadership skills,” “ease in working on a team,” “emotional management control,” and “time management.” Among other phrases. And remember to use the same strategy in the job interview!
