The Rampage #4 March 2020

6

The Rampage

Opinions

Why

Video Games

are a Good Thing

W hy do so many students have trouble with time management when it comes to homework and the writing process? Most boomers will attribute it to video games, and while some students do focus their time on the “distracting” services games can provide (relaxation, escape, socialization), games are actually doing a lot of good for people. Let me just throw out there what I mean by the good that games do for people. This is all from personal experience and games that I have played, myself, so I can give anyone who disagrees with this list a piece of my 4.0 GPA mind with exact examples. Some of these benefits of gaming are: • Teach accurate history of amultitude of cultures Assassin’s Creed, Battlefield • Build vocabulary and reasoning skills Skyrim, LetterQuest • Encourage active problem-solving and “fixing” of issues Sherlock Holmes, Resident Evil • Teachmanners and proper ethics/morals/right vs. wrong Dishonored, Thief • Lots of hand-eye coordination Fortnite, but really any game • Again, socialization, relaxation, escape Anything online like PUBG or Call of Duty • Time-passers andmind breaks to help process learned information and recuperate Zombie Castaways, Left 4 Dead • Teach how to do “complex” math for code-solving Tomb Raider, escape games • How to look defensively for things out of the ordinary, which can further help with both defensive driving and awareness when in unfamiliar locations PUBG, Tom Clancy games • Self-defense techniques and how to properly respond quickly in trouble situations Remember Me, Blair Witch • Willpower and planning Pokemon, Fire Emblem The list really can go on much longer than this, but this is a good start to the many benefits of gaming. Since this is the case, why can’t we use them as a time management tool to get our work done, too? I know that I do. Here’s my personal writing process for those pesky research papers (or really any writing assignment). Feel free to take this rough example and tweak it to yourselves. •••

by Hayley Moore General Music and English Writing • 2020