Games like Fallout have made an enormous impact in gaming communities because they're not only games that are set in realistic, interactive, and grand worlds, but they're games who have a very simple objective: to survive.
Because of the engrossing sort of game play and therefore the nature of the games themselves – allowing gamers to choose one of many paths in a ‘choose your own adventure’ type of play – gamers are spending longer than ever before playing their created roles in these worlds.
While it is a commonly held belief that computer game hours are entirely wasted doing nothing much in the least, decades of research shows otherwise. Video games, particularly complex ones like RPG, survival, and simulation games have surprising benefits to players. Gaming has been shown to:
- Aid in overcoming dyslexia
- Improve balance (particularly in people with Multiple Sclerosis)
- Increase speed of decision making
- Curb cravings from food to drugs
- Reduce stress and anxiety levels
- Encourage teamwork
- Improve motor skills (surgeons who game for 3 hours or more every week were shown to form 32% fewer laparoscopic incision errors than those that did not play)
- Can enhance socialization and career-building skills
Constant failure would make one quit their task in other aspects of life, gamers are pleased with their failures. The more they fail, the harder they try to correct their failures and succeed at the task at hand.
Game developers like McGonigal see the potential for greatness in gamers. With all those improved skills and a desire to use creativity to unravel (virtually) serious problems, gamers could also be the best asset humanity never saw coming.
