If you’re somebody who is building a business, or you are a career driven and ambitious person, then you’ll always be looking for ways to improve your own effectiveness at work. There are plenty of ways to do this, including training, hiring a coach, and building a network of supportive people around you.
Some business people are beginning to turn to video games in their quest to find an extra edge. This may seem counter-intuitive given that gaming is often just seen as a hobby. But this categorisation is unfair because playing games has been shown to have a range of benefits, including boosting your cognitive abilities and improving hand-eye coordination.
So, can playing games help you in your work?
It’s Important To Have Fun
Life can’t all be about work, even if you enjoy what you do. Taking some time away from your desk and doing something else can leave you feeling refreshed, relaxed, and rested. It can also help you to gain a different perspective on a problem you’re struggling with, or simply give your subconscious time to focus on the issue while you chill out.
In his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey outlined that “sharpening the saw” was one of the most important things that successful people can do. He used this metaphor to describe working on yourself by doing exercise, meditating, and other activities as a way to make your mind sharper.
The metaphor works because you can, in theory, just focus on your business the whole time but your saw will slowly begin to dull. When this happens you’ll begin to work more slowly, take longer to make decisions, and be more prone to making mistakes.
Therefore, it is important to re-sharpen your saw. For some people, this might be reading; for others, it might be hiking; and for many more, it could be playing games.
It doesn’t matter what game you choose, as long as it’s something that you enjoy. Popular options include AAA games like Fortnite, League of Legends, and FIFA, as well as casual titles like Candy Crush and Wordle.
Casino games are also a common choice. This is thanks, in part, to the hugely diverse range of options that online casinos offer their players. For example, a very popular genre of video slots centres around Ancient Egypt. One of the biggest hits in this category is Rich Wilde and the Book of Dead thanks to its beautiful graphics, exciting bonus features, and authentic sound effects. Other players enjoy more traditional card and table games like blackjack and roulette thanks to the strategic challenge that they offer.
The game itself doesn’t matter so much; the thing that is important is that you choose something you enjoy.
A Conversation Starter
When you’re trying to build a network of contacts or a team for your business, it’s important to be approachable and to have a library of topics you can converse in. This can be useful when you mix with people from a diverse range of ages and backgrounds as it gives you enough subjects which you can be confident chatting about.
Traditional topics you’d find discussed in an office or networking event (outside of work-related conversations) include sports, movies, music, travel, and television. But with more and more people playing video games today, it’s increasingly likely you’d be dragged into a chat about Call of Duty or Age of Empires soon enough.
Being au fait with gaming can help you connect with people who are interested in it and may even help you to form stronger bonds with them.
Team Building
If you have a team of avid gamers, or you find an opportunity to channel the competitive energies of your employees or colleagues, then video gaming could be a great team-building activity. If you do use it for this, you’d be in great company as Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, and Elon Musk all partake in this hobby, sometimes even together.
Games often record a high score, such as the number of points acquired, the number of kills made, or the time taken to complete a level. This provides an easy metric for measuring performance which could be great, when used properly, in a team-building event or exercise.
Alternatively, you might just want to host a regular games night for people interested in a particular title as it is a great opportunity to build a rapport with your team outside of work hours without anything feeling forced.
Overall, while it would be impossible to say that playing any one particular game would definitely make you a success in business, there are several scenarios where it could help you move in the right direction.