10 Reasons Gamers Will Rule the World

It is a longstanding fallacy that playing video games will avail you nothing. The truth of it is that there are a great many reasons for playing games. There are an even larger (and growing) number of reasons why you should continue playing games. People are looking for new talent, and the gamers of this generation will someday be the very people that industry types of all kinds are looking for. Here are just a few reasons why gamers will rule the world someday.

Categorization

From an early age, the modern gamer is taught how to categorize things. Games are separated into genres and then into sub-genres and even into specific niches of gaming. The modern gamer is even taught to categorize by rating. Children know that they are most likely not going to be allowed to play an M-rated game when they are 8 years old. There are exceptions to the rule, I know, but on the whole, the rating system keeps kids from seeing things they shouldn’t until they can understand and process fully what they are experiencing. So this is the first of many skills that will put the next generation of gamers ahead of your standard nerds in the social pecking order. 

Coordination

It has been studied by numerous groups who have found that the kids of today have faster and more succinct hand-eye coordination than kids did when I was growing up. This disciplined reaction time will serve the next generation of leaders well, especially if they become the leaders of the military or public services like firefighters or cops or EMS workers. With finely tuned and wicked-fast control over intrinsic motion, the gamers of the future will be able to respond quickly and efficiently in a situation where quick reflexes are a must.

Sleep Deprivation

Every die-hard gamer has spent hours and hours awake playing their favorite games. Whether it’s an all-night gaming marathon with friends online or via LAN, they have felt the effects of gross lack of sleep and continued to hone the skills to combat loss of higher function the longer they are awake. This trait would serve anyone in any sort of crisis-management field very well. Gamers with the ability to continue to operate at near-peak performance, even in the face of fatigue or all-out exhaustion will make excellent leaders when the chips are down and long hours at work are needed.

Strategization

Gamers know how to plan a strategy and execute it. Some of it is trial and error. But some gamers are born with the innate gift of being able to immediately figure out how to surmount nearly any obstacle, no matter the odds of survival. This is the kind of guy that you want in control of a military unit or in charge of a multi-bazillion dollar corporation. This is the guy you want in the “big chair” when things are starting to get dire for the group. This is the dude who will know exactly how to eliminate the threat and ensure success through properly planned and implemented strategies.

Resource Management

Ask any gamer, and they will tell you that one of the keys to success in gaming is managing your resources. Money, ammo, people, and time are things that have to be tended to in a game for there to even be a chance for success. It is this type of resource management that could eventually save our flagging economy. Since politicians obviously have never taken a math class or balanced a checkbook, it will someday fall to gamers to clean up the mess left by those gone before. But the good news is that with all the ridiculous amounts of resource management in games these days–they will have no issues whatsoever keeping us on the path to riches

Teamwork

For the most part, teamwork falls into three types in gaming. First, there is couch co-op. This is the method of play that has become a bit of a thing of the past, but it involves occupying the same physical space with another (or multiple) gamers while working together in an artificial space within the game. Then there is LAN co-op play. This is the method where a large group of people links their systems together for a common goal. They all function as a giant unit in order to achieve gaming greatness. Then finally, there is online co-op play. In this mode, gamers play with a large group of people that they cannot see to try and accomplish a goal or event. All of these ways have burned the concept of teamwork into our minds.

Imagination

Gamers have been through nearly every imaginable scenario in a vast array of locations and climates. It is through this exposure that gamers are able to be creative when it comes to operating in a variety of environments. Whether it’s low stress and casual or high-intensity gaming, they know how to achieve every goal in every conceivable situation with limited assistance, and they have the wherewithal to complete the task, no matter the hardships. It is with that determined spirit that gamers will slowly but surely begin to assume, and in some cases usurp (I imagine), the positions of power throughout the world and begin to mold them into their own

Problem Solving

Nearing the top of the skill tree for assuming control of the Earth, this trait is very important and is one that all gamers–regardless of their level–possess. Every game, at its core, is about problem solving. Whether it is a puzzler or a star-studded action adventure, they all have problem elements that need to be solved. This is one of the most important traits the future leaders of this world will need. In nearly every situation, across every continent, and in every climate and society, gamers will be able to handle themselves, no matter what comes up. They will have a solution for everything. It may not always be the best solution and may need to be discussed with other gamers, but they will always have something to go on.

Desensitization

Since the world is a big, old, evil place that is full of death and corruption, it will fall to the future gamers of the world to stop these atrocities. But sadly, you can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs. This is where the concept of desensitization will come in very handy. Gamers will be able to stomach the horrible things that will have to happen in order to escape chaos and anarchy in the years to come. They will be able to hold fast to the other tenets set forth here because they have already seen it all. Games have become an intensely more dramatic version of the real-life horrors that occur all around us. But because gamers stand strong in the face of adversity, they will be able to do so in life…when it really counts.

Decision-Making

Finally, the last and most important trait that will assist gamers in ruling the world is one of decision-making. Nowhere is succinct decision-making more apparent than in video gaming. It is this talent that will become intensely important in the years to come in the real world. Gamers are able to assess situations quickly and efficiently and are able to make tough calls in a real hurry. Time crunches are everywhere in gaming and in life. I don’t believe that this parallel exists by chance. I believe that gamers are being groomed in secret to create the world that everyone can exist in and flourish. Gamers are being taught to right the world’s wrongs and manage the world’s resources--one respawn at a time.