Believe it or not, playing online video games can have a lot of positive effects on children; it’s not as bad as some people think. But like anything else in this world, it does have some disadvantages that we must address. Whether you decide it’s worth it or not for your kids to play video games, let’s delve deeper into the pros and cons of online games.
The Advantages of Playing Online Games
You’d be surprised just how beneficial it can be for them; it can help them in different situations later in real life, too. So, here are some of the notable benefits of online gaming for children:
Problem-Solving Skills
These games could include different puzzles or quests that they need to figure out. Sometimes, the games have specific conflicts that they need to fix, too. This is a nice trait to have in real life, and it would be great if they learn it now.
Understanding Finances and Economics
Most online games like RuneScape have currencies like gold; children can learn how to earn this gold in the game through crafting items or completing quests, or they could ask parents to buy some for them. The gold sellers at Probemas believe that you could have more fun in the game if you have all the gold you need, enjoying the rest of the game’s features. Your kids can learn how to earn money, what to spend it on, and the different supply and demand factors that come with it.
Better Social Skills
Kids might encounter other people also playing online—people from around the world that they can talk to and socialize with. This can give a great boost to their self-confidence and they could learn how to speak with anyone; it’s a great attribute to have growing up.
Learning New Words
You won’t believe just how many words children could learn while playing games; the vocabulary and new phrases can be very beneficial for them. Think of it as another fun way for them to improve their language skills; it can help them significantly in the real world.
Patience
This is another excellent trait to have at this age; kids would be prepared to remain patient when they face different things in the real world. While playing these games, most of the time, kids are grinding for tasks and quests, winning the best loot, getting powerful weapons and armor, and other cosmetic items. These things take a long time to complete, making gamers learn how to be patient.
The Disadvantages of Playing Online Games
Nothing can be perfect and devoid of flaws; kids who play online games might experience some of these bad outcomes. Here are some of the risk factors that you need to watch out for:
Distraction
Because of how fun these games are, children would rather play it all day. But that could be a distraction from their homework, studies, and spending family time. This might be bad at some point if they go too far with their gaming habits.
Irritability
Kids might start to get angry or rude when they aren’t allowed to play their game. This can be very bad when they’re in public or school. That feeling of annoyance and boredom because they’re doing something else other than playing can end up being detrimental to them.
Getting Bad Grades
If the children play for too long and don’t study enough, they might get low scores on their exams, or even worse, they could fail the test entirely. This is a red flag that a lot of parents should watch out for.
Lying Habits
When you start telling them to be responsible and stop playing to go and study or do something else, they might start hiding their gaming habits from you whenever they want to play again. They may be secretly playing and telling you that they’re doing their homework, while in reality, they aren’t.
Bad Eyesight and Insomnia
Unfortunately, if children sit in front of the screen for too long, they might experience some negative effects on their eyes. Also, they could be sleep-deprived because they would rather play games than have a good night’s sleep.
It’s clear now that there’s more to online gaming than meets the eye, but the best thing you can do is to monitor and guide your kids well; they are still children after all. Even if there are good things that they can learn from it, you must be there to teach them how to play in moderation. When you manage to do that, you’ll be amazed by the positive effect online gaming can have on your kids.