While video games used to have to contend with many prejudices, they have long since arrived in mainstream society. An impressive 8.5 billion euros in sales were made on the German gaming market in 2020 and professional gaming You Tubers delight GAMERS of fans. Universities and colleges have been offering courses in the areas of game studies and game design for several years, and applicants with an affinity for video games are also becoming increasingly interesting in the job market outside of the games industry.
One of the reasons for this is that the people who grew up with video games are now managers and decision-makers in companies. Accordingly, they react without prejudice when applicants state their gaming experience in their CV. Games, playable at any time, without expensive hardware? This is how cloud gaming works!
Well prepared for the modern professional world?
“One can say that games are miniature laboratories for learning systemic processes and playfully making use of them,” explains Dr. Hans Christian Schmidt. The media scientist researches game studies at the University of Cologne and teaches game design at the Macromedia University. “We know from game literacy research that computer games train problem-GAMERS skills, abstract thinking, organizational skills, hand-eye coordination, spatial imagination, and the ability to interact socially,” says Schmidt. Video games are therefore real soft skill boosters and impart skills that can also be useful in a professional context.
Scientific studies on the positive benefits of video games
As early as 2014, scientists from the University of Nijmegen summarized the positive effects of video games in a research paper entitled “The Benefits of Playing Video Games”. Their summary: Certain video games strengthen social, cognitive, motivational, and emotional skills. For example, players of first-person shooter games are particularly strong in the area of attention control, while players of massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft stand out through their communication skills and willingness to help.
Business IT specialist Alexander GAMERS and his colleagues from the University of Liechtenstein have also identified a concrete connection between video game skills and management qualities. Their proof-of-concept study found that students who scored high in the strategy game Civilization also had better problem-solving and organizational skills.
Include gaming experience in your CV – yes or no?
Whether or not you should state your video PG game experience on your resume also depends on the position you are applying for. Young start-ups are likely to react more positively to your gaming skills than conservative institutions.
“Indicating in your CV that you’re an expert in tactical strategy games or business simulations may already cast a good light on existing organizational skills,” says Dr. Hans Christian Schmidt. But one should also be aware that certain games are still associated with a kind of stigma in everyday discourse. Games that use manipulative design patterns to keep the player engaged through gambling-like mechanisms may not be a good resume reference.
As early as 2014, scientists from the University of Nijmegen summarized the positive effects of video games in a research paper entitled “The Benefits of Playing Video Games”. Their summary: Certain video games strengthen social, cognitive, motivational, and emotional skills. For example, players of first-person shooter games are particularly strong in the area of attention control, while players of massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as World of Warcraft stand out through their communication skills and willingness to help.
Business IT specialist Alexander Simons and his colleagues from the University of Liechtenstein have also identified a concrete connection between video game skills and management qualities. Their proof-of-concept study found that students who scored high in the strategy game Civilization also had better problem-solving and organizational skills Read More
