Over the last 20 years, online gaming has gone from a niche hobby to mainstream entertainment, with millions of people gaming online every single day. But how do you know whether it’s the right hobby for you? Well, if you are considering taking up online gaming or getting more serious about the games you already play, it makes sense to weigh up both the pros and the cons involved. Read on to find out more.
Pros of online gaming
Entertainment
We cannot deny one of the main motivating factors for online gaming, that it’s super fun. Online gaming provides a great opportunity to play either alone or with friends and to escape from the daily stress of life. In this way, it offers an excellent way to relax and have fun, which is an excellent alternative to the more passive entertainment forms such as television and film. Indeed, it’s worth noting that the gaming industry rivals other creative mediums, producing games with both award-winning stories and visuals, such as The Last of Us, Red Dead Redemption 2, and The Witcher 3.
Social international
Another major benefit of online gaming is that it provides the opportunity for quality social interactions with both friends and strangers if you choose. This is because many online games have a multiplayer mode, which means many different players can play in the same environment at the same time. In this way, players can interact with one another, forming teams and parties to achieve their goals.
One of the great things about using online gaming for social interaction is that the people playing do not have to be in the same physical location. In fact, people from all over the world can, and do, meet up online to play games together.
It’s also incredibly easy to communicate and interact with others in online games because most have both voice and text chat features. Although many gamers like to use third-party communication apps such as Discord.
Cognitive health
The next major benefit to playing games online is that they can be excellent for boosting cognitive health. The reason for this is that many games require good problem-solving skills in order for players to progress. This means that players will be challenged in this cognitive area, and so practice those skills when playing.
In fact, there are many different cognitive skills that online gaming encourages in addition to problem solving, including focus, memory, strategic thinking, and even fast decision-making. All of which can be honed by playing games online.
Wide range to choose from
Many people are surprised by the sheer number of different genres of games that can be played online. In fact, there is something for just about everyone, from simple browser games to real-time strategy games (RTS), to much more complicated and advanced MMORPGS like World of Warcraft. All you need to do is track down the type of game you most enjoy.
Cons of online gaming
Cost
What is a potential downside of online gaming is that it can become an expensive hobby. This is because both games and the hardware to play them on can cost a significant amount of money. This tends to be particularly the case if you are using a top-of-the-range console such as a PS5 or Xbox One, or a gaming PC.
However, it is worth noting that, by making smart choices, you can keep the cost of online gaming fairly low. For example, there are incredibly fun browser-based games like this retro inspired minesweeper that you can play completely free online. You can even change the level of difficulty when you play, so you can increase the challenge when you ned it. There are also platforms such as Steam that offer games for PCs at a much lower price, and you will find them in stores or on consoles.
Lifestyle concerns
Another concern about online gaming, which is discussed frequently, is the issue of it encouraging a more sedentary lifestyle. Unfortunately, sedentary lifestyles are associated with greater health risks such as increased risk of heart disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes and more.
With that in mind, if you choose online gaming as your primary hobby, it is important to take steps to mitigate such issues. These could include getting plenty of exercise throughout the day. Getting up from a sitting position, walking around and stretching at regular intervals and even choosing more active games such as Wii Active Ring Fit Adventure. Some people even do rounds of exercises and weights as they are waiting for games to load!
Online safety risks
Just like anything in this world, online gaming isn’t a hundred per cent perfect either. In fact, there have been some recent stories about just how toxic other players can become. Then there are the risks of playing games where you could be surrendering your data and privacy. There could even be scams masquerading as games online, so you must do your diligence and check not only that the game is legit, but also what information it’s okay to share and what information you need to keep private. It’s also crucial that you monitor any children playing online games to ensure that they are not exposed to any inappropriate content or communications.
Time management
Last of all, some people worry about the time management challenges that online gaming can cause. Essentially, the issue here is that games can be so fun to play. It’s very easy to lose track of time and spend more of your day playing them than you would choose to. This kind of course has knock-on effects such as impacting the amount of time, focus and energy you have left to do the important things in the day, such as work, chores, or study.
Happily, it’s pretty easy to get around this problem by setting yourself an amount of time to play online games before you begin. You can even set a timer to remind you when to take a break from online gaming, or to get on with other tasks, so it doesn’t end up taking over your entire day.
