Introduction
At Hobbyask, we love all things gaming and it’s actually something we’ve talked about in the past regarding its status as a hobby and why it’s continued to grow into one of the most popular pastimes in the world.
Games can transport you into completely new worlds filled with fantasy creations and awe-inspiring landscapes that make you never want to log out of them at the end of a long gaming marathon.
Not only that, but there’s so much culture that is centered around the games you play meaning you can really form a strong identity and meet like-minded people to share those experiences with.
Better yet, the future is even more exciting and we have high hopes for this industry to completely flip us on our heads again in terms of revolutionary tech that smashes our expectations of what we thought was possible.
Without further deliberation though, let’s take a look at our top reasons why we think gaming is a good hobby that almost anyone can enjoy.
Epic Loot or Pwning n00bs?: 9 Reasons Why Gaming is a Great Hobby
1. Gaming is a cost-effective hobby
Compared to other hobbies that have high on-going costs and even higher initial costs, gaming completely dwarfs them as being one of the most cost-effective solutions to your boredom ever invented.
Relatively speaking, the initial cost of gaming PCs and games consoles can be expensive, however, it’s worth bearing in mind that it’s very uncommon for them to ever break down meaning for less than $1000 (in most cases) you can cure ten years worth of boredom.
When you put it into perspective like that, it’s basically impossible to find another hobby that has quite the same longevity and can provide as much on-going entertainment as games can.
Yes, you’ll occasionally need to splash out $50-60 every now and again on the latest game, however, this will often provide you with months of pleasure compared to say driving your car which would cost hundreds if not thousands for the same amount of time driving around.
2. Gaming can help you make friends
Gamers are often thought of as reclusive introverts that rarely go out of their way to speak to people or make friends, however, this stereotype is proven wrong on a regular basis especially when you jump into popular multiplayer games like WoW that has you frequently playing with over twenty of your guildmates on a weekly basis.
It’s also the same for competitive games like shooters or MOBA games; since it’s not always easy to find gamers that you perform well with, when you do, something magical happens and you both want to blast hundreds of games together for fun.
Games can really help transcend barriers that would usually be apparent in real life — this gives people the confidence to be themselves and to talk to others without feeling like they’re being judged or labelled.
3. Gaming can improve your literary skills
Since you’ll be spending ample time communicating via typing, it’s not uncommon to find that your written language and literary skills get better the more you play games.
This translates very well when you eventually land a job that involves word-processing or where you need to communicate quickly to an email.
As gamers ourselves at Hobbyask, this has also translated into making us better typists when we’re formulating articles for our followers to read.
It’s not always clear the effects that various tasks and hobbies have on us in our day to day lives but this is why we would argue that gaming is an underrated learning format capable of giving much more than just mindless entertainment.
4. Gaming helps to expand your world view
As a gamer, especially in Europe, you’ll often be paired with people from various countries meaning you’ll have to interact, learn parts of their language, and get to know some of their traditions that you’ll inevitable discuss at some point during your gaming sessions.
For example, Swedish people love drinking Julmust which is a soft drink beverage consumed typically around Christmas time.
This is something we wouldn’t have known if our writers didn’t have these kinds of stories to share with us from things they learned in game.
Further more, it can also boost your confidence to speak to people who may not have the best ability to speak your language giving you both an opportunity to try bond over some common ground.
5. Gaming can make you a better leader
Another highly transferrable skill that can be used in various career paths is the skill of leadership.
This skill is particularly useful in a variety of games that require team tactics, quick thinking, and the ability to motivate people to push harder to beat a boss.
It’s quite common to expect the average person to laugh at you if you told them that you could become a leader through games, however, the situations in game often mirror many real-life situations such as war, problem-solving, and coming together to solve a common goal .
Having effective communication and leadership skills will help you shine not just in those tough moments in-game, but also when it comes to the crunch for you to motivate a workforce.
6. Gamers get the latest tech first
Most of the biggest innovations are made in the tech industry these days meaning gamers are often used as the guinea pigs to test out various aspects of this cutting-edge tech such as virtual reality.
The virtual reality headset is something that was first invented all the way back in 1968, however, it wasn’t a popular concept or very effective until around 2016.
Because of how popular virtual reality has become, we’re also starting to witness other industries such as the medical industry adopting this tech to help them with various tasks including surgery.
Without such a large population of gamers to take inspiration or critique from then we may not have had all the data that gave us clues on how to optimize tech like this.
7. Gaming let’s you play your favorite franchise characters
We all love movies but we often fantasize about the idea of being able to shoot webs from our hands or run at super speed.
This fantasy is realized for many gamers around the world who get to play some of their favorite characters from various franchises such as Spiderman, Dragon Ball Z, the DC universe, and even long-time favorites such as Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.
Games can help expand on already-established concepts that means you can really delve far deeper than would usually be possible in a movie or a TV show.
It’s simply not practical to spend hundreds of millions making actors act out hundreds of hours of scenes when you could just animate them in game, and this is one of the many reasons why games will remain the de facto choice for universe expansion for the foreseeable future.
8. Gaming is non-discriminatory
Our world is increasingly becoming a place that caters toward non-discrimination and assisting people that suffer from disabilities to feel more included; this goes for games too and it’s far easier these days to find accessible gaming kits that allow people to play games regardless of their disposition.
In fact, can you even think of a modern game that doesn’t include a color-blind mode these days?
Another important aspect when it comes to discrimination is often linked to physical deformities and/or the perceptions that other people may have regarding a person’s appearance.
When you’re in game, you don’t have to worry about what you look like and you can truly be appreciated for who you are inside as a person.
9. Gaming culture is the best
Due to how popular gaming is thanks to various internet mediums such as YouTube, Twitch, and of course the content creators who make the content, gamers have carved out a very solid spot as being one of the top cultures to be involved in.
There’s so much you can get invested in from gaming marathons, streaming sessions, gaming memes, forum discussions, and even dedicated games conventions all around the world.
This means all year every year you have something to do and it only keeps getting better.
Important Gaming Questions Answered
Is gaming a bad hobby?
First of all, let’s address the elephant in the room and ask whether gaming is a bad hobby.
After all, it has been demonized regularly in the past and still falls prey to negative press every now and then.
Well, to answer succinctly, we don’t think gaming is inherently a bad hobby but it does have the potential to be abused, and sometimes, can even have addictive mechanics baked into the games that we play.
These addictive mechanics such as random generation or slot-machine style reward systems (loot boxes) can definitely lead to obsessive behavior which in turn may have overarching negative causal effects that impact other aspects of your life.
In part then, the game developers need better regulatory measures in place to prevent attempts to exploit human psychology but people also need to be more mindful about any possible addictive behaviors they are displaying.
Why do parents hate gaming?
If you’re a teen or a young adult who still lives with their parents then you may experience negative passing comments about your gaming pastime.
This is partly to do with the fact that most older generations never grew up with games, therefore, don’t understand the joy they can bring, but also because they’ve grown up being exposed to negative news releases regarding games causing violence.
In most cases, it’s actually the competitive elements of gaming that can make people violent rather than the actual material.
With that said, there is some wisdom within the caution they advise and this is because it’s easy to become hooked on games that are specifically designed to get you hooked.
To answer then, it’s worth attempting to bridge the gap with your parents and try to get them to play your games so they can see why you enjoy it, however, you should also agree to be more mindful about any negative behaviors they observe or point out to you.
We also recommend prioritizing any basic life-enhancing tasks such as staying clean, getting some exercise, eating healthy, and making sure you get your studies completed.
Provided you meet all of these points then we don’t think gaming as as hobby should be stopped or banned as it can actually contribute to a more positive state of mind.
Relevant Articles
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- Here Are the 8 Best Closed Back Audiophile Headphones for Gaming
Conclusion
In conclusion, gaming is one of the best hobbies in the world that really unites everyone all over the globe to meet a common goal.
You’ll make some of the best friends in games and have some of the most challenging moments but this all adds up to one of the best experiences ever.
As always, if you enjoyed our article or found it informative then make sure to share on social media and feel free to save our homepage to your favorites.
If you’re looking to change up your hobby or want to find something new aside from gaming then we highly recommend checking out our list of hobbies as it features over 300 to choose from.
