DEV Community

Cover image for What are the real world benefits to computer gaming?
Helitha Rupasinghe
Helitha Rupasinghe

Posted on

What are the real world benefits to computer gaming?

Top comments (4)

Collapse
 
jcs224 profile image
Joe Sweeney

When I was very young, I started playing games on our household computer. I had to figure out how the computer worked so I could open the games we had, as well as install new games. Most of the games had to be opened in DOS, so it involved opening the command line most of the time, and punching in the path to the game or whatever.

I was too young to read well at this time, but was so hooked on games that I learned how to read manuals just enough to get things to work (probably a bit of help from my parents too, but I don't quite remember). I also figured out how to play an audio CD through DOS for some reason.

Later on, when Minecraft came out, I hosted servers for my friends to game on. Through that, I also learned a great deal about navigating and maintaining a Linux server. That skillset ended up helping me landing me a job right out of college working IT at the college itself!

I don't game nearly as much as I used to, but I'm pretty confident I wouldn't have a career in tech today if it hadn't been for gaming.

Collapse
 
hr21don profile image
Helitha Rupasinghe

Thank you for sharing!

Collapse
 
lexlohr profile image
Alex Lohr

Computer games are a means of recreation, allowing prople to unwind and forget their daily toil. They have also evolved into an art in their own right. So they partially benefit the mental health of the population, while at the same time being a form of expression for the developers, enhancing their means of free speech.

Collapse
 
hr21don profile image
Helitha Rupasinghe

Thank you for posting this! 👍