Parents can play together with their kids

Games don’t just help us learn hard skills, either. More and more research is finding that video games effectively teach important soft skills like teamwork, critical thinking, and decision-making.

Games can also help us learn physical skills, even ones as fine-tuned as conducting surgery. Level Ex, a Chicago-based game company, specializes specifically in teaching medical professionals through games.

Video game companies have embraced this new frontier of gameplay. As Yannis Mallat discussed with the ESA’s Stanley Pierre-Louis at Games for Change 2019, Ubisoft has made educational games one of their main priorities. Riot and Ubisoft have also launched free titles to help people learn how to code by playing games. Properties like Minecraft: Education Edition have applications in geography, history, physics, and engineering. The Nintendo Labo is being used in classrooms around the world.

From medicine and health to industry and education, it’s clear that we’re only just figuring out the many different ways games can better our lives.