I don’t know about you, but it seems that there’s less peace and quiet in everything these days. I’m a full-time working man trying to make it in life. also trying to make it on Medium as well. You can only imagine how full the days are. There’s stuff to do at work, and then there’s more stuff to do at home. Everywhere you turn these days, you feel like someone’s throwing one more piece of crap that you have to handle, whether you like it or not. So, where is a man supposed to find his little downtime? Where can a person go to get rid of stress? Where can he block out the world? Where does he go to forget that he even has troubles? Nowhere except my sanctuary, a place called games.
At first glance, it may seem paradoxical that the person who was juggling 35 balls at once in the real world would choose to enter the thrilling, yet chaotic, world of video games. My days were full, which I loved. I loved my life; it was good. But at the same time, what was the appeal?
Key to this is that gaming, especially with Dota 2, provides competition, but more importantly, it provides social interaction. Though virtual, the friends made remain real, and the alliances and cooperation with other players feel real, especially when working together to achieve one goal, which is to win. In a world where meeting and socializing with others face-to-face is becoming rarer, this brings a sense of togetherness and community, which is brought about by, and experienced in and through, virtual reality.
Furthermore, gaming is a mental retreat: a skill-based, strategy-heavy domain of rules where solving gritty, complex problems. It offers mulligan-less relief from preoccupations and renegade thoughts, forcing hyper-focus that enables another mental space — the now, in the hangar, but also the adrenaline of competition and the just-in-the-nick-of-time satisfaction felt when outclassing foes.
On the other hand, Dota 2, like many other competitive video games, can be incredibly tense. When playing online, you are always at the mercy of fluctuations in your teammates’ gameplay. Sometimes the stresses of gameplay can spin out of control, leading to a horrible, ugly, and frustrating situation. And after experiencing this kind of stress, add to it the intense turbulence of your teammates’ communications, and everyone is yelling and cursing windstorms of emotion-free to disrupt anything they touch. Just as playing and competing can help children build a sense of mastery and equanimity, these sorts of experiences can help them to learn how to regulate their emotions and build resilience in the face of frustration, disappointment, and setbacks.
Similar to any exercise, overusing a game as a beneficial recreational activity can produce negative effects
Aside from being fun, gaming also provides an incredible opportunity for self-improvement. Gaming requires an intense amount of effort to master.a
What do you think?