- The study looked at the relationship between video games and professional careers.
- Some specific games are more suitable depending on the profession.
- This is, for example, the case of strategic games for professional engineers.
What if video games allowed you to prepare for your future professional career? This is an odd question that researchers from the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom asked themselves as part of a study.
To try and see more clearly, the scientists recruited 16,033 participants who played different games on the Steam platform. In total, 800 titles of various genres were listed.
Role playing games for managers?
The study yielded some interesting results. It turned out that IT professionals and engineers who played puzzle games could improve their spatial skills.
Similarly, workers in managerial and leadership positions are interested in role-playing games as they require organizational and planning skills. Finally, scientists note that engineers like strategy games because they offer problem solving and space organization.
Following these findings, Anna-Stiina Wallinheimo, lead author of this study, believes that “in recruitment processes, the best candidates can be missed because organizations do not take into account the interpersonal skills acquired in the context of the activity. e.g. online games). »
And that is why candidates could try to emphasize these skills during the interview. While this idea sounds attractive on paper, it’s a little risky. Indeed, it is to be hoped that the recruiter will be open-minded enough to understand the game’s interest in skill acquisition, which is not necessarily won.
Even if this information is not used in hiring, it is nevertheless interesting and can allow stakeholders to move forward, and why not, have more fun doing their job.
This is not the first time games have been cited as an example in education. According to a 2021 study by researchers from Serbia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, video game addicted students also achieved better academic results.
Thus, the “work hard, play hard” phenomenon was observed. Good students set up a personal reward system for themselves: after a long repetition – a long phase of the game.