Online gaming and Studies

 Usually, relaxing for a few minutes after studying helps in rejuvenation of the whole study process. In fact, one of the things they teach you to do in lower classes is to take a few breaks in between studies. Especially for memorization, you are supposed to read/practice/make tattoos for some time and then take a five minute break every now and then. This break is as important as getting a good night's sleep before an examination or a presentation.

Keep this paragraph in mind, this will come to play later on.

Online gaming and studies - why this combination will not work

I write this article as the centre of the Venn diagram. On one hand, I am a video gamer, and on the other I am an Asian which means I study for most of my life. Will I apologise for proclaiming myself a part of a diagram? No! (Haha! Peaceful Sparta called himself a part of a diagram).

But unlike the author, the title of this essay is no joke.

Image source: http://video-gamz.blogspot.com/2011/07/online-game.html?m=1

1. Relaxation

Our story begins in Bhutan, circa 2020 (AKA the isolation year). I was having dinner after attending an online class, and decided to multitask. Using a chatting App, I talked to an old friend of mine who is now an educator. I said that I had some trouble concentrating on my studies at the time. He or she replied, "Well. Have you tried relaxing for a bit?" 

"Relax for sometime and then study" I looked at the sentence and realised just how much our technological advancements have impacted our studies. By "tech advancements" I mean the five to six other Apps on the same phone I was using.

After that conversation was over, I opened an online game. I'm not naming names but it rhymes with Pobile Regends: Clang Clang. As I was about to start a session, I realised that this form of gaming was not working as a form of relaxation.

Quick question.

Normal people play video games when they get free time, right? 

What do video game testers do when they get free time?

As a young Asian human who is on that fine line between contributing, controversial and a burden to society, I was quite used to playing video games from a very young age. It was only in the past ten years or so that I got into online video gaming. And let me tell you this – ONLINE VIDEO GAMING IS NOT RELAXING AT ALL.

2. Online games are stressful

Yes. For us 90s kids, the whole world is in a transitional phase. We were there when television and computers were blocky. We were the single player offline gaming generation. For the new kids, the computer is the television (or vice versa). I've seen kids whose age is a single-digit number get cozy with smartphones. For us, we didn't get actual smartphones till middle school. I know, because that's around the time I received my phone. But it wasn't a main form of gaming for me, rather, I'd prefer to play on my PlayStation. 

I simply cannot stress this enough, online games are stressful. In a conventional offline single player game you'd get the option to select your difficulty based on your preference. Sure, there are Top Ten Difficult Games such as Dark Souls but difficulty settings were the norm for us. We could play on brutal difficulty settings to challenge ourselves, but if we wanted a less challenging mode all we had to do was slide the difficulty setting to Easy.

Now, in online games this setting is not there. And it makes sense, you are playing using the internet to connect with players worldwide. Your difficulty is based on how the other players play. That is the basis of online games. Do not get the meaning of this article wrong - I'm not asking for gaming companies to install easier difficulty settings in their games.

What's the main point is that people understand just how much gaming has changed in the recent years. We have "Ranked Mode" which is exactly as it sounds. If you win you get to move on to the top tiers with more benefits. If you lose, you go down the snake and have to journey upwards all over again.

3. They are designed for you to lose (or you pay to win)

Some games are simply designed to make their players lose. It makes sense in the marketing point of view. If players find the game easy, they will finish playing in a short time - and no one will buy that product. But if they keep the games challenging, then the players will keep coming back for more.

This is what differentiates online games from the older games we used to play. While older games would be a form of relaxation, recent games make us always stay on edge to try and keep our ranks up, prevent major losses in our village and so on. For most people, it is not a relaxing experience.

Many players may be obsessively playing without even being fully aware of how much this daily online gaming is taxing on their minds. 

It is much more easier for us to access our mobile games. Who is going to set up a television and attach the wires to a PlayStation, when you can play games on your small, convenient smartphone? As a result, more players are gravitating towards mobile gaming.

What's more? This is where micro-transactions come in. Online video games give the gamer the choice to pay money - actual real world money - in exchange for making gameplay easier. Clash of Clans has green gems you can use to boost your production, speed up troops training and even get ready troops. There are other design features that Mobile Legends gives, you can buy a different cosmetic look for your character for diamonds. These are mostly cosmetic, but they also come with slight boosts to character abilities as well. In other words - players with these skins will have an edge over other players. And since the online gaming world is so competitive, players are willing to pay to get whatever edge they can.

Got to play... for nation... Gwarrr....

Others, like me, just collect the skins for collecting's sake. There is no realistic way in which I will be able to complete the collection without paying actual money. But we do it for the fun, anyway.

Bottom-line: Online video games have the potential to become a titan in issues which affect children/students today. 

Maybe they already are - detailed studies need to be taken in this field (for Bhutan especially), so that this trend of today does not harm the citizens of tomorrow.