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Gaming for Workplace Development – How Virtual Worlds Foster Real-World Confidence

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online gaming for workforce development

The universe of online gaming is large and expanding. In 2024, the estimated revenue earned by the global online gaming market was close to US$28 billion.

Analysts expect it to grow at a steady pace of over 5%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$32.56 billion by 2027. If we look at the user penetration of online gaming, the practice is prevalent among one-fifth of the global population. By 2027, the number of users in the online games market is expected to run up to 1.3 billion.

The growth of online gaming has always had to swim against the tide of criticism. Hosts of research have tried to assess the negative impact of gaming.

Video game addiction, for instance, refers to the persistent and maladaptive pattern of video game-playing behavior, which could further be subcategorized into technological addictions and may include Internet/Online gaming addiction.

A 2017 report from the Psychiatric Clinics of North America stressed the excessive use of gaming and its psychosocial and medical consequences, which included problems at work, poor education, loss of hobbies, increased stress, decreased sense of well-being, maladaptive coping, epileptic seizures, motion sickness, headaches, dry eyes, obesity, tenosynovitis, and auditory hallucinations.

All these studies led to online gaming being seen in an unfavorable light. However, a recent study report published in Human Resource Development International contradicts this. Let us delve deeper to see how!

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Gaming for Workplace Skills!

The report, titled ‘Learning by gaming: nonwork-to-work enrichment among successful massively multiplayer online gamers,' claims to broaden the limited scholarship on employee enrichment experiences, extending our understanding of how an individual's hobby, as an understudied and critical part of the non-work domain, is associated with the work domain. In doing so, it challenges the common negative stereotypes about gamers, advocating the potential enrichment of workplace skills resulting from gaming during non-work time. 

In explaining their view, the report's writers said that online gamers learn by gaming. And that learning enriches their workplace skills. The time spent in such gaming was earlier perceived as a non-meaningful spending of time. 

According to Melika Shirmohammadi, assistant professor at the UH Cullen College of Engineering Division of Technology and a co-author of the paper:

“Online gaming often gets a bad reputation, but our study reveals a different story. We found that gaming can help people develop valuable workplace skills. These skills include problem-solving, teamwork, leadership, and even self-confidence. Our research shows that gaming, when done in moderation, can be a way for people to grow both personally and professionally.”

The study specifically focused on massively multiplayer online gaming, also known as MMO gaming. These are highly popular games that people play together in a virtual world. The varieties include games like World of Warcraft, Destiny 2, and Final Fantasy. These three games claim to involve a player base ranging from a minimum of 50 million to a maximum of over 150 million. 

According to Shirmohammadi:

“The purpose of the present study was to examine hobby – an understudied but prevalent part of the non-work domain – to understand if and how MMO gaming positively enriches employees' work domain.”

The qualitative study involved a total of 23 employed MMO gamers. These gamers are veterans in the gaming space in the sense that each of them came with an average video gaming experience of 20 years, and they played MMO games for at least 10 years. 

Playing these games required the gamers to excel on a variety of parameters, including the coordination of tasks to achieve collective goals, respecting team members, collaborating with other team members, and doing away with reckless or uncalculated behaviors.

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The Results of the Study

The study identified many distinguishable good qualities in these participating players who approached their work as solvable puzzles. Their gaming experience and involvement in goal-oriented games for hours led to improved patience when they encountered problems. They exhibited perseverance in solving these problems. 

Players also reported having developed self-confidence through games as they felt good about their level of success in the online gaming world. Many reported having developed a sense of self-awareness as they received feedback on their skills and kept playing side-by-side with other team members. Gaming also had a positive impact on the participants' coaching skills. These skills involved performance evaluation, providing feedback, instructing and inspiring others, etc. 

According to an IT specialist who is also an experienced gamer and participant in the process:

“I  deal with a lot of new people [at work]. Since I kind of go out of my way in the game to do all the coaching, I've become ahead of some of my colleagues in explaining how to do certain things [to new employees].”

Overall, the study showed that gaming is not at all counterproductive. Rather, it has several effective, behavioral, and cognitive learning outcomes that include approaching work as solvable puzzles, developing self-confidence and awareness, the ability to lead and work with a team, coaching and developing others, developing social connections, and resolving conflicts effectively. It also helps gain knowledge, set goals, strategize and plan accordingly, become adaptive and agile, and solve problems. 

Gaming is capable of imparting some larger workplace values as well that could prove effective in the greater social structure we live in. It helps motivate colleagues, find solutions, stand up against bullies, be proactive, and more. 

Large tech companies have been investing in gaming and developing enticing games for years now. To understand the nature and character of this space better, we would now look into some such companies.

1. Sony Interactive Entertainment (SONY +1.47%)

Sony is the most well-known in the online gaming world for its PlayStations. With the vision of becoming the best place to play and the mission of pushing the boundaries of gaming, Sony has – till September 30th, 2024 – sold 65 million units worldwide. PlayStation Plus has more than 47 million subscribers worldwide as of March 31st, 2023. The PlayStation network caters to 116 million Monthly Active Users as of September 30th, 2024. 

One of its most well-known games, Ghost of Tsushima, has sold more than 13 million copies globally across consoles and PC as of August 2024. The Last of Us has sold over 37 million units globally, while the “Horizon” franchise has sold over 32.7 million copies globally as of April 16th, 2023.

Sony Interactive, however, is not only focused on building a large customer base. Its larger aim is to push the envelope by driving the world forward with the power of play. While technology and innovation are its core strengths, the company makes it its prerogative to support communities, protect the planet, and create an inclusive world. 

The company also strives for healthy community building through its gaming products. It claims to be committed to providing a welcoming environment for everyone – including the youngest and most vulnerable players. To ensure that its gaming environment is a safe place to thrive, the company has introduced several technological innovations like advanced parental control, voice chat reporting, player education, and automated solutions supplemented by trained moderation and human oversight. 

The company is also revolutionizing human interactions in their games and virtual worlds by incorporating best-in-class AI agents that push for newer possibilities and deeper connections, both for players and developers. 

Under its initiative to train reinforcement learning agents for Video Games Reinforcement Learning, Sony inspires innovations through a rich landscape of tasks. These innovations may prove effective in a wide variety of other domains as well. 

Sony announced its financial results for Q1 FY 24 on August 7th, 2024. Within its gaming and network services division, which includes PlayStation, Sony's sales totaled approximately $6.18 billion, up 12% from $5.51 billion in the same period the previous year.

Sony Group Corporation (SONY +1.47%)

According to public reports, Sony expects its gaming revenue to grow in FY24 rather than decline slightly from its FY23 gaming sales of $30.5 billion.

Sony's operating income has also grown alongside its sales. It's roughly $465 million in operating income during Q1 FY24, representing 33% growth from the same period the previous year.

#2. Microsoft Gaming (MSFT +0.11%)

Microsoft's widely popular Xbox Game Studios comprise 23 game development studios, including the studios under Bethesda Softworks. The company has developed and published some of the biggest franchises in history, including the Age of Empires, Forza, Gears of War, Halo, Minecraft, Fallout, Microsoft Solitaire, Microsoft Flight Simulator, DOOM, The Elder Scrolls, and many more. 

The company believes that gaming should be made universally accessible as it makes life more fun for billions of people worldwide. They create gaming experiences that people enjoy. Microsoft believes XBox should lead to building a community that is inclusive of all, accessible to all, and safe for all. 

Microsoft believes multiplayer gaming worlds and the online universe related to it help build healthy human connections through digital citizenship skills so they can create communities of belonging wherever they connect.

On Safer Internet Day, the company asked its community to dive into its Cyber Safe: Good Game, the third map in the Cyber Safe collection of immersive Minecraft worlds designed to help young people stay safe, happy, and thriving online. The company created this new adventure to teach students the responsibilities, tools, responses, and strategies they need to foster digital well-being.

The Cyber Safe: Good Game is a one-hour learning experience that helps students aged 8–18 understand the tools available to them in the games they play to make their experiences more enjoyable, stressing the ways that codes of conduct amplify the positive connections and interactions young people experience online.

The company, in its attempt to introduce greater inclusivity, helped build the most accessible Forza Motorsport ever by bringing in Blind Driving Assists, features that help blind and low-vision players to use informational audio content during gameplay that will help them navigate tracks, improve their lap times, and complete races. 

The company also presented a rich bouquet of games curated by indigenous communities at Microsoft. 

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT +0.11%)

Microsoft released its financial results for Q1 2025 on October 31st, 2024. For the three months ended September 30th, 2024, the company had earned a revenue of US$65.6 billion (up 16% year-on-year). The Net Income was US$24.7 billion (up 11% year-on-year). The ‘More Personal Computing' segment, the one that includes Xbox revenue, was US$13.2 billion (up 17% year-on-year). 

3. EA Games (EA +0.35%)

Any discussion around online gaming goes incomplete without discussing Electronics Arts or EA. Mid-November 2024, the company came forward to support the Global Video Game Coalition's (GVGC) partnership with UNICEF and the newly established Game Changers Coalition, launched to equip adolescent girls with the skills and leadership to thrive in a tech-driven future. 

While speaking about the initiative and EA's support towards it, Kerry Hopkins, EA's Senior Vice President of Global Affairs, had the following to say:

“This initiative is a powerful opportunity to equip adolescent girls with the skills, leadership, and confidence they need to thrive in a tech-driven world. As an industry leader, we are committed to ensuring that the next generation of innovators, creators, and leaders are equipped to lead the future of the video games industry.”

Some of EA's most popular games include Apex Legends, The Sims, and most importantly, the soccer management series FIFA, now freshly rebranded as EA Sports FC. 

EA, staying true to its commitment to developing the next generation of leaders by investing in science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) education, launched a new digital education initiative, Play to Learn.

The company developed the game in collaboration with EverFi to offer online gaming and engaging simulations for middle and high school students to engage them on several topics, including binary numbers, scientific notation, the Pythagorean Theorem, probability, and basic coding language. The course modules are intended to reinforce the real-world application of these skills while getting students interested and excited in new career fields.

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA +0.35%)

On May 7th, 2024, the company announced preliminary financial results for its fourth quarter, and the fiscal year ended March 31st, 2024. Net revenue for FY24 was $7.562 billion, up 2% year-over-year. Net cash provided by operating activities was a fiscal year record $2.315 billion, up 49% year-over-year.

The Future of ‘Good Gaming'

Gaming and its positive effects are increasingly being recognized across the world. A Unicef study published in April 2024 claimed that video games could have a positive impact on children – if they're designed right.

This research was produced as part of the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) project, an international collaboration between organizations that believe the design and development of digital technology should support the rights and well-being of children. 

The research was produced in partnership with the University of Sheffield, New York University, City University of New York, and the Queensland University of Technology. The study found that well-designed digital games could help children experience a sense of control, have freedom of choice, experience mastery and feelings of achievement, experience and regulate emotions, feel connected to others and manage those social connections, imagine different possibilities, act on original ideas, make things, and explore, construct and express facets of themselves and others. 

While speaking about the larger impact of the research and its outcome, Bo Viktor Nylund, Director of UNICEF Innocenti, said:

“For decades, people have often assumed that playing video games is somehow bad for children, undermining their well-being. But our new study paints a far more complex picture – one in which these games can actually contribute to children's well-being and positively support them as they grow up.” 

Another review of research about to be published by the American Psychological Association says playing video games, including violent shooter games, may boost children's learning, health, and social skills. According to the author, playing video games could help children develop problem-solving skills.

Playing any kind of video game could also help enhance children's creativity. Games like ‘Angry Birds' improve players' moods, promote relaxation, and ward off anxiety, the study said.

Altogether, the popular perception that video games are bad has changed. It has changed for good as the scientific community keeps realizing its positive impacts.

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Gaurav started trading cryptocurrencies in 2017 and has fallen in love with the crypto space ever since. His interest in everything crypto turned him into a writer specializing in cryptocurrencies and blockchain. Soon he found himself working with crypto companies and media outlets. He is also a big-time Batman fan.

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