It
may be hard to imagine that personal
growth and acquisition of real life skills can occur in video
games, but MMORPGs are highly social and structured environments where
important lessons are being learned every day. MMORPGs offer teenagers
a safe space for identity
and role exploration. Where else can a teenager lead a group of
players who are most likely all older than him? More importantly,
these environments can empower players in ways that transfer to the
real world, and not
only for teenagers.
Last year, I was elected as the leader of the guild I'm part
of. At first, I was a bit concerned about my ability to organize
100 some people from all over the world, but the experience made
me feel very empowered, and I've recently made the decision to
pursue a career in design, something I've always wanted to do,
but was afraid to. It's hard to describe very eloquently why EQ
helped me feel like I could do it ... but it has. It's given me
confidence in myself and that gave me the push I needed to make
a "scary" real life decision. [f, 34, EQ]
The social
skills learned in these environments are highly transferable
to real life. After all, providing leadership for and managing over
100 people is an incredibly complex task no matter where it occurs.
What’s even more interesting is that leadership
training is an emergent function of these environments. It prompts
us to wonder how effective these worlds might be if they were specifically
designed as educational
mediums.
See also:
- Therapeutic
Spaces
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