5 Video Games That Teach Social Skills

Video games are known for their positive effects on humans. No wonder many people play them, and in American schools, they are used for developing different abilities, including social skills. Let us talk about what these games are and find out some examples.

Civilization

From Cleopatra and Genghis Khan to Catherine the Great and Theodore Roosevelt, these characters take on the roles of famous political leaders in this iconic turn-based strategy game series. Each country you control has its own unique buildings, units, and bonuses. The game develops not only the skills of strategy but also diplomacy – you will repeatedly have to participate in negotiations with the leaders of neighboring states.

The potential of the game was also noticed in the educational area, and it is planned that a special version of Civilization will be used in American schools for educational purposes.

StarCraft II

This game teaches you how to make decisions, such as whether to immediately send troops to attack or whether it is better to wait until you develop your technologies. The game also develops time management skills: the outcome of the battle may depend on when exactly you create squads of soldiers and make the necessary improvements.

The phenomenal impact of the game on intelligence has attracted the attention of Google DeepMind. Last November, the company entered into a partnership with the game developer Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II will be a testing ground for exploring the possibilities of artificial intelligence.

Portal

This is a challenging space puzzle. The gameplay is concerned with the portal gun: this device creates portals for solving different logical tasks in space. This is quite helpful for developing spatial imagination and logic. Moreover, one needs to think about all the moves and even learn some physics.

There is also an educational project based on this game. The developing company provided American schools with a free version, which teachers are utilizing for the development of different skills, including social ones.

Minecraft

Minecraft is a huge ‘sandbox’ where you can build almost anything from pixel blocks. Such unlimited creative freedom is very attractive to people of all ages. That is why Minecraft is the most popular game in the history of Youtube – in total, there are about 42 million videos with it.

The game helps to think logically and be more creative. In 2014, Microsoft acquired Minecraft, and the company is going to actively develop the educational direction of the game. With the help of an educational version Minecraft Education Edition, it is planned to teach history, mathematics, physics, and programming.

Hearthstone

This is a card game that looks simple, but the thinking process that is needed is a big one. The gamer involves strategies to choose correct actions and compile a good game. The good thing about this option is that it is convenient for playing on different devices, including phones. Altogether, these games prove the ability to have a positive influence on us. Therefore, do not hesitate to use them for the development of the needed skills and for children also.