Video games are often the target of bad
press. Broadcast and print media frequently portray the newcomer to the
entertainment stage as second-rate, childish entertainment, and relegate it to
a discussion of how it is bad for children, and in recent years, its so-called
effect on encouraging violence amongst the youth.
And yet, when two young engineers, Lyle
Timm and Christo Murray, explained the problems Eskom was having with its
maintenance schedules to Eskom’s new CEO Brian Molefe, he exclaimed that it was
a lot like Tetris, a game designed by the Russian Alexey Pajitnov and released
in 1984. By redesigning their maintenance model into a new ‘Tetris’ model,
Eskom has been able to keep South Africa free of load shedding for more than a
100 days now.
And perhaps it is Brian Molefe’s experience
with games that has enabled him to turn around a struggling Eskom. Several studies over the years have shown how
video games teach problem solving skills and enhance creativity. It has been
shown to improve not only visual contrast sensitivity, but also improved
spatial attention, reduced impulsiveness, and even helps in overcoming
dyslexia. In terms of executive functioning, video games have been found to
improve your ability to multitask, it increases your mental flexibility, and,
given the age gamers are reaching lately, has even been shown to reduce the
mental decline that occurs with age.
If a knowledge of video games was able to
achieve Eskom’s turnaround, how is it that they’re perceived as childish? This
can be attributed to the fact that old media often seem to view the new as a
threat, and try to incite a moral panic among the older members of society, who
frequently don’t understand the new media well enough, and don’t realize what
wild exaggerations are made in regards to it.
That is because despite portrayals of video
games as a ‘child’s toy,’ that age of the average gamer is 35 years. 44% of all
gamers are female by this point, making it no longer a male-dominated medium. Only
26% of gamers are under the age of 18 – and a good thing too for the industry,
since 8 out of the top 20 best-selling games of 2014 was rated M for Mature. If
you are a parent, please take note of the ratings. Games aren’t just rated
mature because of violent content – this is also for more… shall we say,
esoteric concepts you might not want your child yet exposed to. Or maybe you
like explaining the concept of nuclear annihilation to a 13-year old?
And for those claiming video games is
second rate entertainment, it would perhaps surprise you to learn that the
video game industry is about twice the size of the film industry. Worldwide
box-office revenue for the film industry in 2013 was US$ 35.9 billion, compared
with video games’ US$ 70.4 billion. In fact, with the release of Fallout 4 on
10 November 2015, it had US$ 750 million worth of sales in the first 24 hours.
The record is currently held by GTA V, which in 2013 had US$ 800 million worth
of sales in the first 24 hours, and hit US$ 1 billion in sales by day three. By
contrast, in the movie industry the fastest film in history to hit US$ 1
billion, The Avengers, only managed it in 19 days.
Even in people’s daily jobs, video games
improve performance, especially in jobs that require hand-eye coordination,
attention, a good working memory and quick decision making. In surgeons
specifically, young inexperienced surgeons who were also video gamers
outperformed experienced surgeons in their field!
Even in corporates such as SAP and Amazon,
games have started to influence the work environment. The concept of
Gamification, where game-design elements and game principles are being employed
in non-game contexts, has revolutionized the approaches of several companies.
It has used to not only increase user engagement, but also increase organizational
productivity, and its finding its way into employee recruitment and evaluation
as well.
Of course, in Africa, video games are still
just a small piece of the entertainment pie. In South Africa, its only about
3.4% of consumer spending – but it’s still a N$ 2.5 billion industry that’s
rapidly growing. Significantly in Africa, it appears that social games are the
fastest growing market, with social gamers (in Facebook or on mobiles) expected
to double by 2019.
And Namibia is not far behind – especially
when I consider the amount of Candy Crush requests I receive on Facebook.
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