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Some common misconceptions regarding online gaming communities are that they don’t benefit society and only have negatives attached. While it’s true that online gaming communities can have harmful consequences for individuals under certain circumstances, the same can also be said of other online communities. Therefore, I firmly believe that online gaming communities positively impact society as they have various positive societal impacts.
Gaming allows you to meet new people virtually and form online friendships. For example, when you play a game with a team-based mode such as Valorant or League of Legends, you must work with your team members to perform well. In gaming together, you might develop a strong connection with someone on your team, have a pleasant conversation over chat or audio, and add them as an in-game friend. In effect, every time you load up that game from then on, you now have someone else you can game with. If you manage to make many in-game friends, you now have an online community of your own! These types of interactions are especially important for vulnerable populations, such as those with disabilities and social anxiety, as they allow them to interact with others without feeling uncomfortable or pressured like they would in real life. For more information on exactly how vulnerable populations are helped by online gaming communities, check out this insightful article.
According to research, $83 million was donated to charities and other nonprofit organizations from gamers through Twitch in 2020. This is an impressive amount of money, considering that 2020 was the peak year of COVID-19 when there was a lot of uncertainty in society. Regardless of this uncertainty, online gaming communities worldwide still pooled money together and contributed to the betterment of society, thereby demonstrating social responsibility. This is why I’m certain that the amount donated this year (2024) through Twitch has surpassed $83 million with the end of COVID-19. What’s even more impressive is that this number doesn’t reflect money donated from gamers through other means such as YouTube, GoFundMe, or in-person donations, among others. In short, the $83 million donated through Twitch in 2020 is just one of many examples of gamers coming together and contributing to charitable causes.
When you compete against other people in any activity, you must devise a strategy to outsmart them and ultimately win. By doing this regularly, you will gradually increase your cognitive ability. Winning against other gamers in online gaming communities is no different! For example, when you play against real people in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, you can’t blindly charge at them in the open and expect to win. If you do this, you will die very quickly. Instead, you must strategically move around the map, utilize cover, and surprise the other players to neutralize them. In short, by regularly competing against other gamers, you are effectively putting your cognitive ability to the test since you must constantly find ways to outsmart others if you want to stay on top. If you are looking for games that’ll test your smarts against other people, here are the most popular PvP games on Steam.
While
online gaming communities may provide different types of benefits compared to
those offered by other online communities, these benefits achieve the same
purpose of improving the overall well-being of individuals. In short, they
allow you to contribute to both the betterment of society and your own lives.
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