Benefits Online Competitive Gaming
The social benefits of online competitive gaming are real and important as they provide gamers who may be socially awkward and isolated at school or work and outlet for human engagement by utilizing online computer games to interact in real-time with hundreds or even thousands of like-minded human players on a regular basis This sense of community, camaraderie and even the competition and team building are all important self-reported social benefits to avid gamers.
Video games have also been reported to help with learning, as well as provide high levels of motivation for learning (Sharritt & Suthers, 2011). Online competitive gaming has been reported to be used to promote second language skills, particularly in MMORPG (massive multiplayer online role-playing games) environments (Dixon & Christison, 2018). Such learning was reported to be a result of inherent collaboration and co-construction activity requirements and partly driven by a participant's high motivation to engage with the game in the required languages (Peterson, 2010, 2016) Such reports provide indications of both a social and cognitive benefit of online competitive gaming.
For online competitive gaming, physically disabled players can compete equally well if they are able to user upper body functions to operative the computer controls and their eyes and mind to think quickly. As quoted within Baig’s (2019) article, “Barlet of AbleGamers describes video games as ‘the great equalizer. You don’t know if I’m disabled. You just know that I’m an ogre or whatever character or manifestation I am in the game. To me, games are about community, about connecting with a shared experience.’” (para. 39). This last statement further illustrating the social benefit of games, but the most far-reaching real-life benefit of online gaming is its ability to bring the physical natures of competition, its intensity, concentration, enjoyment and collaboration, to a world of physically disabled people who without this virtual physical world would have no way to experience what it feels like to compete in such competitive sports. They are able to compete equally along-side with and against physically able competitors and make social connections by virtue of the social interactions afforded by online competitive gaming.