SKILLS NEEDS REQUIRED IN GAMIFICATION

When your child plays video games, it gives his brain a real workout. In many video games, the skills required to win involve abstract and high level thinking.  

1. Memory – Playing first person shooter games such as Call of Duty and Battlefield series enables the player to effectively judge what information should be stored in his working memory and what can be discarded considering the task at hand, according to a study published in the Psychological Research.
2. Quick thinking, making fast analysis and decisions.  Sometimes the player does this almost every second of the game giving the brain a real workout. 
3. Accuracy – Action games, according to a study of the university of Rochester, train the player’s brain to make faster decisions without losing accuracy. In today’s world, it is important to move quickly without sacrificing accuracy.
4. Strategy and anticipation – Steven Johnson, author of Everything Bad is Good For You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter, calls this “telescoping.” The gamer must deal with immediate problems while keeping his long-term goals on his horizon.
5. Situational awareness – – Defense News reported that the Army include video games to train soldiers to improve their situational awareness in combat. Many strategy games also require the player to become mindful of sudden situational changes in the game and adapt accordingly.
6. Developing reading and math skills – The young gamer reads to get instructions, follow storylines of games, and get information from the game texts.  Also, using math skills is important to win in many games that involves quantitative analysis like managing resources.
7. Perseverance – In higher levels of a game, the player usually fails the first time around, but he keeps on trying until he succeeds and move on to the next level.
8. Pattern recognition – Games have internal logic in them, and the player figures it out by recognizing patterns.
9.  Concentration – A study conducted by the Appalachia Educational Laboratory reveal that children with attention-deficit disorder who played Dance Dance Revolution improve their reading scores by helping them concentrate.
10. Improved ability to rapidly and accurately recognize visual information – A study from Beth Israel Medical Center NY, found a direct link
    
    between skill at video gaming and skill at keyhole, or laparoscopic, surgery. Another study found that people who play video games on a regular basis are better at registering visual data and are therefore quicker visual learners. They are also more resistant to perceptual interference, and are therefore able to learn for a longer period of time in distracting environments.
11. Reasoned judgments
12. Taking risks – Winning in any game involves a player’s courage to take risks. Most games do not reward players who play safely.
13. How to respond to challenges
14. How to respond to frustrations
15. How to explore and rethink goals
16. Teamwork and cooperation when played with others – Many multiplayer games such as Team Fortress 2 involve cooperation with other online players in order to win. These games encourage players to make the most of their individual skills to contribute to the team. According to a survey by Joan Ganz Cooney Center, teachers report that their students become better collaborators after using digital games in the classroom.
17. Management – Management simulation games such as Rollercoaster Tycoon and Zoo tycoon teach the player to make management decisions and manage the effective use of finite resources. Other games such as Age of Empires and Civilization even simulate managing the course of a civilization.
18. Simulation, real world skills.  The most well known simulations are flight simulators, which attempt to mimic the reality of flying a plane. All of the controls, including airspeed, wing angles, altimeter, and so on, are displayed for the player, as well as a visual representation of the world, and are updated in real time.
19. Video games introduce your kid to computer technology and the online world.  You should recognize that we are now living in a high-tech, sophisticated world.  Video games make your kid adapt and be comfortable with the concepts of computing.  .
20. Video games make learning fun.   Your kid likes games because of the colors, the animation, the eye candy, as well as the interactivity and the challenge and the rewards of winning.  The best way to learn is when the learner is having fun at the same time.  
21. Video games can make your kid creative. 

RAISE SMART KID. The possitive and negative effects of video games[en línea]. [Fecha de consulta: 20 de diciembre de 2016]. Disponible en internet: http://www.raisesmartkid.com/3-to-6-years-old/4-articles/34-the-good-and-bad-effects-of-video-games