Modern gaming is a world away from the old days of sketchy graphics and poor reaction times, with fully immersive experiences that help to transport consumers and provide endless hours of entertainment. From mobile, PC, and console gaming to online casinos, modern gamers have a luxury of choice, but the demands of gaming have also increased.
Gamers of all standards are able to enjoy a variety of great titles, with each genre exploring emerging technologies that provide the best experience. This has been shown to improve the cognitive skills of players, who have to combine problem-solving skills, a good memory, and the ability to physically control avatars on screen.
The multitasking element of gaming is often overlooked, but the best gamers are able to competently manage several key elements at once.
Bankroll Management
Online casinos have implemented the gamification of slots to include fun and exciting bonus rounds, but learning how to play and manage your finances adds a whole new element of excitement for gamers.
When looking for operators, online gambling expert Alex Hoffmann explains that some of the best options for Canadian players provide competitive bonuses that can improve the player’s bankroll. Many of these deals will include terms and conditions that impact how these bonuses can be spent and how many times bonus funds have to be played through before they can be withdrawn.
Not only do players then have to understand the rules of play, but keeping an eye on their winnings to determine how much they are spending or how many times bonus funds have been played can require a good multitasking brain.
Tracking Goals
It can be easy to get caught up in gameplay, with multiverse and roaming capabilities giving players endless opportunities to explore new areas and engage in a variety of tasks. However, learning how to combine the excitement of exploration with the ability to focus on a specific goal is important in many games.
Games will typically have an overall objective that can be achieved through completing a variety of other tasks. This can include finding and collecting items, which can be easy to forget in the heat of battle or when you are under attack.
The top gamers will become adept at carrying out multiple objectives at once, with the importance of some only being revealed in later stages of gameplay. Prioritizing is important, but so is managing all aspects of the game.
Monitoring Resources
While some players can get carried away with gameplay and forget objectives, others can face the same issues in games that require players to maintain certain essential resources. Fighting games may need players to stock up on ammunition or items that help with health, while other strategic games could have a focus on wealth.
Popular soccer management games require players to train their squad, deal with tactics, scout potential, and sign the best players possible. But players must also keep an eye on their finances, with things like player fees and wages having a big impact.
Learning when to sell assets or invest in the stadium to provide long-term stability is the things that players must learn. This must be done as the season moves on, and the manager also has to focus on league and cup games.
In open-world games where players attempt to build communities, resources are key to success. Building materials, defence against invasion, food and water, items that help with health, and other useful resources must all be collected and stored or traded. This will be done as the game moves along, making it easy to forget certain essential parts of it.
Communicating with Teammates
Online gaming has taken the world by storm, with players able to meet up with and communicate with other players from around the globe. This has helped to improve some games by adding teamwork into the equation, and good communication is the most important thing to consider.
Most modern gamers will play using a headset with an attached microphone to make this easier and enjoy more immersive soundscapes. If gamers are working in a team, they must learn how to communicate clearly and also how to follow instructions to get the best results.
This can have a steep learning curve at first, as players try to get used to playing and reacting to others. Lots of games require intense concentration, and being able to maintain this while communicating with teammates during action-packed moments of gameplay requires impressive multitasking abilities.
Streaming Performances
As well as playing and communicating with teammates, another modern phenomenon to hit gaming is the ability to stream performances. Certain platforms have grown around the desire of players who want to show their gameplay, and an audience that wants to see it.
In many cases, streamers can enjoy a good following on these platforms and other social media channels, turning it from a fun hobby into a lucrative career. However, this is easier said than done, and if you want to stand out from the thousands of other streamers, you must be engaging and entertaining.
All of this will come with practice, because nobody will tune in to watch someone who leaves dead air while they negotiate tricky parts of the game. Some players will talk directly about the game and their choices, providing instructional content for viewers. In other cases, players will be discussing other topics or chatting with other players for the purposes of entertainment.
Conclusion
Gamers have often been given a bad rep in the past, with accusations of laziness. However, the intense training that competitive gamers do goes to show that it is not as easy as just sitting in a chair and playing a game.
A massive part of modern gaming is being able to multitask, with standard platform games where you can move up, down, left, and right, mostly becoming a thing of the past. The immersive aspect of modern gaming requires gamers to carry out multiple tasks, consider theories and techniques, and react quickly and accurately to the environment they are playing in.