Whether video games really make you better at certain things is still being researched. Now, however, some scientists claim to have found that some skills can be measured better with games – for example, with Civilization VI.
What is this study about? A group of researchers from Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, and Germany (Münster) wanted to find out how well people’s skills can be assessed through video games.
To do this, they had 40 participants play Civilization 5, one of the most popular strategy games ever. The participants, 30 of whom were men, were on average over 24 years old and all were native German speakers and students in business-related fields.
After a preparatory period of one month, during which they were supposed to play Civ 5, they were tested in 10 four-hour LAN parties to see how good they really are. They had to play against each other. In the end, their achievements were evaluated.
The Civilization series is perhaps the most famous work of Sid Meier, an absolute legend in the gaming industry:
This is the result: After the tests, the participants were evaluated in various categories, such as problem-solving, organization, planning, and communication. The researchers draw the following conclusion:
The […] analysis suggests that participants with higher scores in Civilization, on average, have significantly better problem-solving, organization, and planning skills than participants who performed worse in the game. This result suggests that success in the game is positively linked to these two competence dimensions.
It is important to note that the researchers do not explicitly say that gaming makes you better managers. The result merely shows that someone who is good at Civ also has strengths in management – or vice versa.
You can find the complete research paper in English titled “Good gamers, good managers? A proof-of-concept study with Sid Meier’s Civilization” as Open Access at Springer Link.
Video games as a measure of skills in real life
According to the researchers, a strategy game like Civ can determine how good someone is in terms of planning. According to the paper, such methods are useful for testing skills that would otherwise be difficult to verify.
The advantage of this “gamification,” as they call it, is that participants have less fear of the tests and are subconsciously assessed. In further research, they want to test more skills in strategy games.
Video games are also becoming increasingly interesting for science. We already spoke with 2 researchers in 2019 who specifically deal with video games:
We asked scientists: Why do we play games? This is the answer
