I've recently sent a letter to PCGamer, and it's been published in this issue
Here's the letter:
Reason I wrote this was that I was preparing my CV and in the bit about hobbies and interests i had to think of stuff i like that isn't games related (and there is enough of it, its just that i do like games too). What if instead of hiding the fact that we play pc games we were able to declare the skills we got there. Not an excuse to submerge into a virtual word, but a right to say proudly that you run a clan or a guild or even moderate a forum.Dear PCGamer,
Will there ever be a time when “a keen RTS player” will be a welcome addition to ones CV? Don’t laugh. Hear me out.
It is accepted that being a captain of a school football (or any other sports for that matter) team carries certain responsibilities (like organising pub crawls) and will be a welcome addition to a CV. Even being a team member gives one team-working skills. But what about being a leader of a Counter-Strike clan? The endless war arranging, booking of servers for matches, recruitment and training of players, putting together teams for matches and often treasurer duties – all in a days work for a CL. Of course some of these duties may be delegated - a useful skill in its own right. If someone thinks this isn’t a lot of hard work, let me be the first to throw a stone at him.
But what of the games themselves? Even without the educational value of many a historical game we can see many useful skills being sharpened. Resource management (RTS, management sims, even CS), prioritising, working in teams, perseverance, analytical thinking, leadership, teaching (many a MMORPG noob were showed the ropes by a more experienced gamer), etc. Even disregarding 3D awareness, typing and hand to eye coordination we have a large array of skills being honed in gaming.
What do you think?