Games That Teach You Lessons For Reality

Key Takeaways

• Video games offer real-life lessons like perseverance and efficient resource management.
• Games like Crusader Kings show how to manage a company hierarchy effectively.
• Shin Megami Tensei teaches you how to make friends in unexpected places.

Growing up, plenty of people viewed spending all day playing video games as a waste of time. What’s the point when you could be playing football or, like, studying business or something. Aside from being able to do things for fun, games can give you plenty of direction in life.

No piece of art is divorced from the environment in which it was created, and that imparts some real-life wisdom, too. Always save your progress, protect your friends, that kind of stuff. Games teach you plenty of lessons, even if you’re not aware of it.

10

Pokemon Sleep

Maintaining A Good Sleep Schedule

Plenty of people in this digital age struggle to turn off. Long gone are those days of blissful sleep when you’re slumber on the sofa and be gently carried to bed. Now you have a phone beaming into your eyes 24/7 with very poor blue light filters. You must be exhausted.

Well, Pokemon Sleep exists at the intersection of good sleeping habits and technology. Why give up games for a good night’s sleep when games can be the thing to give it to you? Pokemon Sleep wants you to do just that – sleep! So go ahead and game in your dreams instead.

9

Crusader Kings

How To Manage A Business

Really, you can do quite a lot of things in Crusader Kings. Create new religions, form nation states that have never existed before, and even find lifelong love. All things that are quite difficult in real-life. But more than anything else, Crusader Kings shows you how to form an effective company hierarchy.

You sit at the top of your own personal food chain, be you king or count. No matter where you stand, you need to assemble a court, you need to manage the taxation of your property, you have to hold a standing army. All while balancing your personal life? Crusader Kings teaches you how to handle it all like a real leader.

8

Dark Souls

A Lesson In Perseverance

What is likely the first thing you do once you step into the world of Dark Souls? You die. And then maybe you die again. Perhaps you then defeat a few enemies, make a bit more progress, and then die again. And do you ever give up during that? Oh, not only do you not give up, you come back even more determined.

Dark Souls teaches you to never give up until you have achieved your goal? You want to defeat tyrannical gods? Why, they have to succeed every time to survive. You only need to do so once. You’ll never know where you’ll get in life if you just keep at it. Each failure is a stepping stone to success.

7

Animal Crossing

Keep In Touch With Your Friends

Few games use the same clock as we do in reality as it can make the act of playing difficult, only being able to log in after work, school, and so on. Animal Crossing holds steadfast to using our own passage of time, because it has an important message to impart.

Talk to your friends. Take some time to relax. You never know when you might get caught up in your work and then suddenly your best friend is moving on to greener pastures. Life can pass you by if you don’t take a moment to stop. Take the time to spend a day with your very own Raymond so you’re not blindsided by them leaving.

6

Shin Megami Tensei

You Can Be Friends With Anyone

tIt’s hard to make friends sometimes, isn’t it? As a child it felt so simple, but an adult in the workplace can find it difficult to make that connection when you’re on such a strict schedule. Shin Megami Tensei is here to show you that the greatest of friends can come about in the most unlikely of places.

You think your co-worker (a Slime) seems a bit abrasive? Maybe you’re just taking the wrong approach. That barista (Pixie) you talk to on your daily commute? Maybe a small tip is just the conversation starter you need. Your boss is a bit of a Jack Frost? Well, you don’t need to be friends with your boss. There are plenty of others, in every part of life.

5

1000xResist

Communication Is Key

No one likes a dysfunctional work environment. Have you ever been the youngest person in your job, and everyone else just feels so superior to you? Maybe it’s all in your head, maybe you think you’ll learn from observation. But that can lead to all kinds of misunderstandings.

In 1000xResist, you play as a Watcher. She watches. But that makes a lot of people quite uncomfortable, and Watcher doesn’t always come to the right conclusions. But what happens when she finally speaks up? A whole new world opens to her, and the same is true for you. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. At least you’ll know where you stand.

4

Monster Hunter

Animals Are Friends Of The Planet

On a surface level, Monster Hunter can seem like it’s all about hunting monsters to the point of extinction. You’re no better than a trophy hunter. But that’s just at first glance. You’re doing population control so that every animal can exist in tandem.

Think about it. Vigorwasps grant you healing, toads offer amazing combat benefits. Many of these creatures stimulate the soil, pollinate plants, and so on. You’re just another part of that system. So the next time you see a worm, think about how their wiggling is making the soil that much healthier.

3

Hitman

Dress For The Job

People always tell you to dress to impress, dress for the job you want, and so on and so forth. Usually, they just mean wear a fancy suit and tie, but how many people do you deal with during your day who wear a suit? Agent 47 knows that’s just not realistic.

You want to really fit the role. Dress as a clown for that kid’s birthday party, wear medical scrubs when you interview for a hospital, come with your own knives for that new restaurant opening. Take Agent 47’s approach. The right outfit can get you anywhere you want in life.

2

Resident Evil

How To Effectively Manage Your Resources

On September 29, 1998, Leon Kennedy goes to his first day at work, only to discover the entire police department has been infected and zombies prowl the halls. That’s not the worst thing though. How are you meant to do your job without a chain of command?

You improvise. You find what’s around you and you use it efficiently. A bullet to the leg to slow a zombie is more effective than multiple to the head that might not work. Apply that ethos to real-life. Think smart, not hard. Take the Leon approach.

1

Disco Elysium

Don’t Do Drugs

Really, there are a lot of lesson you could take away from Disco Elysium. Diminish the population of racists. Don’t be a class traitor. Pick up the trash to tidy the environment. But more specifically for Harry du Bois, do not, under any circumstances, take drugs.

Is that momentary high worth the lifelong damage to your health? Sure, you might feel like you can lift a truck, but you can’t. You will damage your body. Harry suffers from extreme amnesia, he’s calling up his ex-girlfriend on payphones. You don’t want to be like Harry.