Business skills you can learn from video games

We’re a long way from the days of Pong. The video game industry often outperforms the movie industry in sales and even has a Smithsonian exhibit. One game even won a Grammy. But what can video games teach us about our day jobs? Here’s a look at 10 business skills, from team work and situational awareness to multi-tasking, that your favorite video games are helping you develop and that may help you avoid real-life boss battles.

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Memory

Action games, such as the Uncharted series, have been linked to better working short-term memory. In 2011, a study published in Psychological Research found evidence that those playing first-person shooter games did a better job of judging what information should be stored in their working memory and what was no longer relevant to the task at hand.

/ Sony via AP

Planning

SimCity maker Maxis says their classic title has inspired its players to become city planners and architects. The game, which asks players to build a thriving metropolis from scratch, gives players a fun way to learn about public transportation, taxes, pollution and cost of living. The American Planning Association, the trade association for urban planners, has said that SimCity has done more than dozens of books to get people excited about a career in urban planning.

/ Electronic Arts

Accuracy

It's a fast-moving world, and successful employees have to be able to move quickly without sacrificing accuracy. Action games such as the Call of Duty franchise, a study from the University of Rochester found, may lead players to make faster decisions without losing accuracy. The study split dozens of 18-to-25-year-olds into two groups. Those given action games were up to 25 percent faster at coming to accurate conclusions in later, non-gaming tests than those who played slower strategy games.

/ Activision

Problem-solving skills/Creativity

Games such as Angry Birds or Bad Piggies encourage players to come up with creative ways to solve puzzles and other problems in short bursts. But playing these type of video games has also been shown to help children become more creative overall. According to 2011 research from Michigan State University, video game playing was associated with greater creativity in a study of more than 400 12-year olds. The study also tested if computer, Internet or cellphone use had any effect on creativity — only videogame playing had any link to an increase in creative thought.

/ Rovio

Teamwork

Video games can help teams as well as individuals. Multiplayer titles such as Team Fortress 2 may encourage players to contribute individual skills toward a common goal, but playing video games together may help students learn to work together, too. A survey conducted by the nonprofit research Joan Ganz Cooney Center and the educational site Brain Pop found that 60 percent of teachers said that their students had become better collaborators after using digital games in the classroom two to four days per week.

/ Valve

Dance Dance Revolution is good for working up a sweat, but a <a data-xslt='_http' target='_blank' href='http://www.digra.org/dl/db/06278.02012.pdf'>2005 study</a> also suggested that the game helped children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder improve their reading scores by helping them concentrate. The study, conducted by the Applachia Educational Laboratory, looked at the behavior of just 62 students. Other studies, such as a <a data-xslt='_http' target='_blank' href='http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/ppm-1-1-62.pdf'>2012 paper</a> published in Psychology of Popular Media Culture, have found more mixed results. Researchers found games can hurt and help children's attention issues — improving the ability to concentrate in short bursts but damaging long-term concentration.

Concentration

Dance Dance Revolution is good for working up a sweat, but a 2005 study also suggested that the game helped children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder improve their reading scores by helping them concentrate. The study, conducted by the Applachia Educational Laboratory, looked at the behavior of just 62 students. Other studies, such as a 2012 paper published in Psychology of Popular Media Culture, have found more mixed results. Researchers found games can hurt and help children's attention issues — improving the ability to concentrate in short bursts but damaging long-term concentration.

/ Konami

Situational awareness

Games such as Zynga's Hidden Chronicles work off a player's ability to find objects hidden within a larger scene, testing a player's situational awareness. This isn't only good for spotting an anomaly on a spreadsheet — the U.S. government has used simulations to help soldiers on the battlefield. As Defense News reported, the Army included video games as a possible tool in a March request for products that will help soldiers train and improve their situational awareness in combat.

/ Zynga

Multi-tasking

Games such as Diner Dash require you to split your attention — pay attention to customers, watch your budget, etc. — and make a game out of multitasking. Actually, playing video games may help you multi-task more efficiently, according to a 2010 study conducted on vision and action games. The study, published in Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, suggested that gamers performed better when asked to add tasks to a main objective.

/ PlayFirst

Reading the market

Massively multi-player online role-playing games that draw millions of players from around the world into a fantasy universe of their own often have in-game marketplaces that benefit those who can read the supply and demand of finite resources. Games such as Eve Online and Guild Wars 2, pictured, have even hired economists to analyze the economies of their in-game worlds, The Washington Post reported.

/ ArenaNet and NC Interactive

Management

Management games require players to make management decisions — whether it's for a whole society in civilization or a more focused business, as in the Rollercoaster Tycoon series. Companies also build custom games to help with training and orientation, according to the Entertainment Software Association. In 2011, Sandia developed a model for the Customs and Border Protection that helps the agency figure out how to manage resources and personnel.

/ Atari

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

epa03708924 Franziska (C) wears a helmet and carries a shield during the recreation of The Battle of the Teutoburg Museum in Bramsche, Germany, 20 May 2013. The everyday life of Romans and the Germanic people is depicted at Museum Park Kalkriese during the Romans and Germanic people days. EPA/Friso Gentsch

Photos of the day

Battle of Teutoburg Forest reenactment, Mars Curiosity rover drilling, massive tornado strikes Moore, Oklahoma and more.

A Burrowing owl tries to perch on a protective rope in a public park in Cooper City, Fla. Monday, May 20, 2013 as rain falls. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Animal views

Fun and fascinating creatures around the world.

ANNAPOLIS, MD - MAY 20: The Herndon Monument Climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the United States Naval Academy. The plebes climb to the top of the lard-covered 21 foot high monument and remove the 'dixie cup' hat at the top replacing it with an upperclassman's hat. After completing this, the freshmen are called 'fourth class midshipmen.' This class completed the task in 1 hour 32 minutes and 43 seconds. The hat was placed by Patrick Lien from Orlando. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

The Herndon Climb

The Herndon Monument climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the U.S. Naval Academy.

This combination of Associated Press photos shows left, a neighborhood in Moore, Okla., in ruins on Tuesday, May 4, 1999, after a tornado flattened many houses and buildings in central Oklahoma, and right, flattened houses in Moore on Monday, May 20, 2013. Monday's powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999. (AP Photo)

Okla. tornado loosely followed path of 1999 twister

Monday’s powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the area in May 1999.

Lea Bessinger salvages a picture of Jesus as she and her son Josh Bessinger sort through the rubble of the elder Bessinger's tornado-ravaged home Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening an entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Tornado near Oklahoma City causes more damage

Rescue workers are searching for survivors after a twister carved a long path of destruction in a suburb of Oklahoma City. It was part of the...

FILE - In this undated publicity file photo, members of the Doors, from left, John Densmore, Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison, pose for a portrait. Manzarek, the keyboardist who was a founding member of The Doors, has died at 74. Publicist Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald says in a news release that Manzarek died Monday, May 20, 2013, at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family. (AP Photo, File)

Ray Manzarek, founding member of the Doors, dies at 74

Manzarek co-founded the Doors after meeting then-poet Jim Morrison in California. The band went on to become one of the most successful rock-and-roll...

US actress Rosario Dawson smiles on May 20, 2013 as she arrives for the screening of the film 'Wara No Tate' (Shield of Straw) presented in Competition at the 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes. Cannes, one of the world's top film festivals, opened on May 15 and will climax on May 26 with awards selected by a jury headed this year by Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg. AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO PIZZOLIALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images

Eye on entertainment

Rosario Dawson, Alec Baldwin, Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Bow Wow, Amy Poehler and more.

A man walks on sulphur and mineral salt formations near Dallol in the Danakil Depression, northern Ethiopia April 22, 2013. The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is one of the hottest and harshest environments on earth, with an average annual temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.4 Celsius). For centuries, merchants have travelled there with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted and shaped into slabs, then loaded onto the animals before being transported back across the desert so that it can be sold around the country. Picture taken April 22, 2013. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola (ETHIOPIA - Tags: BUSINESS SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 2 OF 30 FOR PACKAGE 'ETHIOPIA'S ANCIENT SALT TRAIL'
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Ethiopia’s salt trail

For centuries, merchants have traveled to Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted...

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