Sharpen the Mind
We all know the benefits of real sports and regular exercises – they help to strengthen and build our body. Similarly, online games too can sharpen your mind. For example, unlike other online games in which you are allowed to control one character, online strategy games can even put an entire empire under your protection! You may play games like Age of Empires 3 or Warcraft 3 that are very popular online. All these games are not just about shooting down opponents – it is more about a player having to construct strategies that will allow them to outmaneuver the opponent. Let us see how online strategy games can sharpen our minds.
Most of these online games feature highly sophisticated, almost real-life like graphics. As a result you will need a fairly advanced PC to run and view them properly. You could use your standard keyboard and mouse to operate the game. Or you could use fancier controls like a joystick.
Typically, online strategy games contain anywhere from two to twelve simultaneous players. These games are made more interesting by the presence of ranking systems and competition ladders. More often than not, a typical online strategy game is played amongst two to four players.
If you wonder where you will find people to play these online games with, fear not. With every new game and every new generation of a game, companies are integrating more and more online services with their products. It is now a lot easier for you to register with these online services and find players who have similar interests and similar skill levels as yours. In fact, you will be able to do a variety of things like participate in tournaments, rankings and ladders. You will even be able to set up a game with some of your friends that can be password protected to prevent anyone else from participating. One of the most popular services is Battle.net.
You can choose from a variety of multiplayer strategy games. You could choose to rule a kingdom and defend it from evil usurpers or you could choose to be an entrepreneur building a business empire or with your fellow players, you could start a resistance army. The choices are many, the action incredible and the fun unlimited. However, the most outstanding feature of these online strategy games is that you are not expected to just react to the opponent’s move. You have to anticipate their every move, work out different strategies to tackle them and be prepared to take last minute steps to outwit your opponents. This means having to think smart but also having to think on your feet – you will face unexpected situations all the time and you have to take immediate action or risk losing your kingdom (or business or army, as the case may be!)
As you can see, online strategy games help us in improving our critical thinking, problem solving and decision making abilities. In fact, even kids can benefit by playing suitable online strategy games.