By Mr. Bong Hee Chun, Lecturer, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences
SEGi College Sarawak has established an E-sports Club to encourage e-sportsmanship among our students, create awareness of the importance of balancing their mental and emotional well-being with their academic performances, and provide a safe and fun platform for these beneficial activities on campus.
SEGi acknowledges the importance of mental and physical well-being for effectively managing the student’s academic and personal life.
Video games can be a learning medium for many people as there are various categories, ranging from single-player games to massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG), suitable for different age groups and requirements.
Today’s video games have evolved from the simple arcade games of the seventies and can be complex and challenging in many ways. Many games require a person to think, strategise and analyse. Playing games like these has given video gamers better mental capabilities and skills, including improved memory, faster information-processing speed, mathematical intelligence, critical thinking, interpersonal, communication, leadership, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.
Playing video games can also help someone develop useful skills such as data collection, analysis, collaboration, planning, resource management and even team management. Online video games promote social interactions with people around the globe, allowing players to make more friends and learn different foreign languages. This enhances communication skills and widens personal social networks. All these capabilities and skills are crucial in the world today.
Playing the right video games improves mental capabilities and skills and has some benefits to mental well-being. Some people play video games to relieve stress, anger or boredom, and they are happy when they win a competitive game or complete quests and missions with huge rewards. Video games may also help keep away age-related mental degradation disorders like Alzheimer’s and dementia. The brain is continuously active and may slow down mental degradation.
At SEGi we believe in our students’ complete well-being in their pursuit and eventual attainment of academic and professional success.