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Playing Games Has Helped Humans Learn—and Survive

DawnGames2025-07-039639

alt dek: In both games and life, how well you prepare in the early stages could determine how well you do in the later ones.

Sixteen-year-old Owen Liebenberg and his friends are spending the day rushing around to find resources for tools and food for health. They’re in a race against time to build a wooden ship that will take them away from the nightmarish island they find themselves on, a task that’s not simple. At each turn, vicious beasts try to stop them, each one exponentially more difficult to defeat than the last. It’s a game called Muck, and it’s another in a long line of contemporary survival video games.

The game is procedurally generated, so every playthrough is different. “Sometimes you get lucky right away, sometimes you don’t,” Liebenberg says, noting how important it is to do well in the early rounds in order to outlive the increasingly challenging beasts that attack with each day-night cycle. It’s quirky, lively fun that might also be giving players more than what first meets the eye. It’s a delicate mix of entertainment and strategy, yet on a much deeper level, playing games may contribute to our overall evolutionary survival. Playing games could even be enhancing our cognitive, social, and physical skills, giving us added advantages in life.

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The idea has been studied in animals many times, with physical strength and dexterity at the top of the benefit list. We routinely see dolphins and otters playing in the waves, or dogs wrestling gleefully with each other at the park. Physical activities keep animals in good health and help them release stress and bond with each other. 

Humans benefit in the same way. Athletic sports keep us in shape while also boosting our hand-eye coordination, speed, and strength. Games can serve as stress release too, whether a short-term, fast-paced first-person shooter along the lines of Apex Legends or a longer, peaceful round of solo solitaire with a deck of playing cards. And we know that games can contribute to good health.

However, the larger idea is that this play also serves as practice. Take, for example, a cat chasing a laser dot across the floor. Nathan Lents, professor of biology at John Jay College, says that when kittens play, it might serve as a “warm-up for doing the real thing as adults.” Attacking a toy mouse for fun turns into hunting prey for food in later years. Similarly, it’s possible that the pleasure children get from wearing costumes and acting out roles they see around them is practice for later in life. “One of evolution’s greatest tricks was to link up behaviors and stimuli that are good for us to our reward centers, as a way to drive us to engage those experiences and thereby gain the benefits that they offer,” Lents says. 

With such good reasons to play, why not tailor schools to tap into this concept? Ana Lorena Fabrega, a former teacher, helped design a school that focuses on the impactful benefits of play. She’s now chief evangelist at Synthesis, a school that believes kids are hard-wired to learn through play and gamifies as many learning principles as possible. Lessons are problem-focused, not tool-focused, and encourage students to “take ownership over their choices and develop a sense of self-efficacy.” There is no losing, only winning or learning.

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Fenris

Playing games has proven to be a potent tool for human learning and survival, fostering both strategic thinking skills crucial in the face of adversity.

2025-07-06 19:03:51 reply
Giana

In essence, human history demonstrates that playing games has been a valuable tool for us to learn and survive through trials met in life.

2025-07-16 18:40:35 reply
Jermaine

Playing games has indeed been a crucial tool that humans have utilized for learning and survival, fostering cooperation under duress while expanding our mental prowess in numerous domains.

2025-07-16 18:40:49 reply
Angelica

Playing games has indeed proven to be a valuable instrument for enhancing learning processes among humans, fostering both individual and social development that might help us navigate through life's challenges more effectively.

2025-07-18 10:12:26 reply
Perry

The playful pursuit of games has been a pivotal tool in accelerating human learning and enhancing our survival capabilities throughout history.

2025-07-20 12:16:43 reply
Caleb

The ability of humans to learn and survive has long been aided through the mediums offered by games; their play acts as an educational conduit for adapting in our ever-changing world.

2025-07-20 12:16:58 reply
Kara

The ability for humans to play games has contributed significantly not just in amusement but also as a vital tool that aids learning and survival through testing skills, strategic thinking leadership abilities.

2025-07-27 01:29:10 reply
Delaney

Sure, here you go:
Playing games has been an invaluable tool for human learning and survival through the ages.

2025-07-27 01:29:24 reply
Otto

Playing games has indeed been a pivotal mechanism for humans to acquire knowledge and skills, ultimately assisting in our survival through the ages.

2025-07-27 01:29:39 reply

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