Watchlist Of Popular Online Games For Teens And What You Must Do To Avoid Getting Addicted To Them

As a student, you may think vacations are your rightful official “me time” – wake up late, untimely and not necessarily nutritious meals, late nights, etc. While its important to sound caution at such an acquired lifestyle, today we’re going to discuss your all time favourite activity – online gaming!

There is no doubt that tweens and teenagers find the virtual world more fascinating than the earlier generations. The Gen Zs and Gen Alphas appreciate the leaps technology has taken in all those years that we were growing up. Yes, for our parents it is exasperating to watch us glued to our mobile phones, but let me tell you that these very addictive means of amusement are teaching valuable life lessons too. For instance, gaming helps in improving cognitive abilities, aids in learning problem solving skills, helps improve hand-to-eye coordination, makes us great multi-taskers, enhances our decision making skills and, moreover encourages us to accept our misjudgments to find alternative solutions.

Having said this, now let’s talk about what games are currently popular among young gamers.

Valorant

This is a free-to-play first-person tactical shooter game developed and published by Riot Games. It is known for its 5-v- 5 multiplayer matchmaking where players are assigned to either the attacking or defending team with each team having five players on it. Valorant is known for its variety of characters also known as Agents that a player can play. Each agent has a unique ability which helps the players to widen their imagination and adapt to the playstyle in a creative way.

For teenagers, Valorant can be like a playground (when you don’t want to sweat it out in an actual one) where you and your friends can have fun, enjoy the story, explore various maps and learn playstyles of agents to win the game as a team.

Pro Tip: The game sends out an important message of – one should never give in to bullies. For younger players, parents could put parental controls on expletive language. Since it’s a multiplayer game, there are chat boards where other players can get toxic, it would be wise to avoid that too.

Minecraft

This is a masterpiece. The game was created by Markus Persson also known as “Notch” using Java programming language. Minecraft is the best-selling video game in the history of gaming, it has over 140 million monthly active players as of 2021 and has been ported to several platforms. Best part is the possibilities of this game are limitless. Minecraft offers single player and multiplayer mode as well, multiplayer involves collaboration with others which sometimes it's the only way a player can achieve certain goals. By pooling and sharing resources, players learn to rely on each other.

Pro Tip: The game has proven to be massively popular among schools as well, its education edition has been considered as a fun way to learn coding. This game is suitable for children and adults of all ages.

Genshin Impact

Genshin Impact is an anime-like open-world action adventure RPG that allows players to approach a fantastical open world in different ways. After its Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, and Windows in 2020, on PlayStation 5 in 2021, Genshin is set for release on Nintendo Switch. The game has various characters to choose from, multiple elements to explore along with its reactions with each other and multiple environments. The player controls a team of four characters and collects different types of weapons. As the game progresses, new characters can be unlocked and the players can advance their skill levels based on which playstyle they want.

Pro Tip: Although being PEGI 12, this game has been proven to be very storydriven and entertaining to those above 12 years of age.

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Among Us

Among Us is a 2018 online multiplayer social deduction game developed and published by American game studio Innersloth. The game was inspired by the party game Mafia and the science fiction film The Thing. While merely being a simple cartoon kinda game where you are supposed to find the murderer, Among Us doesn't just help your kid burn time. Thanks to its multiplayer nature, the game may help enhance social skills. Children can play this together and solve mysteries and find clues together which would eventually lead them to their goal of finding the culprit. This would help them in learning to stay calm in stressful situations, learn how to solve issues as a team and enjoy the thrilling experience.

Pro Tip: The game is good for kids above 12 years.

Well that’s it for the games, but no recommendation is complete without a word of caution. For someone who spent a good time of his vacation playing numerous online games, let me tell you it’s all fun until the addiction takes over.

Gaming as a hobby should be practised in moderation, as an act of amusement. You must be able to choose when to switch off from that virtual world and focus on what is around you. Escaping the real world is not the reason why you must take up gaming at all. It can lead to serious issues. Video gaming disorders are quite common and can lead to serious health hazards such as poor sleep, exhaustion, dehydration, obesity and heart problems, it also can lead to unnecessary aggression, depression and social anxiety. So be mindful of how much time you spend pursuing the virtual bandits.

It’s vacation time, yes, so spend time with your friends as well, visit your favourite aunts and uncles, or grandparents who may have waited the whole year for you to finish your exams. Relish meals and enjoy movie marathons with family for this summer will last only for this year. Enjoy every minute of it!

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