To directly refute claims by AKBAYAN Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel of the Lower House of the Republic of the Philippines that playing online RPGs will not teach gamers marketable job skills, I’ve compiled a short list of skills that I have personally acquired by spending twenty-seven hour shifts in front of a computer, bashing virtual baddies in the head with an oversized sword.

Resource Management

In MMOs — whether it is a classic fantasy like Ragnarok Online or a mecha-powered war of the planets like Rising Force Online, in-game resources are extremely limited. You are basically left to your own devices to produce and economize items you need for missions and PVP battles.

If you don’t employ financial planning skills such as profit projection, market research, and bull-or-bear strategies, then you are forever left behind by more money-savvy players with their expensive equipment and gigantic bank accounts. And fortunately or unfortunately the same principle applies in the real world: what you earn determines how well you fight.

Risk Assessment

Personal and team risk assessment skills are a valuable tool in playing MMORPGs — as well as in real life occupations like software development, stock brokerage, marketing, and many others. If you are unable to correctly gauge the benefits versus the losses of attacking a particular boss or clan, then there is the risk that you overstretch yourself, leading to bloody carnage in the hands of the enemy.

Once in the corporate environment, dealing with real dangers like failed investments or missed deadlines can make or break your career, so being equipped with the skills to recognize how far you can push your resources without risking a backlash is the key for upward mobility and job success.

Strategic Thinking

This trait is particularly desirable in middle and upper management types, and a good way to develop this skill is to practice in the (more or less) risk-free environment of the MMORPG. Instead of risking real assets playing the investment game in an attempt to get a feel for it, gamers can practice on hordes of virtual beasts as well as bands of fellow players.

It’s not always brute force or overwhelming numbers that win battles in RPGs. Take for example Moster Hunter: only four players are allowed to co-op at a time, and yet they are tasked to take down enormous beasts such as war elephants, dinosaurs, and dragons. Strategy is key to winning battles against such overwhelming odds, and gaming helps you translate that winning edge in real-life situations.

Teamwork

Many RPGs require players to band together to attack particularly powerful bosses. For the team to function successfully, each person must know his role and do it well. In the corporate jungle, the same principle applies. If you are unable to pull your own weight, you end up dragging the entire team down, belittling their efforts and reducing their effectiveness as an attack unit.

Job delegation is another key skill that can be acquired by joining raiding parties and clans. By focusing your skill points to your strengths, you are able to augment the deficiencies in your teammates’ builds, and they in turn will support you with your own. Just like a real team in a real work environment, covering each others backs is key to success.

Practical Skills

Last but not least, MMOs help you develop some practical skills that your future employers will see as desirable assets. For example, we know of gamers who can type at an amazing 120 words or more per minute — a skill they developed from the necessity of speedy keyboard communications during battles and raids.

Other gamers have excellent spreadsheet and database building skills borne of their obsessive-compulsive need to acquire and document every single item ever released in a game. Others more have admirable money management skills learned from their MMO jobs as merchants, blacksmiths, or mechanics. There really are a number of avenues that you can use skills you have acquired and honed as Silent Moon the Level 300 Assassin.

In conclusion, I hope that people — particularly those of the older generation who frown on “us kids” when we spend a little too much time in front of a monitor, understand that we are getting something good out of this. If their generation had the Boy Scouts and parish youth groups to teach them life skills, we have World of Warcraft and Restaurant City for ours. Please learn to read between the lines and look a little deeper into our lives, so that you no longer feel the need to call our hobbies as “pointless” or “a waste of time”.