I have been a software developer for 10 years now and I can confidently say the stereotype is not true, though according to my view, why? Personally, I do not game, well no longer game. As I started out learning programming, there was a notion or inclination that is should be gamming when am not coding. I did love gaming but over the years I grew out of it. Recently someone asked me how come I do not game and I am a programmer and that got me thinking why do programmers love gamming or why do people associate programmers with gamming. Let's get to the bottom of this.
As a consequence of revealing your profession as being a programmer or even as being a computer science student, it’s really likely that this one question will be posted to you, at least once “Do you also like to play video games?”.
But, it’s not because you’re writing code and solving hard technical problems, no, it’s because most people, who don’t have any connections to the computer science community, might just classify you as a nerd right away. And society automatically classified programmers as nerds.
The stereotype of programmers is being an introverted coder, hiding in basements crammed with a few monitors, lots of coffee, or energy drinks while rarely getting to see fresh sunlight. But some few people live to this society's "vision". There is nothing wrong with being like that but the cliche doesn't automatically apply to every programmer or coder. Most of us are the typical opposite. Meet any programmer and interact with them without you knowing what they do for a living, you wouldn't tell they are a coder.
But, also like a lot of other clichés, there is a certain amount of truth to it. Even though many programmers don’t like gaming at all, there are lots and lots of others, who do. But it’s not because some of them might be fully-fledged nerds, it’s for other, really valid, reasons, some of which might also persuade you to start playing video games.
A game, Is a programmer's art piece.
The creation of these games does involve programming and after any successful launch or release, you would want to share with your fellow programmers to appreciate your work and effort.
When programmers play, they have, no matter in what industry they work in, a naturally higher understanding of the effort put into a game. That means, the question “Wow, how did they do this?!” is an essential part of a programmer’s experience while playing video games. They just value technical features way higher than other players do. And that’s why it’s really inspiring to be able to explore the additionally creative work of fellow developers on your own, it’s what art is about.
Problem-solving is the core of all Games.
And well, programmers are problem solvers by nature, and by nature any chance or opportunity to solve a problem in an engaging and fun way, one would take up the challenge.
The core selling point of most games is that the player gets to solve particular problems in a way that makes fun basically.
So, in video games you will be presented with challenges that require you, depending on the game, more or less, to think in a logical way. It’s the same with programming, it contains a lot of finding the best logical approach to an occurring problem. Gaming is an activity improving this kind of skill, which is indeed very helpful.
Learning and Memorizing is the gameplay
In programming, we have a variety of technologies and languages. Programmers have to keep on learning since the tech is developing very fast and during the learning process, we memorize some things that we may need to solve a particular problem.
A lot of video games require players to learn, memorize, and apply various tricks. Players also need to remember all the instructions given at the start of the game.
As you can see there are a lot of real food benefits as to why programmers love gaming and not just because they are nerds or it's a character default. Programmers are often mistaken as being nerds by the rest of the world. But most fellow programmers aren’t, they’re intelligent, communicative, and open-minded. Still, some of them play video games and a lot of them don't.
It’s rather the opposite way, gaming enables you to dive deep into fictional worlds, sometimes better than any book or movie can. It’s a valid hobby for a reason, you can connect with friends, no matter where they live, and you can even improve your skills in certain areas. And just like any hobby, anyone can pick it up. You don't have to be a nerd or programmer to be a gamer. As long as you have interest, just game!
