Hello everyone. This is Ozaki, a third-year master’s student.
I would like to introduce a paper I read at our recent English seminar.

This study analyzes how the experiences we gain from the games we enjoy daily can be articulated and linked to abilities useful for future work and career development.

Paper Title: Play for the Future: A Cross-Sectional Study on the Role of Video Game Skills in Student Career Planning
Authors: Hoffelner, C., Nägele, C., & Düggeli, A.
Volume/Issue and Pages: 56(4), 350-373.
Year of Publication: 2025
Journal: Simulation & Gaming

1. Background and Purpose
We live in an era characterized by unpredictable and rapid change, making it very difficult to design future paths and careers. To survive in such an uncertain world, it is important not only to study at school but also to skillfully redefine various experiences from daily life (informal learning) as one’s own strengths.
This is where “video games” have garnered attention. The world of gaming is filled with “optimism toward failure,” where one repeatedly tries and errors without giving up even when facing difficulties. “Persistence within games” holds the potential to be applied to the ability to overcome difficulties in real-world careers (resilience and adaptability).
Therefore, this study aims to cross-sectionally analyze how experiences with video games influence career-related competencies.

2. Research Methodology
In this study, a survey was conducted with 265 middle and high school students in Switzerland using the digital career guidance tool “digibe.” Students reflected on their gaming experiences using the tool through the following three steps:
・Identification: Listing favorite activities (e.g., “Minecraft” or “Clash Royale”).
・Articulation: Freely writing down five abilities (skills) used in those activities.
・Application: Thinking about how those strengths can be useful for future work and career planning.
This process of “articulation” and “application” is what turns mere play into “future weapons (career resources).”
Furthermore, by classifying the total of 680 skills reported by students and performing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the relationships between items such as “gender,” “self-reflection,” “critical thinking,” “type of game,” “21st-century skills acquired (number),” “21st-century skills acquired (type),” and “transfer of learning to real life” were analyzed.

3. Results and Discussion
① Video games make it easier to become aware of “skills applicable in the real world”
Compared to board games or general sports, students who play video games tended to be more aware of having “many and diverse skills” within themselves. This is thought to be because recent video games realistically reproduce complex situations of the real world, such as “city construction,” “resource management,” and “strategic negotiation with team members.” The specific skills students became aware of are as follows:
・Life and career skills (85%): Particularly high in “initiative and self-management ability,” including strategic planning in games and a bird’s-eye view of the whole.
・Learning and innovation skills (77%): Many reports of “critical thinking,” such as logical thinking, concentration, and objectively analyzing situations.
・Digital skills (30%): Mentions of digital literacy and, in some cases, programming.
② “Awareness bias” due to gender
Data showed that female students tended to underestimate the skills gained from games compared to male students. However, it is pointed out that this is likely not due to actual differences in ability, but rather the influence of cultural assumptions where many women underestimate themselves as “casual gamers” and exclude themselves from the identity of “serious gamers” who acquire skills.
③ “Quality of reflection” and learning
What is most interesting and provides significant implications for educational settings is that whether learning from games can be applied to the real world depends heavily on the “quality of reflection.” The results of the data analysis revealed that the following two approaches have opposite effects:
・Is mere “reflection (immersion in emotions)” a negative effect?: Reflection that focuses excessively on “one’s current feelings” or “the emotion of having fun” had a negative impact on the process of noticing the diversity of one’s own skills. If one is too immersed in emotions, one’s consciousness turns inward, moving away from the perspective of applying the hard-won experience to the “external environment (such as future work).”
・Is “critical thinking (objective analysis)” the bridge to the future?: On the other hand, students who were good at “critical thinking,” which allows them to doubt existing assumptions and objectively analyze game mechanics and their own actions, were able to extract more strengths from their gaming experiences that would be useful in the future. In other words, it is essential for those around them to support “high-quality reflection” that translates their actions into market-valuable terms (e.g., project management, situational judgment ability, etc.) by objectifying game mechanisms, rather than just vaguely ending with “the game was fun” or “it was frustrating.”

Additionally, the limitations of this study are pointed out as “not considering the genre of games played,” “relying on subjective data from self-reports,” and “lacking objectivity in learning transfer data.”

Reflections
Based on this paper, I would like to share my own thoughts and prospects for future practice and research. As I construct my master’s thesis research, I read this paper because I wanted to return to the starting point: “What is the meaning of intentionally using games in career education?” As in the theoretical background of narrative papers that can be drawn out “because it is a game,” the “excitement of exploring unknown territories” and the “environment where one can challenge without penalty no matter how many times one fails” that games possess lower the psychological hurdles for children. I felt that by using familiar games as a hook, they could become a powerful tool for children to proactively and vividly talk about their future in their own words (narratives).
I was particularly convinced by the point that “reflection” that simply faces one’s inner self has a negative impact on skill identification, and that “critical thinking” that doubts stereotypes is the key to learning transfer (application to the real world). I believe that the focus regarding learning effects will be on how to implement “appropriate questioning (facilitation)” into systems and educational designs that shake the learner’s cognition and induce objective critical thinking after playing a game.
On the other hand, what needs to be explored further is what kind of real-life behavioral changes we aim for in career learning when designing games, and how to measure those effects. I would like to explore the possibilities of research design, including Learning Analytics, various analytical methods, and long-term career decision-making data in the future.

Written by: Kohei Ozaki