Far too many people undervalue the skills and life lessons which can be learned from playing games. It can be a real struggle to convince non-gamers that all those hours spent slaying virtual monsters actually translates into real skills, even when studies show that gamers have better vision and lower stress. When the skeptic in your life starts bugging you about getting off the couch and helping with chores, try demonstrating a few of these organizing tips learned from gaming.
Respect your space’s ‘weight limit’
If you’ve ever sat down to play a session of Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder with some friends, you know all about the annoyance that is weight limits. As much as you might want to pick up every piece of loot while adventuring, your character simply can’t carry that much stuff and some has to be left behind. While you might not be living in the road and carrying around a pack full of potions in real life, it can help to think of your space as having a ‘stuff’ weight limit too. If you can’t comfortably walk around a room or put items down on a surface, that area is over the limit and it’s time to get rid of things or store them elsewhere. Keep this limit in mind when you’re considering new purchases and make sure that anything brought into your home doesn’t surpass it.
Image Credit: Stardew Valley Wiki
Strategically place storage
In Stardew Valley, a recently released farm simulator, making friends with the people in your town is one of the top priorities. The most effective way to do that is to give them items they like as gifts. However, your inventory space early on in the game is extremely limited, making it tough to decide what items to take and which to leave behind when you go out. Fortunately, the game has a built-in solution – chests! Dropping a chest outside of your favorite villager’s house and loading it up with items they like makes gift-giving incredibly practical.
While we might not leave treasure chests all over the place in the real world, carefully positioning storage around your house is just as useful. Stock items where you’ll need them to eliminate unnecessary trips, like keeping a supply of toilet paper under the bathroom sink, and place bins or baskets in areas where items tend to collect into unorganized heaps.
Don’t be afraid to rearrange
For some, The Sims is a game about managing the lives of people, navigating their dramas, and helping them find success. For others, it’s all about interior design. From giant mansions with three kitchens to tiny bungalows with barely enough room to stretch, fans of the series create wild, wacky, and beautiful homes for their sims to live in. Even better? It’s as simple as a few clicks to change things up by repositioning items. Just a few hours of playing with virtual homes is enough to make anyone want to redo their real world surroundings.
Moving furniture around in the real world isn’t as simple as it is on your computer, so map out your work ahead of time by playing with ideas on paper. Measure your furniture and room, then cut out graph paper shapes of every piece of furniture, with one foot equaling one block. Once you find a style which works, it’s time to recruit friends and make the magic happen! When you’re all done, you’ll be amazed at how simply shifting furniture can completely transform a space.
Image Credit: World of Warcraft Wiki
Utilize the marketplace
Players of Massively Multiplayer Online Games like World of Warcraft know well what it’s like to pursue better gear for your character. After tons of dungeon raids and boss fights all across the world of Azeroth, you might finally be satisfied with your equipment. But what do you do with your old sword and armor, the pieces that aren’t as good but are still too valuable to throw out? You turn to the auction house and turn that old gear into some quick cash, of course!
Maybe you’re not looking to sell an enchanted crossbow in the real world, but you can certainly find new homes for clothes, toys, and electronics you no longer use. For large quantities of items which aren’t expensive, a garage sale is your best bet. If your neighborhood doesn’t allow them, many flea markets offer cheap tables where you can set up your goods. In the case of more valuable items, it may be better to sell them through a consignment shop or online auction site like Ebay. Not only is selling your old stuff more ecofriendly than throwing it out, it also extends the item’s life and gives others a chance to enjoy it as much as you did.
