The video game, Diablo, was created by Blizzard North in 1996. The game is about a confrontation of the good and evil. The hero has to conquer the Lord of Terror, Diablo. Today, there is a series of Diablo games; the newest one was released in 2012. However, the aim always was the same – to overcome the evil. Diablo is an action role-playing game, which requires players to kill all negative characters they meet in the underneath world. The graphics of the first Diablo was primitive and easy, unlike the design of the newest version. Nevertheless, the popularity of the first release led to its further development and appearance of the following series. The game differed from other action slash games in the character’s progression, which was so rich that a user could not stop playing it again and again. Thus, the developers of Diablo added more and more expansions to make the game popular among the PC and Sony PlayStation players. Today, there are three main versions and several expansions. A player can use either a mouse or a console controller, as well as choose any character with any skill system.

The research shows that Diablo ranks sixth in the “Top 20 selling computer games of 2014” list. The game is mostly played by adults because its plot is too cruel for teenagers. In 2012, Blizzard held the largest share of the video game market in the United States and the European Union. I valued these sources because they are suggested by Google, P&G, PayPal, and The Wall Street Journal, as reliable and comprehensive sources. I chose Diablo because it has been at the top of popularity for many years; thus, I decided to investigate what attracted players and what the game taught them. By playing it, I hope to develop my strategic thinking, logic, attention, and quick-wittedness. I believe that the educational value of the game might contribute to the improvement of the sense of self-control and motivation to the achievement of organizational goals.

The Educational Values of the Game, Diablo

Diablo may seem too dangerous and cruel for children because it contains numerous scenes of fighting and killing. However, when speaking about the majors, the game cannot influence them negatively if the attitude towards it is not addictive. Diablo requires the gamers to focus their attention on the coordination of their hands and eyes. Thus, a player applies two types of activities: visual and tactile. In such a way, one develops memory inasmuch as it is necessary to remember the arrangement of the buttons and the situation on the screen. A wide diversity of monsters, zombies, and other negative characters teaches a person to adjust to new conditions and react to every new anti-hero quickly. Therefore, quick-wittedness is engaged. Withal, this game enables memory, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, motor skills, and attitudes.

While playing Diablo, one has to use some information from the memory. If a person plays alone, he or she does not need to use own memory to pass the game to the end. However, when there are several players, they need to remember their statuses in the game and not to mix up their avatars with those of other players. Moreover, every player has to remember the functions of core and combat controls and the meaning of the action bar icons. Since the game has a big number of such icons and those of the characters’ skills, one has a good possibility to develop memory.

The educational value of Diablo might be in its usefulness for the development of intellectual skills. For example, the game teaches such ability as discrimination. Every player has to distinguish between monsters of different classes: simple and special. Simple demons can be killed at once while special ones should be hit for several times. In addition, players can develop a clear concept of actions. For example, they learn to identify life and mana potions by their physical features. Thus, they can divide these resources for the separate usage and store the necessary amount for the next time. Moreover, the game teaches to evaluate how many life and many potions are required to pass the game level. Withal, by playing Diablo, players develop such skills as discrimination, classification, and evaluation.

Interestingly, the game allows players to apply their abstract imagination. The entire game consists of abstract elements and ideas; thus, users have to categorize every abstract group themselves. For example, they learn to sort the types of demons, the undead, and monsters, and identify them with similar or new challenges. Moreover, players implement some simple action plans in order to solve difficult tasks, which show their abilities to adjust to the rules. For instance, when a hero meets a demon, he or she needs to apply appropriate weapons and skills or use some potions to open a chest and go further. Some monsters help create diversions, and the others give money. Thus, every small action contributes to a big result. Users learn to play according to the rules and act in a specific succession. Besides, the sequence of actions and commands can create some complex tasks; thus, players need to pay more attention to such series with the view to solving more complex tasks. As a result, they adjust to high-order rules, which have a positive effect on their organizational skills.

In addition to the development of intellectual skills, players learn to improve their cognitive strategies. They have to invent or select several actions, commands, or mental processes in order to fight a demon and win the victory. Such strategic thinking may be useful in solving different problems in the daily life. Besides, playing a game stimulates the development of motor skills. A player needs to execute specific physical commands with a computer mouse or a keyboard, as well as a gaming console, in order to move a hero and fight with the enemies on the screen. The motor activity of fingers has a positive effect on the language and mental improvement. Finally, Diablo helps to shape a particular attitude of the player towards own life, values, and beliefs. A person who plays has to make choices whether to kill, run away, quest, or complete some other tasks, and all these choices require emotions. Thus, the game has the following educational values: it develops the memory, as well as intellectual and motor skills, improves cognitive thinking and elicits emotions.

Cognitive Learning Theory and Potential Learning Value of the Game Diablo

The cognitive learning theory can be applied to Diablo with the aim to illustrate how people can learn useful things while playing. The scholars claim, that cognitive theories stress the acquisition of knowledge and internal mental structures they focus on the conceptualization of students’ learning processes and address the issues of how information is received, organized, stored, and retrieved by the mind. Thus, people can learn something by acquiring information and repeating the same actions until they are remembered. For example, Diablo provides a character with several life attempts. A user can play the same level as many times as one needs in order to remember the sequence of necessary actions and commands required for passing the level successfully. However, players do not get any hints during the game. On the contrary, they need to investigate and discover all new actions and places on their own. In such a natural way, people learn to adapt to various situations and conditions and find solutions to the tasks by discovering the circumstances at hand. According to the cognitive learning theory, if a person cannot remember something and has difficulties with new materials, he or she can return to the previous anchors (or levels in the game) and learn the necessary data again.

According to my personal experience, I can say that, while playing Diablo, I developed my cognitive skills and memory and learned to overcome difficulties. This skill is good for the development of my curiosity and single-mindedness. For example, when I could not pass the level, I repeated the same actions again and again in order to achieve my goal and win the victory. When I passed the level but did not kill every monster there, I wanted to replay it and achieve better results. Thus, I related, compared, and contrasted new strategies to those I had already known and made a discovery. I analyzed how the level was constructed, where the demons were situated, and how many times I had to hit them in order to kill so that I would be able to pass the level successfully. Therefore, the cognitive learning theory can be applied to the game in the most appropriate and direct way.

In a personal interview concerning the experience of playing Diablo, Mark Davis (2016) told me that the game helped him to socialize. He said, “When I played online, I had to adjust to other players and interact with them to achieve our shared goal”. The friend of mine is sure that online video games not only help develop cognitive skills but also teach to intercommunicate. He is right because when people play for themselves, they can do everything they want. On the other hand, in a group play, everyone has to adjust to other counterparts and discuss the game tactics and strategy with them. Thus, the online game Diablo can be a good tool for learning to communicate and co-work in groups.

Another friend of mine, Kate Anderson, is sure that Diablo is a waste of time. She said, “I think there is no educational value in this video game except learning to fight and conquer enemies. I have tried to play this game; however, it is too tense and cruel”. The girl asserts that the action role-playing violent games have nothing common with education and have no learning potential. However, many people do not agree with Kate because every game has something useful. The problem is that not every player can notice this usefulness. For example, Kate claims that the game is cruel. This assertion is really true; nevertheless, this cruelty helps one concentrate attention in order to save the character’s life. Moreover, it develops quick wit because a player has to make serious decisions rather quickly. Besides, when comparing Diablo to other modern video games, such as Bloodborne, Dying Light, or Mortal Combat X, the former game is much more innocent than the latter ones. Therefore, it is a good possibility to develop one’s intellectual and communicative skills and improve memory and cognition.

How Video Games Affect Human and what Effect They Might Have in the Future

Video games affect humans in different ways. On the one hand, they may cause violence and become the reasons for crimes. On the other hand, they have an educational value and learning potential, which can be used for teaching students. Although many people assure that violent video games, including Diablo, can cause the rise of violence and crime rates, their claims are groundless. If a person is balanced and has no mental disorders, he or she will not become a killer after playing any violent video game. On the contrary, video games can be useful for human brains. Although violent games in particular can have negative consequences, well-designed games can teach positive skills. Thus, video games have educational value because they may teach people many skills and even desensitize them to cruelty. In Diablo, players have to conquer the evil, which means that they fight against the violence. Of course, the process of fighting is violent too; however, the outcome is rather positive than negative.

Well-designed action video games can improve visual attention and even teach players to distinguish different shades of grey; this skill is useful for the night driving. However, many scientists argue that violent video games make people aggressive in their thoughts and behaviours. At the same time, another study showed that those men who played violent video games were more motivated and winning oriented. Besides, their cognitive and planning skills were well-developed, as well. Therefore, one can conclude that video games have both positive and negative impact on the players.

In order to minimize negative effects of violent video games, people should decrease the amount of time they play them. For example, after having played Diablo for an hour or two, only short-term effects may occur, for example, some violent thoughts and aggressiveness. However, if a person spends 4-6 hours per day on playing, long-term impacts become evident. Studies in the USA and Japan showed that children who play violent games become more aggressive in their daily lives. Thus, it is important to minimize the time that children spend on playing video games to avoid long-term outcomes in the future.

The game, Diablo, is one of the most popular action role-playing video games. Its main purpose is to fight against the evil, the Lord of Terror. By playing this game, I hope to improve my intellectual skills, such as logic, concentration, strategic thinking, and, most importantly, quick-wittedness. I believe that the learning potential of the game can contribute to the development of the sense of self-discipline and motivation for some organizational goals. However, the game contains violent scenes, which can have a negative effect on players. Many scientists claim that playing violent video games for a long time may increase aggressiveness and worsen user’s behaviour. At the same time, when a person is self-command and spends not much time on playing, outcomes will be positive. For instance, some studies report that men who play violent video games are more motivated and winning-oriented. Therefore, short-term and long-term effects of playing video games, including Diablo, depend on the time a person spends on the game every day.

To sum up, video games can have an educational value and learning potential, as well as influence the players negatively. The main educational values of the game, Diablo, are the development of intellectual and motor skills, improvement of abstract imagination and cognitive strategies, and memory training. The game teaches to make quick decisions and find new ways in problem-solving. It improves the orientation in space and develops communicative skills. Moreover, the game Diablo teaches the players to adjust to any situation and control their feelings and behaviour to gain success. Finally, it is necessary to add that if a person wants to get only positive effects of video games, he/she should spend the tiniest quantity of time on playing. In such conditions, the negative short-term effects might happen; however, long-term impacts will not occur.

About the author: Lillian Foster is a bachelor in English philology and literature at Ohio University. Lillian is currently working as one of the best writers at the blog articles for sale She also studies feminine psychology