Poitiers (AFP)

Often criticized as toxic to young people, playing video games can help develop skills that are useful in the world of work.

In Poitiers, the local mission is convinced of this to the point of seeing in Mario Kart and Rocket League reintegration levers for young people who have dropped out of school.

About ten young people between 16 and 25 years old, looking for a job, internship or training, sit in front of screens connected to a Nintendo Switch console.

On the program of the operation entitled "Team Job": games of video games and interviews around their professional project.

At first glance, the connection between Super Smash Bros.

or Splatoon 2 and the job market doesn't seem so obvious.

However, the bridges exist, affirms to AFP Mathieu, 24, in retraining after an accident.

"Video games make reflexes work, teamwork, reflection, questioning," he explains.

So many skills that can be transposed into the world of work.

Mario Kart, for example, a famous racing game, requires communication and mutual assistance, explains Amélie Mounier, head of the esport team of the Grand Poitiers orKs and who supervises young people during the sessions.

"When playing as a team, you always have to talk to each other to position yourself well. The players have to establish the roles before you start and there is a whole strategy to orchestrate" to dodge the blue shells or the giant bananas.

- Learn to coach -

Thanks to this kind of entertainment, the participants realize that they have talents and qualities that they did not suspect.

"Rocket League is a placement game. You have to know where your teammates and your enemies are to pass. It's a game where you have to communicate a lot," said Flavian, 20, out of school for three years and looking for a work-study in carpentry.

"As I know the game well, I was able to coach the other players a bit. Before, I didn't think I knew how to coach."

Organized with the help of the Gamers Assembly, a large annual gathering of video game enthusiasts, these sessions thus allow "to reveal things that one does not necessarily see in an interview because it is not the same context", estimates Stéphanie Arnoux, integration advisor at the local Poitou mission.

Present throughout the country, the local missions aim to help young people who have left the school system to overcome the obstacles to their professional and social integration.

All means are good to re-motivate these young people who have dropped out and put them back in touch with the job market.

- "Not just a hobby" -

"We are trying to activate all the levers to support them and video games are one of them," continues Stéphanie Arnoux.

"Often they do not have the necessary perspective to see that they have developed qualities through video games."

The first experience of its kind, the operation which lasts until June, also testifies to the evolution of the outlook on gaming and esports.

If for some, playing video games is still perceived as toxic and harmful for academic success, mores are changing.

"Often video games are seen as evil, we say that it makes you violent, that it leads to addiction, while there are many benefits that are not put forward", believes Thomas, 24, in need of orientation after a license in psychology and who is participating in its third session.

"It's not just a hobby. To progress, it requires investment and skills that can be transcribed elsewhere," he adds.

© 2021 AFP