For years, we've heard people - mostly parents - go on about the detrimental effects of video games, and have put up with individuals complaining that no good ever comes from playing violent first-person shooters. However, it seems there might be at least one person for whom video games provided a set of lifesaving skills.
John Duttenhofer, a 24-year-old gamer from Colorado, quit his job last April in order to join the effort against ISIS in Syria. He spent a full six months fighting the terrorist organization in their de-facto capital before it was eventually liberated in October, and finally returned home earlier this month.
Now, in an interview with the Daily Mail, he gave details about what it was like to live in a warzone, and how exactly his gaming skills came in handy.
Duttenhofer gave details about how his routine was structured while he was out in Syria. During the day, he would spend his time reading, talking to friends, and playing the tabletop game Dungeons and Dragons. Then, by night, he would accompany Kurdish soldiers and shoot at ISIS fighters.
According to him, games such as Call of Duty taught him the practical skills he needed to survive in a warzone, and also familiarized him with the weapons he used. However, Duttenhofer didn't actually kill anyone while he was out there - and that has left him slightly disappointed.
"I had no guilt about it," he said about the ISIS fighters that were slain by his comrades. "They are a group worse than the Nazis. They want to live the dark ages out again and I didn't want to live in a world with them."
What's more, despite having the constant threat of death hanging over him, the 24-year-old's main concerns were the simple things he had left at home. When speaking to the Mail, Duttenhofer claimed that "air conditioning" and "chocolate milk" were the things he missed most.
The gamer has now returned home to his parents, who were originally terrified when their son broke the news that he was voluntarily leaving to fight ISIS.
"My mom tried to persuade me to stay but she knew that fighting me would just make me go more rushed and unprepared," he said.
He was also pretty clear about his motives for joining the effort. "On one hand, I selfishly wanted to fight ISIS," he explained. "On the other, I wanted to be a part of something that was historical and groundbreaking. I wasn't scared of dying or anything like that."
And, while Duttenhofer was fortunate enough to make it through in one piece, many of his friends weren't so lucky.
In October, one of his close friends, Jac Holmes, was killed in action by an explosion. He was a 24-year-old IT worker from the UK, and - like Duttenhofer - he had also voluntarily signed up to join the effort.
While the USA's official stance on the matter is that Americans are strongly advised against traveling to Syria, there are no legal consequences to joining the war.
Thankfully, Duttenhofer is home and well now, and at least he feels as if he did some good along the way.