Five Things We've Learned from Gaming

[darksnowman]

I read this a few weekends ago and meant to make a thread for it- something positive about gaming shouldn't go overlooked. This is five things we've learned from gaming (that are beneficial to us) according to 1up.com.

 

5- Resource Management

In an afternoon of gaming, I'm confronted with countless resource-management decisions and risk/reward ratios. Is it worth the time to double back to that save point? Do I bum rush this squad of genome soldiers or waste an hour picking them off from the dark? Do I have enough Vespene Gas for a Dark Templar rush, or should I use it to build a Cybernetics Core? Try to get in another hit in with my Squirtle -- or swap him out before he gets KOed? A recent report in the Harvard Business Review suggested that running a Black Temple raid in WoW isn't too far removed from running a corporation -- and I doubt many raid leaders would argue otherwise. Sure, you need more than Pokémon to learn to play the stock market, but dozens of decisions like that every few minutes add up to a lot of practice in an area many kids or adults aren't interested in training themselves.

 

4- Spatial Relations

Knowing what to do with that falling L-shaped block may carry over to making the most of my closet space, but there's something far more important that I've gained from this stuff: I don't get lost very often. Memorizing street layouts and figuring out which direction I'm walking comes pretty naturally -- and I'm going to blame it on the likes of Legend of Zelda and Grand Theft Auto. Gamers have to get good at mapping things in their heads, remembering landmarks, and just generally orienting themselves. It's more than I gained from Boy Scouts, anyway, which mostly taught me how to get bored making a bird feeder before getting kicked out for not having proper respect for power tools.

 

3- Economics

The other day, I was watching a coworker buying up junk on World of WarCraft's auction house and relisting it elsewhere in the world at a higher price. Another was explaining that certain bits of loot were worth hanging on to for pawning during peak hours. These guys have never heard the word "arbitrage" in their lives -- but they already know the definition. It reminds me of when I took my first-level economics courses and was able to just screw off for a semester because I already picked up most of it from M.U.L.E. when I was eight years old. I didn't know what creating scarcity was. I just knew that stockpiling smithore and then releasing all the colony's M.U.L.E.s to drive the price up won games -- and pissed my friends right the hell off.

 

2- Goal Setting

My prior life as a corporate mook left me suffering through I-have-no-idea-how-many Franklin-Covey seminars, but faux-leather organizers or tedious homilies about mice and cheese never did a damn bit of good -- other than helping me realize that, wow, my job was a wank. In terms of setting goals and managing time, there's a lot more to be gained from, say, The Sims. What's my character's ambition? Well, the last time I played, it was to make out with as many people as possible before killing myself with a toaster. Not a very good ambition -- but it was an ambition nonetheless, and I'd created it for myself. Just about any game requires players to decide on their goals while setting milestones. Whether it's to have your base expanded by the five-minute marker or to spec your Night Elf Druid for PvP, the ability to commit yourself to a goal while planning the steps to get there seems better reinforced by a good game than a droning lecture.

 

1- Logic and Complex Systems

If. Then. But. The sheer volume of intersecting variables in a game like Civilization or SimCity forces you to think like a programmer -- to predict how the ripples of your decisions will affect the future, or perish from your lack of foresight. In a game like Medieval II: Total War, your best-laid plans can be wrecked by a single envoy sent through the wrong territory at the wrong time. The Danish don't appreciate your passing through; the French are friends with the Danes; the Holy Roman Empire are friends with the French; and now you're at war with all three. I've also exercised what could be defined as "debugging" skills in these simulations. Why are these townspeople revolting? Oh, it's because the police force's effectiveness dropped...because the roads nearby have deteriorated...because the funding to the transportation department dropped...because my lucrative supply chain to the silk farm's been cut off. Fun fact: After playing SimCity, bigwigs at Chevron commissioned Will Wright to create a "game" called SimRefinery to train their accountants and management staff on the intricacies of refinery operation.

 

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3167862

 

What's everyone think? Has games helped you become better in anyway or is the only effect games has had on you been to turn you into a serial killer or terrorist?

[Gaijin von Snikbah]

I like to think Mario Kart has made me a better driver.

[Gizmo]

I got the word influence right in a spelling test because I knew how to spell it from Black & White. Ditto for Conquer from C&C.

 

Does that count?

[triforcemario]

I learnt from videogames that hitting a crab's weakpoint causes massive damage.

 

Yeah, you can beat the shit out of me now if you want.

[Emasher]

LOL.

What's weird is my parents force me to stop playing games and come watch TV in the other room because its not healthy to play games for that long, its just as healthy to play a normal game even more if its a waggle heavy wii game, plus your mind is waaaaaaaay more active. The heck do you learn watching american idol (no offense to idol fans).

[Hellfire]

English, WWII stuff, weapon names and better reflexes?

[darksnowman]

What about stuff like reading maps and getting your bearings in the real world better? We play games and get thrown into new worlds time and time again where we have to orientate ourselves, stuff like thats bound to have payed off... no?

[Zero]

I've become a lot better at puzzle solving and have a good memeory now as well. I would probably say that was thanks to the Zelda series.

 

Speaking of which, I think i'll go play OOT.

[Jonnas]

What about stuff like reading maps and getting your bearings in the real world better? We play games and get thrown into new worlds time and time again where we have to orientate ourselves, stuff like thats bound to have payed off... no?

 

Nope. I still have a terrible sense of orientation.

 

 

But English is probably what I learned the most from games.

 

Still, I have a friend who once wrote the word "gonna" in an English test because he thought it really existed. He got that from a game (a Final Fantasy, I think). Plus, because of Vincent Valentine, he misspelled the name "Gil Vicente" as "Gil Vincente" in a history test. Poor guy.

[Blue_Ninja0]

True. English is probably the most useful thing I've learned from videogames.

Reflexes too probably.

Oh, and I have the most awesome muscular fingers.

 

Still, I have a friend who once wrote the word "gonna" in an English test because he thought it really existed. He got that from a game (a Final Fantasy, I think). Plus, because of Vincent Valentine, he misspelled the name "Gil Vicente" as "Gil Vincente" in a history test. Poor guy.

 

Don't worry, Shino once wrote "alcatroated streets" instead of "paved streets" on an english test, though it doesn't have anything to do with videogames. But that was a long time ago.

[Tellyn]

Never under any circumstances attack the chickens.

[Aalborg]

Well im great at noticing details others do not.. and great at finding alternate solutions to problems, and my reflexes are pretty good.. and I know when to duck

[Pit-Jr]

Kid Icarus got me into Greek Mythology, so while its factually inaccurate, it was at least a gateway for me to study something on my own

[Guest Maase]

I learned English in Games, even tough im not exactly an expert in English xD

[darksnowman]

Thats pretty cool that people learned English from playing games. I've read on other rival forums (which will remain unnamed) how playing games like RPGs, which are obviously full of text, helped people get better at English- or in some cases, completely learn it from scratch!

 

I learned English in Games, even tough im not exactly an expert in English xD

 

You need to play more games!

[Hellfire]

 

 

Don't worry, Shino once wrote "alcatroated streets" instead of "paved streets" on an english test, though it doesn't have anything to do with videogames. But that was a long time ago.

 

What? XD I'm used to making silly translations on purpose and I still laughed at that. Awesome as always shino.

[Coolness Bears]

I've learned never to repeatedly attack a chicken with a sword!

 

It doesn't end well!

[Tellyn]

I've learned never to repeatedly attack a chicken with a sword!

 

It doesn't end well!

 

OBJECTION!

 

Never under any circumstances attack the chickens.

 

[Coolness Bears]

OBJECTION!

 

 

 

 

Hehe!

 

sorry! but I disagree with you in some circumstances it's ok to attack the Chickens!

[mike-zim]

I have learnt that b0mbs can be found near numbers. Number1 and there is a single bomb nearby.

 

In this day and age it is valuable knowledge!!

[Shino]

Don't worry, Shino once wrote "alcatroated streets" instead of "paved streets" on an english test, though it doesn't have anything to do with videogames. But that was a long time ago.

 

What? XD I'm used to making silly translations on purpose and I still laughed at that. Awesome as always shino.

 

Haha, I couldn't think of the word and as I always got fairly high grades in English, why not fuck it up a little?

 

I also wrote "I ain't" instead of "I am not" in another test, and I think the teacher gave me extra points for it because it showed I understood English enough to use slang words.

 

As for what I learned from games,

 

• English but not completely as Cartoon Network had a large play in that
  
• Better reflexes without a doubt
  
• Better memory
  

[Jonnas]

Don't worry, Shino once wrote "alcatroated streets" instead of "paved streets" on an english test, though it doesn't have anything to do with videogames. But that was a long time ago.

 

:bowdown:

 

Portugal's English tests have the most awesome typos ever. My English teacher also had a great sense of humour, so the classes were even better, especially when my classmates started talking english with the Porto accent ("Adbertaising" comes to mind).

Or a stupid moment, when we were reading the lyrics to "Material Girl", and the teacher asked "Does anyone remember what 'pennies' are?". Well, you can easily imagine what some people answered.

 

[/offtopic]

 

Thats pretty cool that people learned English from playing games. I've read on other rival forums (which will remain unnamed) how playing games like RPGs, which are obviously full of text, helped people get better at English- or in some cases, completely learn it from scratch!

 

You need to play more games!

 

I remember replaying King's Quest VIII, I turned off the subtitles to become better at spoken English. Good times.

 

And Maase is already speaks good enough English. Especially for his age.

[MoogleViper]

It doesn't matter if you die because you can just restart from the last save-point/spawn at the nearest base.

[Blue_Ninja0]

And Maase is already speaks good enough English. Especially for his age.

 

You also need to play more games.:awesome:

[Eenuh]

As many others, I got a lot of my English vocabulary from playing videogames as a kid. That and tv.

 

Can't really think of anything else I've learned though. I'm good at puzzle games but I'm not sure that helps we with any day to day stuff.