Video Games Give You The Edge?

[CSN NewsBot]

The Sydney Morning Herald has written an intriguing article on the benefits of playing videogames. Before you indulge yourself by blasting Terrorists left and right like no tomorrow, it should be noted this article is not entirely based on Counter-Strike.

Justin Hall, a gaming consultant who began blogging while studying at Swarthmore in 1994, credits games for teaching him morality. Hall - who once gave an address to game developers titled "How has inventory management in computer role-playing games affected the way I pack?" - says Richard Garriot's Ultima IV game helped him grasp that good behaviour sometimes means choosing between competing virtues.

Other console or PC videogames have been addressed, and lists plenty of additional merits of playing games. Whether it is better reaction speed for soldiers, enhanced communication skills, or better judgement and planning, this article lists them all. This article is definitely for you.

[Blood_Shot]

hehehe i LOVE rationalizing the time i sit in front of this box!

[-:Nighthawk:-]

Edited by [user="26841"] @ [time="1083956323"]

Well, you definitely couldn't attribute "enhanced communication skills" to CS, lol, a vast majority of the people who play type like retarded monkeys in an ESL class, even when they're trying to email you. :)



Interesting concept, though I think I could come up with a list of benefits for just about anything I do, valid or not.

Americans will spend more time gaming this year - 75 hours on average - than watching rented movies, according to Fortune magazine.

Heh, I think most of us are way over that average. :)

[xlokix]

-:Nighthawk:- wrote..

Heh, I think most of us are way over that average. :)

average? that's my minimum

[Blood_Shot]

I'm playing CS three hours a day, 20 hours a week at LEAST. .....wow, maybe it's time to cut back?

[Equalizer!]

Video games simply fuck you up, turns you into a geek, no social life...

[Softy's 24/7 Fraggin]

i did learn a few things from my CS addiction:

i built my own l337 gaming rig

i built a dual processor CS server from scrap PC parts

i learned home networking: the printer, PCs and CS server

some of that might come in handy if i wind up selling Bawlz at Jittery-Joe's Cyber-X cafe for a living.

[xlokix]

Edited by [user="41447"] @ [time="1083966887"]

well, it's definitely possible to have both a social life and gaming. i've found out that the more i stayed on the computer, the more knowledge i had of computers. and that's better to learn than biology, the bullshit they force us to learn even when we don't seek a profession even close to biology.

[DchozN]

Well, you definitely couldn't attribute "enhanced communication skills" to CS, lol, a vast majority of the people who play type like retarded monkeys in an ESL class, even when they're trying to email you. :)

here are some invaluable pieces of advice: scrim. do not pub.

[lopinboy]

75hrs? That's like a months worth of gaming for most of us. Heck, when new games come out, that's about a weeks worth.

[entRo]

you should just link to Gotfrag DchozN



think you know what I mean :]

[Ryda]

Games encourage players to take risks that are not allowed in schools - particularly in test-driven curriculums, says Jenkins of MIT.



"What games do very well is the 'You die - so what? - you start over' aspect," Jenkins says. "So trial and error is possible in games in a way almost no longer possible in schools."

If schools were like games...I might actually have a future

[itsMrHankey2u]

they dont play games in the class(i guesss some, but mostly homework)



they just study the games.

[Thortok2000]

I've always said that games were good for you.



Most games have hand-eye coordination and puzzle-solving techniques, and of course the best games have both. And that's just the minimum.



Seriously, I think games are the entertainment of the future. Right now there's just too many games that suck, or just aren't up to par. But take Metal Gear Solid 2. At the time at least, that seriously beat any movie near the subject that I know of. Except for a bit of 'this is only a game and we know this' kind of comedy near the end, the plot was awesome the graphics were amazing and it was much more fun to be the main character than to simply see him.



Plots are kinda getting better too. I remember first time I played Wind Waker, near the start of the game, Link's sister gets kidnapped by a flying bird, and I was thinking if I could only move Link I'd make him run towards the bird screaming, regardless of how stupid and pointless it may have been. Then, moments later, Link runs towards the bird screaming. ^.^ It was a good moment.



Games are like books, movies, music...there's gonna be good ones and bad ones, heck some that are even bad for you and alternatively good for you. It's just a medium and it really needs recognition as such, an equation with movies, music, and books.

[pepsi2069]

VERY well said. This was an awesome article, and i got chills when it mentioned the part about the 15 year old leading a group of 25-30 year olds... not treated as a peer, but a leader. This is the kinda stuff that makes gaming so great; the ability to step out of the shell that society places you in from birth and become what you really strive for. Sure you can just head back to reality whenever you're needed... but those few hours you get to yourself, treating each scenario in the game as if it were an extention of your own body.... It's bliss. Thanks for posting this article.