5 Ways Videogames are improving the world.

[Shard]

http://us.i1.yimg.com/videogames.yah...=513460&page=0

[Kojiro v. 2.1.14r7b]

Re: 5 Ways Videogames are improving the world.

I think the best part of that comes from clicking the link to this article.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/24/te...520da8&ei=5070

and of course, the quote from that.

Dr. Rosser, 50, practices what he preaches. He keeps an Xbox, along with PlayStation 2 and GameCube consoles, just a few strides from the operating room so he can warm up with a favorite, Super Monkey Ball, just before surgery.

[Wavelength]

Re: 5 Ways Videogames are improving the world.

Dr. Rosser, 50, practices what he preaches. He keeps an Xbox, along with PlayStation 2 and GameCube consoles, just a few strides from the operating room so he can warm up with a favorite, Super Monkey Ball, just before surgery.

FALL OUT!!

I'm a little skeptical of any study that simply tries to correlate performance/health effects with a certain activity or habit. There's usually several important confounding factors in there, and you have to be skeptical. I speak in particular about the ADD-related one.

The other four all rely on certain kinds of games that require you to practice, or expose you to, certain things. It's ridiculous to think that playing Tetris or Dance Dance Revolution will help you master Shakespeare, and unlikely that Disgaea 2 or even World of Warcraft (for casual players) helps you hone your reflexes much. However, Tetris might help your spatial skills, Disgaea your arithmetic calculation speed and/or logistic skills, DDR will certainly increase your cardiovascular endurance, and WoW might be a boon to your aesthetic creativity.

Almost any game can offer something, but almost any activity can offer something. Video games are simply another activity, which tend to offer a very high degree of interactivity, low social barriers to entry, lots of flexibility, and so on. So certain games--if their content is designed to--can help you bolster certain mental and physical skills (as well as provide great entertainment), no question about that. But don't think you're going to improve everything about yourself--or even become a better person at all--by playing Halo 2 all day.

Video games are just another activity (or format for activities, to be more precise). A great activity, to be sure--but let's not make them into anything too much more than that.

[Crimson Knight]

Re: 5 Ways Videogames are improving the world.

Calm down, Wavey. No one said video games could make us superhuman, but they do help to awaken skills we kept dormant because of our uncertainty.

RPG Maker 2 pretty much got me a job.

[Shard]

Re: 5 Ways Videogames are improving the world.

Just a light-hearted article meant to entertain. Of course, repeatedly performing a certain skill will improve that skill.

No one's building churches to a digital Jesus here.

[Misty]

Re: 5 Ways Videogames are improving the world.

They forgot one more way that games can help the world.....they're GREAT stress relievers.

I speak for the fighting and beat-em-ups that have helped me lower my stress levels whenever I've had my bad days.

[MJM]

Re: 5 Ways Videogames are improving the world.

Gotta go with Misty on that one.
There's nothing quite like a game of God Hand or Soul Caliber
to work out the 'ol kinks!

[Dusk Raven]

Re: 5 Ways Videogames are improving the world.

I also heard that first-person shooters can improve your reflexes and improve skills needed for driving cars and flying airplanes.

[Wavelength]

Re: 5 Ways Videogames are improving the world.

Calm down, Wavey. No one said video games could make us superhuman, but they do help to awaken skills we kept dormant because of our uncertainty.

RPG Maker 2 pretty much got me a job.

Alright, so I went a little overboard on that one... still, my point is that you have to remember what the player is actually doing, and not the abstraction taking place in the game. Guitar Hero will improve dexterity, but (assuming you already know what hammers are) it won't make you specifically better at the guitar.

More importantly, that's where Lawyerbot Jack Thompson runs into his fallacy. No one can "train" in murder on GTA or Manhunt or Bully or Unreal Tournament. Reflexes? Sure. Murder? Not a shot. (Everyone here knows this already, of course, but I thought it would be nice to articulate.)

RPG Maker 2 got you a job? I'd love to know more about that! Care to tell the tale?

[thetruecoolness]

Re: 5 Ways Videogames are improving the world.

RPG Maker 2 got you a job? I'd love to know more about that! Care to tell the tale?

Seconded.

As for the topic, yeah I think video games can be used as a tool to hone these skills, but certainly is not the only tool in their development. As for reflexes pretty sure playing actual simulators would be better for that, but I gotta say people who are really good at first person shooters do have some pretty good ones, and they make me angry (mainly for being good at FPSs, my reaction time isn't that bad).