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Do video games help or hinder your brain ?


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My kids (Age 6 and 9) play Minecraft and I can say that their spacial awareness... direction senses, if you will, are greatly improved. They can remember in what direction something they found important is located. Where they didn't know how to do that much before.

They also have improved their teamwork skills, as they play the game together, and have improved their problem solving skills.

The only part my wife find disturbing, is the game makes the slaughtering of farm animals and the monsters a beneficial part of the game. It makes killing into a decision of resources... Which my wife, and I, don't really care for.

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I've been playing games since the NES came out. I've got to say my hand eye coordination is pretty good. Plus the more I play puzzle type games, I find myself solving problems faster. I think if the game challenges or develops a skill you do not readily possess, then yes they will work wonders.

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Previous President Bill Clinton said during an interview on The Daily Show with Jon Steward (Sept 20, 2012) "Anybody that's ever been like me hooked on a video game knows, you got to have good simulation to keep yourself in a constant state of anxiety." I agree with him, but that constant state of anxiety could work against some people. For example, being in a constant state of stress has been shown to cause brain shrinkage. So there's a tradeoff.

Edited by Trihalo42
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First person shooters like Call of Duty make you dumber. Platformers like Super Mario make you smarter! RPGs improve creativity, sims/sports games improve problem solving, logic/puzzlers improve spacial reasoning, MMOs improve social skills, and hack n' slash/music games improve reflexes.

So video games are good for you. Except Call of Duty. It shrinks your grey matter.

I wonder what strategy/tactics/RTS and some of the others not studied do?

Edited by BeastieRunner
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6 hours ago, DieChecker said:

My kids (Age 6 and 9) play Minecraft and I can say that their spacial awareness... direction senses, if you will, are greatly improved. They can remember in what direction something they found important is located. Where they didn't know how to do that much before.

They also have improved their teamwork skills, as they play the game together, and have improved their problem solving skills.

The only part my wife find disturbing, is the game makes the slaughtering of farm animals and the monsters a beneficial part of the game. It makes killing into a decision of resources... Which my wife, and I, don't really care for.

Don't eat meat?

Sounds like real life to me. Animals make meat for us to eat. Don't raise them on a farm!

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After spending a large amount of time playing minecraft with my daughters I thought that it had taught me enough to survive in the wild....until I punched a tree and broke my hand...

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My oldest son (17) has a no crap actual addiction to video games. The brighter and flashier the game and the longer he plays without interruption the worse the rebound is.  We learned we had to carefully manage his screen time when he had a serious meltdown after a binge weekend. Having spent a decent amount of time around junkies the behaviors were disturbingly similar. 

Im in no way saying video games are bad, just that like everything else moderation is the key. 

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Better than just passively watching endless commercials with a blank expression on your face, while your brain cells die, one-by-one.

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11 hours ago, DieChecker said:

The only part my wife find disturbing, is the game makes the slaughtering of farm animals and the monsters a beneficial part of the game. It makes killing into a decision of resources... Which my wife, and I, don't really care for.

Sorry to tell you, but killing is a decision of resources. Meat, materials for building, shelter, etc. Are you vegetarians?

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Playing video game "may" have saved my life.  I discovered that I was losing battles to people that I should not be losing to.  It turns out that, as you get older, your reaction time slows.  It was a painful decision but I actually sold my motorcycle because of this revelation.  A bike is no place for slow reactions.  I have also had enough close calls that reinforced my call.  I admit tho, I really miss it.

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1 hour ago, Twin said:

Playing video game "may" have saved my life.  I discovered that I was losing battles to people that I should not be losing to.  It turns out that, as you get older, your reaction time slows.  It was a painful decision but I actually sold my motorcycle because of this revelation.  A bike is no place for slow reactions.  I have also had enough close calls that reinforced my call.  I admit tho, I really miss it.

Driving a vehicle in general is no place for somebody with poor reaction times; such a thing will likely get people injured or worse, killed.

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10 hours ago, BeastieRunner said:

First person shooters like Call of Duty make you dumber. Platformers like Super Mario make you smarter! RPGs improve creativity, sims/sports games improve problem solving, logic/puzzlers improve spacial reasoning, MMOs improve social skills, and hack n' slash/music games improve reflexes.

So video games are good for you. Except Call of Duty. It shrinks your grey matter.

I wonder what strategy/tactics/RTS and some of the others not studied do?

I don't see how playing CoD makes people dumber. It improves your reaction time, situational awareness, memory, strategy, hand eye coordination.

 

In general gaming is probably one of the best things to do to exercise your mind

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12 hours ago, BeastieRunner said:

Don't eat meat?

Sounds like real life to me. Animals make meat for us to eat. Don't raise them on a farm!

7 hours ago, Podo said:

Sorry to tell you, but killing is a decision of resources. Meat, materials for building, shelter, etc. Are you vegetarians?

The thing is that the kids build these HUGE farms of animals, and there are literally hundreds of them on the screen at once. So the kids will just mass murder the animals to set up for another farm, which ends up being mass murdered in the end also. The game is set up to get stuff from the dead animals, with no restriction on the creation of said animals, it can turn into a scene of creating hundreds of animals followed immediately by the slaughtering of hundreds of animals.

Myself, I think they are learning some resource management out of it, but it still seems.... off... to be creating hundreds of animals and then immediately killing them, and stashing the thousands of steaks into a chest... Just to have a chest of steaks.

Edited by DieChecker
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I do really think that any politician that wants to be in charge of the US should play to the end a number of strategy games. I think playing strategy games can help a person make better decisions for a nation, rather then allowing only political correctness to guide them.

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15 hours ago, BeastieRunner said:

First person shooters like Call of Duty make you dumber. Platformers like Super Mario make you smarter! RPGs improve creativity, sims/sports games improve problem solving, logic/puzzlers improve spacial reasoning, MMOs improve social skills, and hack n' slash/music games improve reflexes.

So video games are good for you. Except Call of Duty. It shrinks your grey matter.

I wonder what strategy/tactics/RTS and some of the others not studied do?

Read the full article, COD is an example

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8 hours ago, seanjo said:

I play Naval Action, so I can circumnavigate the World.

Is your screen round? No? Then the world is flat... bum I just prove flat earth

 

 

 

 

 

Ps: it wasa a bad not funny joke

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Video games probably saved me from crippling depression. I spent more time playing games in the past 4 years than I ever did, mostly due to not wanting to be alone with my thoughts. So yeah I've got a decent kill to death ration in a few FPS games, the dopamine release from major and minor success such as unlocking trophy's. 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=gamer+life+hacks

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6 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

Video games probably saved me from crippling depression. I spent more time playing games in the past 4 years than I ever did, mostly due to not wanting to be alone with my thoughts.

Me2 buddie me2.

Its sad but it did save me too, along with my new job as a mail man who has to use a motorcycle to do the deliveries, nothing better to clear the mind.

And all family annoying saying I spend too much time on pc playing, well I could be smoking drinking doing drugs or watxhing soap operas.

 

If you need to talk, let me pm me, I am an annonimous stranger who can read/listen.

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Just now, godnodog said:

Me2 buddie me2.

Its sad but it did save me too, along with my new job as a mail man who has to use a motorcycle to do the deliveries, nothing better to clear the mind.

And all family annoying saying I spend too much time on pc playing, well I could be smoking drinking doing drugs or watxhing soap operas.

 

If you need to talk and think it might help you,pm me, I am an annonimous stranger who can read/listen.

 

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I think it depends on the games and the stage of development a brain is in.

It probably wouldn't be good for a developing brain to be on overload for too much time with explosions all over the place. Might be why some develop ADHD. 

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8 minutes ago, godnodog said:

And all family annoying saying I spend too much time on pc playing, well I could be smoking drinking doing drugs or watxhing soap operas.

Yeah when you've clocked over 3000 hours in an FPS game and it makes you more relaxed and less stressed. Then they can deal with it.

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