Things You've Gained from Gaming

[Eschew]

The way I see it, games have always been given a lot of flak. Some people thinks its a waste of time and money. Others claim it atrophies our bodies and our minds. Parents... Parents come up with the wildest reasons, ranging from all the way from religious to psychological and... Ugh.

 

This is in NO WAY meant to be a scientific, objective list of reasons justifying gaming. It is, however, meant to be people's opinions on what they think they've gained from gaming. Like, things you brag "Betcha didn't know I knew that/could do that, did ya?" to your friends, things that you've applied video game logic and/or skills to, or things that you never would have gotten involved in if not for gaming.

 

All types of games are accepted. PC, console, mobile, visual novels, simulators, VR, table-top, etc.

 

Gaming Appreciation Post, START!

• I've always had a strangely good sense of direction. According to my mother, so did my deceased father. I could chalk it up to genes, but guess what? My dad was a gamer too. The ultimate gamer. THE RETRO PACMAN GAMER. My theory is that my dad and I have honed my navigation skills based on the convenient video game maps/mini-maps that we always take for granted.
• Good English/History grades. Haha, I know, right?! I'm a huge, HUGE, fantasy RPG fanatic. I love the fantastical settings in Warcraft III, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen, Age of Mythology, and Age of Empires III (last two are RTS, not RPG). First, the speech/writing patterns that these games use differ slightly from regular real-life usage, and I think that playing lore-rich games has helped me expand my vocabulary. Second, Age of Empires III helped me with my high school U.S. History tests, believe it or not.

 

(I put this in Off-Topic because the post isn't about specific games or even types of games, it's about gaming in general. Moderators, if I did a bad, please feel free to move the post.)

[Andreas Lilja]

Paradox Interactive games are a no-brainer for geography.

 

 

 

[greenmax]

Gaming can too easily become an addiction.

[Eschew]

My fascination with religion and mythology, despite being atheist/a freethinker, is thanks to Age of Mythology. I don't know if I could be as open-minded as I am today if not for playing that game during my childhood.

[Bombastinator]

There used to be a thing where surgeons were encouraged to play video games because it increased their motor skills.

 

video games aren’t any dumber than a bunch of other things teens used to do.  Movies and listening to music are both actively less physically engaging activities.  Reading romance novels arguably creates actively bad world views.  
 

The issue with almost anything is over indulgence.  Too much of just about anything can be bad.  Video games do tend to encourage over indulgence, but I’m not sure a whole lot more that more “traditional” activities.

[Mooshi]

I've learned my teammates are trash

[Bombastinator]

2 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

I've learned my teammates are trash

Michael Jordan didn’t win every game either.

[RonnieOP]

tbh i cant think of anything worth a shit that ive learned from gaming.

 

I learned alot of funny insults. but thats about it.

[DR2D2]

Hand eye coordination from fps games.

[Bombastinator]

Wasn’t arma II actually designed by the military as a training aid?

[Eschew]

35 minutes ago, RonnieOP said:

tbh i cant think of anything worth a shit that ive learned from gaming.

 

I learned alot of funny insults. but thats about it.

Ah, my bad, I should've worded the title better. How about things you've gained from gaming?

 

During my high school days, the two massive time-sinks of my life were homework and PC gaming. I had a couple of bullies, and I never had many friends, but the quality of friends mattered more to me than the quantity of friends that I had. I'm actually very thankful that I never had much of a social life in high school, because I managed to avoid the smoking/drinking/drugging/clubbing scene that the majority of my peers got addicted to.

[RonnieOP]

2 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

Wasn’t arma II actually designed by the military as a training aid?

iirc the engine it runs on is also used for military simulations. but the game itself doesnt have any connection to the military.

[Andreas Lilja]

It preceded the ARMA series. 

 

Virtual Battlespace 1 was the first, based on the Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis engine. 

[Dr0y]

I've learned quite a bit of english from games.  They don't teach us much in school.  Back in the days I was playing final fantasy mystic quest, secret of mana and final fantasy 3 on snes (ff6) and didn't understand much of those games.  I had to use the dictionary to finally understand the dialogs and found that it was easier that way. 

[Curious Pineapple]

Mostly how to find the elusive cake.

[greenmax]

Why not list the "Things you've lost through gaming"

 

Its like a gambling addict spouting off he won $100K but over time he has really lost $250K.

[Guest]

I've gained really good typing skills. Using a computer efficiently is such a useful skill, but you need to practice it - Although I only really perfected my typing when it was part of my job. 

 

Definitely lost so much time that should have been spent for other things. Used to be a little addicted to Aoe3. 

[Eschew]

12 minutes ago, greenmax said:

Why not list the "Things you've lost through gaming"

 

Its like a gambling addict spouting off he won $100K but over time he has really lost $250K.

Awww, see, I was trying to spread good feels. Also, I genuinely feel that I HAVE learned/gained things from gaming. You're free to voice your own opinions, though. 

 

On that note, I remember learning that shadows can't exist without light (from AdventureQuest, of all things!), both in the literal sense and in the metaphorical sense. If I've had a bad experience or something's gotten me down, I try to see it as a learning lesson. There's always something I can learn from a bad memory.

[Dr0y]

I learned that I don't like playing with other people since quake 3 arena ... so after that it's only been single player games ...

[Crunchy Dragon]

2 hours ago, RorzNZ said:

I've gained really good typing skills.

I learned how to type faster from talking crap in online games.

[circeseye]

hand eye coordination and higher attention to detail

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

I learned how to type faster from talking crap in online games.

I have 200 apm in aoe but 100 of that is just rough chat lol. 

[alicskysareblue]

it was a form of survival for me.

anyways on postive notes  its a way for me to be creative I love crpgs and 4x games (like age of wonders) so I can be creative and escape  by roleplaying my charecters.

[merco]

I learned a good amount of english playing games with english audio and english subtitles on. I watched a lot of series or movies in english as well, but usually those didn't have subtitles. I believe hearing the language you are learning while reading it at the same time is a huge benefit.

[greenmax]

On 2/23/2020 at 2:23 PM, Dr0y said:

I learned that I don't like playing with other people since quake 3 arena ... so after that it's only been single player games ...

What about in real life, like hockey, football, shooting pool.