170 replies to this topic

[Sleightblind]

It definitely depends on the game or games being played. For example:Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, being pure fiction and having no real puzzles (though it does call for creative thinking now and again) doesn't teach anything useful.Also, Dynasty Warriors, though exaggerated and embellished, does provide an account of ancient chinese history.Finally, America's Army apparently teaches very accurate medical training, as one man was able to use the training and presentations from the video game to aid two severely injured victims of a car accident. Story here.

[lyzandred]

i think games are healthy, as long as the player gives some time to social activities, excercise and food.i believe games help in many ways, for example with the reflexes, or maybe analyzing situations and many times thinking strategies or decicions, and many puzzles games also help in some way analyzing or thinking. And of course there are also the educational games like brain age or so.I also think that most games are educational because of the values they teach, because in most games the protagonist is the good guy or give you the chance to decide what to do, like infamous :]

[Teddy Bear!]

I think the answer to this question is heavily predicated on one's definition of "smarter." Ultimately though, I think that the answer is unfortunately, video games cannot actually make one smarter going along with IQ as a base measurement of intelligence.Although many people feel that IQ is an outmoded scale of determining intelligence, it is still the most widely used and most widely accepted standard until a better measure can be developed. In this sense, it is highly unlikely that playing games will increase one's IQ score significantly. While certain components of IQ include achievement (i.e. how much information you know), and visual-spatial reasoning/awareness, perhaps the main component is the potential to learn. While it may be possible that video games may do things like improve reflexes, visual-spatial awareness, maybe critical/novel thinking through puzzles (although none of this has been definitively disproven or proven), it is highly unlikely that they can influence one's capacity to learn, which is one of the greatest indicators of "intelligence".As many people have mentioned already though, video games can be used as a medium through which learning can occur. Because many kids engage easily and naturally in games, learning in this context is done willingly and thus may have a better effect.

Edited by tedsb16, 20 January 2010 - 07:47 PM.

[tomdiepstrap]

If your see smart as having a large knowledge base, I would have to say yes. I recently interviewed a few people for a school assignment, and on average the group had learned about 30% of their knowledge from games. And I support that estimate as well. When I moved to Canada, I didn't know any English. I played video games when I moved, so I continued to play them when I lived here. And I started picking up the language from the things the characters in the games were saying. At first, I didn't understand what they were saying, but I did understand what they wanted me to do. I started understanding the language because I stated tying meanings to the words. So based on the interviews that I did and my own experiences, I would definitely say that games can make people smarter (Knowledge).

[HaroProBMXRider]

I guess you learn from everything in life, and with the games that get produced today (Such as the educational NDS games) there is a better chance of learning something useful, but nothing is a substitute from education itself. And it would be situational, as if all you ever played was FPS or something similar, all that you would learn is possibly some vocabulary you might not have known prior, but reading anything online would produce the same result, if not a better one. I guess in essence what I'm saying is that while you can learn from video games, it is probably the least rewarding educationally then any other means, as anything you do has some form of educational value pretty much...aside from maybe masturbation, you don't really learn anything then

Edited by HaroProBMXRider, 23 January 2010 - 08:26 AM.

[DAZZ192]

Video games can make kids smarter, yet if you play the wrong type it can just as badly make them the exact opposite. Nearly every single game, has the power to have enough power to makeyou smarter, depending on how you play game. Everyone thinks that when you mention educationalvideo games, everyone automactically thinks of a maths game. Well even games like hitman (even shootergames sadly),have the ability to make you think making you smarter in a way. If you think about it, you reallyhave to think how execute your plan, you cant just go heads first. In conclusion most gameshave the ability to make you smarter

[jamzemu]

Well it depends on what you mean by smartness.If you mean smartness in the terms of good grades and outstanding academic knowledge and the ability to differentiate really complicated equations then no. Obviously now, games don't teach you all that stuff.But in general, I do feel that games have the ability to make you intelligent in the way you think. Even playing a game requires you to use your brains. It may ultimately be for the purpose of fun and entertainment and not really educational but they can help sharpen your brain in other areas. You need to think of strategies before you take actions. Think about those RPG games and stuff you play. You're going to use the best tactics to destroy your enemies and not just the "Attack" button. Even in shooters, you need to use tactics and you need to play conservatively to progress without getting in a mess towards the end. And there's so many different types I can go into and all in detail too.But let's forget those strategy, RPG's and shooters and everything. Even baby games like Super Mario. You might happily be running across, jumping on enemies heads and then you stumble across a massive gap. But you see ledges in the sky moving left and right, up and down, some of those ledges are the type that break if you stand for too long and enemies running around on some of those ledges. Now what do you do? You don't simply jump. If you jump straight away without a thought, you may end up finding that you can't make it to the next ledges because those ledges have gone too far and then because of the enemies, you're jumping around like mad and you die. So you time and plan everything. You quickly try to analyse the patterns in which things are moving around. You let it move a few times so that you understand how this thing works and once you've solved it, you make your move.Hmm... lemme see... pretty much like Maths isn't it. 5, 8, 11, 14. What's the pattern? You sit and analyse and you solve it. Alright, Mario might not literally be Maths but it exercises that similar type of thinking. And I haven't played recent Mario but I remember in the older versions of Mario there used to be a timer. So it would get you to analyse quicker.Seriously, it may not seem like as if you're doing a great thing by playing games. Maybe it's better to sit and spend more time learning your subjects rather than playing games. But I do think games help exercise those other little areas of your brain like logic, common sense, dexterity, mental alertness and even maths.

[=Σηινιχηιλεε=]

I have waited for my chance to post about this. Let me begin.Every single game, regardless of genre, gives intelligence to us. I am not referring only to Tetris, I am referring to games like GTA, Shinobi, etc. as well. (Ironically, Tetris, in my view, provides the least intelligence.)I shall begin with something simple and popular: Warcraft. Warcraft is a game where people take control of fantasy armies and battle them against the enemies in the storyline, and the intelligence we get from there is the exposure in the fantasy world, tactics on how to defeat the enemy, how to avoid them and etc.You see, every bit of information we get, even the tiniest bit, is still considered as intelligence. What we do in games are called Skill, like dodging a bullet in a FPS game helps reflexes. Imagine yourself in a crowd of MMORPG gamers, and you don't know a single thing about MMORPGs. In their mind, they'd regard you as someone who lacks exposure, or to put it simply, stupid. Playing games itself helps the fingers, making it more used to keyboard/mouse/etc., a skill if mastered would make you be considered good in gaming. Tactical games, for me, are the best that contributes intelligence, as it plays a role in reality as well. For example, Counterstrike(I realise it's not tactical, but listen to my explanation). Let's say you have a team of five, you being the leader, battling another team of five. You would set posts in your base here and there, covering each other, so it would be easier not to die that easily, which is far better than going all out. In reality, this kind of thing would help in writing(in essays), or at the very least, experience in strategies.Let's say you don't know a thing about fantasy(orcs, elves, etc.). You heard that word and go ask a person, "What's an elf?" He would look at you strangely, as it's no surprise that even six year olds would know what's an elf. In an FPS game, you would have to advance slowly, turning round quickly at corners to check if there are enemies. Although this isn't likely to happen in reality(unless you're a policeman/soldier), it still improve reflexes. In games like GTA also helps, albeit in a not-so-positive way. It shows people how the world could really be like, especially in countries that allow normal civilians to have guns. Basically, GTA teaches people about reality.Now, in assassination-based games. Let me take an example, Shinobido:Way of the Ninja(a PS2 game, wiki it if you like). In this game, the main objective is to complete your mission(Assassination, robbery, etc.) unseen if best. If you are seen, the warning level turns orange, then red to show you are seen. You have to escape, climb up walls, roofs to stay unseen. This type of games helps mainly reflexes, but in reality, if you have to do something(Stealthily), you could actually adopt the style.I shall simply conclude that all games contribute skills to the player, violent or not.