Benefits of Gaming?

[Heimdallr]

Gaming is widely not believed to be a constructive hobby. Growing up, my mother hated video games and constantly discouraged my brothers and I from playing them.

But are they good? Were they ever good?

Yes, they do discourage socialization and are often contributory factors to people becoming like Chris -Chan.

But are they helpful or positive? They certainly seem to lead to friendships, and give people fun things to talk about. Since the late 80s/early 90s it has spawned a whole new kind of nerdy subculture.

More recently, video games seem to have taken on the likeness of "high art" with sophisticated story lines, beautiful soundtracks, and stunning visuals.

Perhaps they have relieved many a lonely college student, led to sleepovers being just a bit more fun, and helped provide refuge to people from a chaotic and stressful world.

I suppose I wax poetic, but am I right in thinking that video games are not only a fun amusement, but a positive good?

 

[millais]

The September 11 hijackers used consumer-grade flight simulator games and software to train for the attack. IMO that paid huge dividends, since they didn't have to go to a real flight school or use a professional grade simulator in order to figure out how to fly.

 

[Intelligent Calcium]

Highly depends on the type of game. Games like Total War or the grand strategy titles by Paradox are a fun way to learn geography and can give you at least a frame of reference for the period of history they depict. Maybe they'll interest you enough to look up a few names or events.
Other games are supposed to increase your hand-eye coordination, but for most people that only means they'll be better at playing more video games. Not sure what benefits playing Final Fantasy has.

 

[Anchuent Christory]

As a male gamer, I can tell you that gaming makes me practically irresistible to women. All I have to do is mention my retro collection and their panties literally fly off.

Um.... Also I guess that they're good at teaching non native English speakers the language?

 

[Heimdallr]

Come on.. gaming surely is beneficial.

At this point games are a poor mans symphony, painting or novel.

 

[Thespy]

Unless you can monetize off of gaming by being a streamer or "content creator", then there are no real benefits to gaming.

Gaming is a waste of time, but it's a fun way to waste your time. Please do not delude yourself into thinking gayming is beneficial for personal development.

 

[Mimic]

I managed to learn hiragana and katakana by playing Japanese SD Gundam games. Not very useful, but can prove so in a pinch. I've heard others say playing games helped them learn English too.

 

[Pikimon]

It keeps people who would otherwise burn down buildings and shoot up schools busy.

 

[GeorgeDaMoose]

It's about as beneficial as the average movie you watch, album you listen to, etc etc. It's all good fun and you can sometimes find some thought provoking shit in the bunch of games that get released every year, but in the end it's entertainment.
If you want to think a bit deeper about it, they're probably the best form of escapism available right now. That could be a good or a bad thing depending on the person, but I think its been more good than bad for me personally. They also helped me learn how to read when I was younger so there's that too.

 

[AnOminous]

It keeps people who would otherwise burn down buildings and shoot up schools busy.

It teaches you how to burn down buildings and shoot up schools! School shooters who have practiced on murder simulators like Doom are much more effective. At least so says video game gurus Jack Thompson and Jonathan "Full" McIntosh.

 

[Gym Leader Elesa]

Gaming is a waste of time, but it's a fun way to waste your time.

Nothing that's fun is a waste of time. Why, what do you live for? If adulthood taught me anything, it's that I wasted my time trying to do things that weren't fun. Now, I only do what is fun in addition to what is necessary.

Video games are included in that.

 

[alex_theman]

It teaches you how to burn down buildings and shoot up schools! School shooters who have practiced on murder simulators like Doom are much more effective. At least so says video game gurus Jack Thompson and Jonathan "Full" McIntosh.

wow, nice meme!

 

[Locksnap]

Video games? Aren't those for children?

 

[Anchuent Christory]

Come on.. gaming surely is beneficial.

At this point games are a poor mans symphony, painting or novel.

I think games can be these things, and not a "poor mans" version too.

But just saying "games" is far too vague. Computer games encompass a vast array of different things. Dwarf Fortress, Call of Duty, Gone Home, Candy Crush, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy VII, I could go on. Every one of these things is so different in what it offers the player, it's crazy to think it's all part of the same Medium.

Games can inspire you, delight you, scare you and more. They can be the ultimate form of escapism.

They can also be black holes that suck up the hours of your life when you really should be doing something more important.

 

[c-no]

In terms of benefits, gaming is like tv, cinema, or a book in just passing the time and getting some fun out of it. While you have games that do try to tell a good story or even be more than just a game about shooting people or doing quest, they are at most just a part of a hobby that is meant to kill time. It's nice if the game does try to fill one in on something from history (provided they do give historical fact) or teach you something such as flying a plane (like with flight sims, provided said sims try to be accurate as possible) but in the end, the main benefit of a video game is to just entertain the player. If we really did want to learn something, you'd do more than just playing a game about it.

They can also be black holes that suck up the hours of your life when you really should be doing something more important.

That is another thing when one wants to bring up a benefit of gaming. Just as gaming can entertain us like with television, it can also cause us to waste away time when we should be doing something important, especially things related to school, work, or family life.

 

[AnimuGinger]

It gives autistics a reason to live. Just like anime.

 

[XYZpdq]

World of Warcraft's LFR (25 random fucktards try to achieve a complex goal like "kill the monsters") has taught me a lot about what does and doesn't work in conveying instructions to groups of people.
Biggest lesson? Clearly label the thing and only the one thing. If you try to label two things and tell people which one is the right one you've already lost half the group.

 

[ICametoLurk]

It gives autistics a reason to live. Just like anime.

Also helps with population control.

 

[oasys]

If you practice by playing Cookie Clicker long enough you can fingerbang a girl at a party for a good 4 minutes before she pulls her pants up and leaves

 

[MrTroll]

Target practice.