Do video games have any positive effect on our brains?
I mean, they basically involve quick reactions and decision making of the sort we wouldn't be doing otherwise.
define positive effect
>>8180097
Spatial reasoning.
>>8180097
Depending on the game, they can improve our abilities of all kinds of different simple problem-solving exercises. But most of them don't do anything but keep me practicing quick mental arithmetic with estimations. And I wouldn't suggest any kind of universal effect, but if there's a particular skill you are shit at a game that involves it will help that.
I want a game like Puzzle Quest or Professor Layton without the stupid plot.
>>8180097
they keep me from studying, that's for sure..
>>8180097
ever tried playing osu! ?
Tell me if you don't get better reaction time and accuracy.
The mere fact that there are e-sports competitions and that you can improve your skills should be proof enough.
http://www.futurity.org/video-games-speed-up-reaction-time/
>>8180097
>Do video games have any positive effect on our brains?
no if you're over 16 and still playing vidya you should off yourself
ex-/v/irgin here, used to browse /v/ & /vg/ religiously and lurk/shitpost about my favorite vidya. been lurking here and on /g/ since March
ive spent literally thousands of hours sitting on my ass and staring at a screen with my brain turned off to everything but the game i was playing. not to mention the $$$ ive wasted.
some of the games involved quick reaction times sure, but other than that i dont think they do anything positive for you except feed you endorphins until youre addicted and have an extremely hard time getting back out of it. just wait until VR gets bigger and better
vidya is a slow killer
>>8180379
if you can't see what a game brings you, you were going to be a failure with or without vidya.
yes they have a positive effect, as do most if not all things.
its just that they are not as positive as other things you could be doing with your time, and they also have alot of negative effects.
>>8180381
>>8180381
This
>>8180097
a negligible effect that could be gained doing much healthier things.
>>8180431
let me guess, crossfit?
I'm sure people who do those "much healthier things" can compete at the highest level.
ART SERVES ITSELF.
You don't need any stupid reasons like hand eye coordination to convince your mom or Hillary Clinton it's ok to play video games.
>>8180379
You sound like a degenerate looking for something on which to defer responsibility for his fucked up life.
>>8180465
>using the word "art" justifies useless of a thing
>>8180482
Nice english. What use is there in staring at paintings or watching films? Not everything you do has to be geared at creating things you commie.
>be me
>be 19
>be virgin
>not graduated yet
>play video games religiously
>dont know what to do with my life
amidoinitrite?
>>8180330
Puzzle quest is basically candy crush
>>8182380
Don't spend your undergrad playing video games. You will regret it.
>>8180475
Word
Though I got to agree videogames for the most part are fucking pointless
But so is everything else.
>>8180097
Some of them, surely.
I'm pretty sure playing them gives you similar benefits to reading book or watching movies with additional improvements in reaction and decision making if you play CS or something. It's surely better than not doing anything, but the problem is if there are better ways to spend time that will give you more benefits(I'm sure there are).
However there are games that can give you real skills useful in real life. For example I personally love engineering games, especially programming ones. I mastered about 4-5 "in-game" programming languages and it gave me great understanding of how they works in general, experience in solving common programing and network/software/graphical engineering problems. And these skills are very valuable, the more programming languages you know, the easier it is for you to learn new ones. Also in the small company I work in I'm one of the people with the most wide range of skills, from designing databases, network protocols to graphical shaders, even though I'm the youngest here.
Of course these games didn't taught me many of these skills, but they gave me great base and basing understanding to quickly learn them.
>>8180347
Yeah, he surely should only use real entertainment like TV and going out drinking.
>>8180097
Shooters are absolutely proven to improve reaction time, thats the only effect I know of that is established beyond any real doubt
>>8180097
It would depend on the game, but I believe that generally playing games will make you better at the things required by the gameplay.
>>8180479
>video games aren't art
They are by almost any sensible definition.
>>8182448
>engineering games
Everything made by Zachtronics Industries is fucking amazing. I really ought to buy TIS-100
>>8182486
Yeah, I played every game they made except the card/strategy one.
Have you tried infinifactory?
It's great too.
>>8182412
what you should do in your undegrad though? socializing is a waste of time, all those who are playing vidya are the guys who will finish their grades
The RAF found that recruits who played a lot of multi-tasking type video games and games that use alternate type controls (other than m+kb) would perform better on their cbat. Doesnt necessarily mean theyre any smarter just that cbat must be similar to gaming.
>>8183401
Doesn't mean anything if you stay a lonely virgin.
Don't have to party to be social.
>>8182412
Thanks anon. Studying math is something i would like to do. Any tips?
I wish I could get back the several thousand hours I poured into the black hole of video games and retroactively apply them to my studies.
>>8185316
I know that feel.
Assuming it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill, the average /v/irgin could have been at the top of their field at anything.
They literally rob you of intelligence/knowledge.
>>8180345
Fucking weeaboo manchild
>>8180188
This and the fact that there are too many types and genre of video games. Everything from hentai VN to trivia games to 3D virtual worlds while wearing 3D goggles.
>>8185316
This.
Basically all of entertainment media stops you from doing anything you should be doing.
>>8180097
>Do video games have any positive effect on our brains?
Yes, when you play a lot of games you become better at those games. I mean, not any games, just specifically the games you've played a lot. It doesn't translate into anything at all.
So yes, you are wasting your time. But then again, we are all wasting our time with something, just sometimes I feel like writing something, playing an instrument, drawing or painting or physical exercise feel a little less like a waste of time. I can't even tell you why exactly it feels that way. Maybe it's some cultural thing. Or maybe it's just that playing a piece of music gives me infinitely more back. It feels like I added something to this world, it feels productive.
Maybe there are some, but the costs so clearly outweigh any benefits that it's a moot point.
>>8180345
>better reaction time and accuracy.
You just get used to the patterns. Like in most "skill" based video games.
>>8180097
They have a lot of positive effects. Persona 3 and 4 motivated me to stop being a blob sitting home alone and to do stuff. Guitar hero motivated me to practice real guitar.
>>8180097
you get trained in the kind of task the video game wants from you. Multiplayer games can give you experience in coordinating such a task in a group.
but neither pressing 'F' to pay respect nor reacting to catchy impulses will develop a skill that is useful elsewhere. Extreme example would be a gambler in front of an automatic gambling machine - no useful skill.
Certainly games like Dwarf Fortress, Spacechem, Factorio and Aurora test the players intelligence. Am I wrong?
>>8186218
I think you're wrong for DF and Factorio.
Spacechem is only one type of puzzle, so sorta (and I haven't played Aurora)
Games like Myst, Portal and Anti-Chamber do more for having problems with different ways to think.
>>8182448
This is an exceptional example of gamified learning though. While I like Zachtronics games very much, you can't possibly think League of Memes is in any way some sort of magic brain food.
>>8180330
But the stupid plot is the best part
