Video Games Boost Visual Skills 355
cmburns69 writes "A new study published in Nature Magazine (MSNBC summary) suggests that playing action games improves visual skills. Among other things, young adults who played action games such as Grand Theft Auto and Medal of Honor regularly could track up to five objects at a time - 30% more than non-players. Apparently, the game type is important, as ten hours of the block-rotating game Tetris failed to improve test scores."
Games are not just entertainment (Score:5, Insightful)
Another possibility... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Another possibility... (Score:5, Insightful)
The way to test this, of course, is to test the groups' visual abilities first at the onset of the experiment, then have them play the games extensively for a lengthy period of time (several weeks, months, or years depending on how long such neurological structures take to emerge), then test those abilities again.
Re:Another possibility... (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't see this result as anything particularly surprising. If you work out, you become stronger. If you have to track multiple objects on screen, your tracking ability improves.
What about mech games! (Score:5, Insightful)
what did they say about mech games!
oh man, I feel so left out.
But on a more serious note. I think these games do increase twitch re-actions for people, to be even remotely good you have to be able to identify a things distance, and even slight variations on where it exists in space to determine if you are going to fire at it.
Just taking medal of honor for example, many times on servers which force the skin type, it can be very hard to determine if someone is behind a wall because of the lack of contrast between default uniforms and the background.
The ability to know how thick an object is can really help determine how abnormal its shape is versus what it should be.
Anyone thats played these games a while, and has become familiar with where things are on there maps can almost run them backward. I used to play on a map called canalzone (the original for qwtf) that was "huge" and I could run it backward, or looking straight at the ground, as long as i knew where my start positon was. You need a good feel for how large the 3d space is relative to your character in the game to be able to do these kinds of things.
Now on games where weapons have travel time in space, knowledge of 3d space is even more important, games such as mechwarrior 4, coupled with some lag, require to know the movement speed in space so you can lead the target. If you dont have any idea how they are going to change relative shape vs distance in space, you are much less likely to hit your target.
so the hypothesis that games can affect how you determine things in 3d space seems completely plausible to me, because having "trained" people to play many 3d games myself (planetfortress.com/canalzone) (www.themfb.com search on wayback machine or google) I can tell you that the ability to have a good twitch instinct and judgment factors about objects in 3d space can really help.
Re:Games are not just entertainment (Score:5, Insightful)
how about loss of vision? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Another possibility... (Score:5, Insightful)
It also mentions, however: In a fifth experiment, non-players trained on an action video game show marked improvement from their pre-training abilities, thereby establishing the role of playing in this effect.
So, even tho the habitual gamers outscored non-videogame players there is apparently some "training" possible.
Re:I wish someone would've told my mother that (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:nothing but pratfalls (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Games are not just entertainment (Score:4, Insightful)
I can really believe that reading books like the 1st editions of TSR's AD&D (the Gygax DMG especially) and White Wolf's WOD series could help your vocabulary. Those things are chock full of gratuitously esoteric 10-dollar words ("Lycanthropy?" "Protean!").
The later versions of those game books seemed to aim at progressively wider audiences (the influence of publishers wanting sales and editors wanting readability), so the word choice became more accessible and pedestrian.
Re:nothing but pratfalls (Score:5, Insightful)
I tried driving defensively for a while, but I just got shat upon. Now I still zoom up alongside people who don't appear to be paying adequate attention, I just assume they're going to fuck up and I watch for it. I don't get myself into situations I can't brake or accelerate (or otherwise manouver) out of.
As for the food, though, you're spot on. Eating properly helps a lot. Getting enough rest does just as much for you. Your body needs fuel and sleep, and not giving it enough of both will ruin your productivity, or at least your consistency.
Re:"Game type is important" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:nothing but pratfalls (Score:2, Insightful)
The other major thing they have reinforced, and that I have noticed has affected both my driving habits and the driving habits of my friends who play games (like GTA3 and GT3) is that while the game reinforces the fact that if you hit things, bad shit happens (ie. you spin out of control and the car bursts into flames.....now if that ain't incentive not to hit things i don't know what is) but also, that your perception of how close is too close goes WAAAAY down. I've noticed myself thinking that "as long as I don't HIT the person crossing the street, it's ok to drive very close by them at my present speed".
How's that for a double-edged sword.
Re:Another possibility... (Score:4, Insightful)
You may not be surprised, but remember that we are talking about video games here. Think about what the average parent or teacher thinks about the hobby of playing video games. Remember that bashing video games as a waste of time and a cause of anti-social disorders and/or depression is a frequent past-time of the press. Remember that the fact that the Columbine kids played Doom was often mentioned when talking about the murders.
When a study comes out that proves that there are real-world, physical benefits to playing GTA3 -- this would definitely surprise a lot of people. Gamers often already know about these benefits. I, for instance, have noticed that my positioning and directional skills seem to be better than most peoples. For example, if we are driving in an area which we are not familiar with - making a lot of turns, etc - I notice that I am able to keep my bearings on the cardinal directions (i.e. which way is north, etc) much better than most people. These skills have been tuned playing first-person shooters for many years, as in those games it is a strategic advantage to "make sense" of the map as a whole, despite the fact that they can only see a little bit of it at any given time. Whenever you make a turn, you mentally map your position and bearings on a top-down mental image of sorts. At any given time, you know the direction of all the previous rooms you have been to - even on a large map. Not everyone can do this well without practice.
Re:Another possibility... (Score:3, Insightful)
And yet he provides *no evidence whatsoever* that the test he administers actually translates into increased ability with these real-world skills. His comments are merely supposition without any basis in fact.
Science requires hard evidence, not guesswork. Until Wolfe shows, empirically, that there's a direct connection between his tests and these skills, there's nothing to support his claim.
But I suppose if you were a video game fanatic you might be invested in 'proving' that your waste of time was actually of some value beyond that provided by the entertainment itself. And therefore find my demand for some actual science to be a 'troll'.
Max
Re:And in other news ... (Score:2, Insightful)
One thing I always wonder about on
Why not accept that playing games can be fun? I mean you know, moderation and variation are the keys here.. I get out every day (have to for work/school anyway), I also (as you suggested) right my bike as well as a lot of other outdoor and indoor sports.. At the same time though.. My girlfriend and I both play multiplayer games at least an hour a day.. Why? Because they're fun.. Enjoy yourself instead of criticizing the world..