I came accross the Starcraft 2 Zerg site above and it got me thinking, can gaming take your brain to another level?
Sure games like Starcraft 2 are fun, but is it just your in-game skill that improves with practice or do you develope abilites in the rest of your life as well?
Perhaps I should ask, does gaming mean you’re becoming more clever?
Tons of studies show that playing games really improves cognitive skills.
Now sure there are those people out there who say playing games is a waste of time, but then isn’t pretty much anything? Why bother to playing tennis or walking in the rain?! Because it stimulates us!
Well what about if what you enjoy is actually good for you too?
You see games have been found to increase people’s visualisation skills, reasoning and decision making skills, reaction time, and recall. All of this is while you play the game!
This has of course prompted the recent craze in Brain Training seen on Nintendos DS.
However games such as Starcraft 2 and World of Warcraft allow a huge element of social interaction that people would otherwise be without.
In particular games such as Starcraft 2 teach strategy and causal consequence. But here’s the great part…
Most of this is unconscious!
So you don’t have to understand the theory of deductive reasoning for example, you just play the game and your ability to think in all sorts of great ways improves as a result.
Learning without learning so to speak. Where videos like the Starcraft 2 Zerg one’s help your brain as well as your game!
In fact there are reports that the government are now looking into the possibility of introducing computer games such as The Sims and Championship Manager into schools. They are convinced it may be the way to help children improve their decision amking.
It is not only cognitive skills that improve but knowledge as well. Games such as Civilisation and Age of Empires teach history in a more entertaining way than sitting in a dusty old library would.
In fact most games have moral and ethical implications and consequences within them. All we stick to when we’re playing. In order to be good at any game you have to do within the games predefined rule structure. Whatever culture we live in, this learning point can be amazingly helpful to ensure we get the most positive outcome in a given situation!
So have fun in the knowledge that you’re acquiring some great skills as you’re learning Starcraft 2 Zerg or killing some bad guys in your game of choice!
