What have video games done for you?

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DudeItsMe

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Messages
15,718
Alright well like the title implies, I'm looking for people to share stories about how video games have BENEFITTED your life. Only thing I ask of you is that you share stuff that is positive, not about how you spent three months of your life locked in a room camping spawns in Everquest. And no, I'm not trying to hide the bad impacts of video games, I'd just like to hear positive stories about how video games have helped you (if at all). It's not for any special cause either, just sharing so people can see what positive impact video games have had for you.

Also, no flaming, and if you're not sharing something yourself please keep the conversation to PM's.... reason I say that is because I don't want the thread going off-topic and ending up being about a chapter in someone's personal life. But hopefully enough people like the idea that the thread won't die tomorrow
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That being said, I'll start off.

In the summer before Kindergarten I spent A LOT of time playing Math Blaster. I loved playing the little rocketship game they had and would plug in the problems over and over and over so I could play that dang addicting game. As a result, I learned addition and subtraction, and memorized my multiplication/division tables (I did not learn HOW to do these, I simply memorized it... more on that later).

I also played Treasure Cove, which had some educational value, but more importantly made me a better reader. Most of my reading progression I'd attribute to RPG's on the SNES, like Breath of Fire, Earthbound, Crono Trigger, Lufia II etc. If you've played any of these you know there's a lot of text... and a lot of text for a 5-7 year old. But I made my way through those games, and had A LOT of practice readin that I would not have got in front of the TV.

As a result of Math Blaster and those other listed games, I was pretty bright compared to my classmates (and yes, I realize not all of my early learning came from video games). This put me in a really good position since I was in a K-2nd grade class and was able to work with the students ahead of me in math, spelling, reading, etc. I remember in my kindergarden reading group I'd ask to read to the group when we weren't even supposed to know how to read
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(thanks preschool too). So anyways since I was doing well I ended up getting promoted to 2nd grade about six weeks in to first grade.

If anyone has any good stories to tell, please share them
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It'd be cool if I'm not the only one
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MUD's increased my typing from about 30 WPM to 100+ WPM with exceptional accuracy. I've graduated with a Computer Science degree so I spend a great deal of time typing, so I guess I have video games to thank for making me more "efficient". :)
 
I firmly believe that my problem solving skills are so efficient because of all the games I play. Also my hand eye coordination is just insane.

And oh ya, part of my job here is moderating a games forum. ;)
 
Diablo 2 has taught me alot of interesting vocabulary. Some of those magical prefixes/suffixes are pretty archaic.
 
Video games:
-gave me better hand eye coordination
-killed time
-helped me lose some weight (lol ddr....dont laugh.... :p )
-made me more knowledgable about computer hardware (need....more....f...p....s....)
 
Video games made me want to go into the computer field. Thats why i started building my own computers and having fun doing it. If it wasn't for videogames i wouldn't be building computers or even touchin a computer.
 
hand eye coordination
problem solving skills
fast typing
intro to professional computer field, going into computer-engineering this fall
made me fat =P
 
Inspired me to save my money to buy shit...Though that money went to video games... -cough-

Got me interested in computers, and that's a field I wish to exceed in and hopefully gain a career out of it. Hell, they've made me a lot more interested in electronics in general (going to see about an electrician apprenticeship next year hopefully)

I wish I could thank video games for reading and math capabilities, but I was pretty good with them long before I discovered video games.... (I'll leave that to how you want to interpret it ;))

All I can think of off the top of my head... I'll let you know if I remember anything else. :p
 
Got me a job making games and I got paid money doing it. It also got me to write three books and paid (a lot lot less) money. Also got me a trip one year to E3 to be on Korean TV and hang out with midgets. Yeah, games have been good to me.
 
Negs: Time Sink, Money Sink, Life sink...

Pos: Anti-depression drug. (when you are feeling the blues nothing like owning scrubs in a pub in cs)

I love competive play and wish to do more of it after I get out of college etc etc.

Edit: Oh and I can prob thank video games shuch as Everquest for being able to read faster. Also showing me I do have a good memory.... Just remembering the most retarded stuff that could have been more useful if it was done for HS/College stuff haha.
 
Prim3 said:
Negs: Time Sink, Money Sink, Life sink...

Pos: Anti-depression drug. (when you are feeling the blues nothing like owning scrubs in a pub in cs)

I love competive play and wish to do more of it after I get out of college etc etc.

Edit: Oh and I can prob thank video games shuch as Everquest for being able to read faster. Also showing me I do have a good memory.... Just remembering the most retarded stuff that could have been more useful if it was done for HS/College stuff haha.
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So...were the video games the cause of the depression in the first place? :p
 
Oh man my hand eye skills are WAY better than my buddys that don't game. Also I find that I'm a much calmer person due to fact that I can hop in a game and take out all my frustration, not verbally at others, but by owning :) ;) Quick thinking is another positive aspect of games, you are always adapting to stay alive.
 
I've improved my typing speed alot and accuracy. I used to look down about 3 years ago, now I have memorized every key on the keyboard and never look down. I will even type looking away at a tv and know when I make mistakes and correct them.
 
It's what got me into computers in the first place. When i first got my first pc (An XT), my first application for it was games, then i accidentally cracked the friendly ware (It's an application package made purely in BASIC) and got the sourcecode (Basic applications aren't compiled, just unlistable). I got my first look at a working program. Though "Cool!" and started fooling around with it. It wasn't long before i became 'on-call' when someone goes wrong with the schools PC and i actually had to hack my way through them sometimes. That was in fifth grade :p The clincher was in highschool sophomore when the principal talked me into joining a contest, then became the regional champion. That's when i actually started taking the computer field seriously :) I owe my life to Moonbugs and Paratrooper :D

Now i'm grown up and still very much interested in games. Game programming is very satisfying, they're harder to make but seeing that little sprite on screen walking around makes you just a bit proud that you did that. As opposed to database programming where you can make one in your sleep (I did one half-asleep, when i woke up, the database module was done).

The hand eye coordination seems to be a standard for gamers. We were talking around a table when a plant on a shelf above us got bumped and fell. I saw it fall and reached out and caught it. Everyone got awed and they said i reacted so fast o_0
 
OMG! GAMES HAVE TAUGHT ME HOW TO SHOOT TEH GUNZ AND KILL PROSTITUTES TO GET MY MONEY BACK!@%% /sarcasm

Mostly they've helped me waste time, some of the good ones I have actually learned stuff from. The occasional scifi game that does like movies and introduces some concept i wasn't familiar with, ect.
 
Hmm...Video games got me into programming/scripting, photoshop, and learning to type better.

On my 9th birthday my mom bought me my own computer, ~6 months later my cousin introduced me to Tribes. When I started playing Tribes, I had to memorize the keys on the keyboard, and when I had to type to teamates I had to type fast, because I would usually play defense and the bases would be bombarded very quickly. After a while of playing Tribes, I saw there was a lot of these cool "HUDs" and it was so hard for me to figure out how to set them up, because nothing came with a readme, so I messed with all the .cfg's till some stuff worked, though I couldn't get everything to work, but most of it I did.

Fast foward, to the 7th grade, I became really interested in CS sprays and I started reading forums, so I wanted to make signatures (like almost everyone else), so I downloaded the trial of photoshop, to see what it was like, started messing with it, and then I downloaded a warez'ed version, until I saved up for the real version. As soon as I picked up photoshop, I couldn't leave it alone. Around that time in CS it was version 1.3, where everyone hacked, so of course I was interested, and started hacking as well, (I was even in [and?] myg0t was to racist for my tastes), I wanted to learn how to make hacks and things like that, so I picked up a C++ book, and started reading. I started understanding a little bit of it, and was getting the hang of it.

..Back to photoshop, after a while I wanted to make a website to put all my artwork on there, so I started learning HTML, and then that lead to PHP.

I'm a Junior right now in high school, and I'm looking to major in Computer Science when I go to College :D
 
Hexus0 said:
Hmm...Video games got me into programming/scripting, photoshop, and learning to type better.

On my 9th birthday my mom bought me my own computer, ~6 months later my cousin introduced me to Tribes. When I started playing Tribes, I had to memorize the keys on the keyboard, and when I had to type to teamates I had to type fast, because I would usually play defense and the bases would be bombarded very quickly. After a while of playing Tribes, I saw there was a lot of these cool "HUDs" and it was so hard for me to figure out how to set them up, because nothing came with a readme, so I messed with all the .cfg's till some stuff worked, though I couldn't get everything to work, but most of it I did.

Fast foward, to the 7th grade, I became really interested in CS sprays and I started reading forums, so I wanted to make signatures (like almost everyone else), so I downloaded the trial of photoshop, to see what it was like, started messing with it, and then I downloaded a warez'ed version, until I saved up for the real version. As soon as I picked up photoshop, I couldn't leave it alone. Around that time in CS it was version 1.3, where everyone hacked, so of course I was interested, and started hacking as well, (I was even in [and?] myg0t was to racist for my tastes), I wanted to learn how to make hacks and things like that, so I picked up a C++ book, and started reading. I started understanding a little bit of it, and was getting the hang of it.

..Back to photoshop, after a while I wanted to make a website to put all my artwork on there, so I started learning HTML, and then that lead to PHP.

I'm a Junior right now in high school, and I'm looking to major in Computer Science when I go to College :D
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DIE haxxXX0r!!
 
They initally got me into computers, to be sure.

They made me learn about every working of the mysterious autoexec.bat and config.sys. (WC t7g boot disks, etc)

They made me learn all about windoze in all of it's flavors and how to optimize them, upgrade hardware, and fix all sorts of strange problems that I encountered pushing hardware and software to the limits.

They actually convinced me that I didn't want to work with computers for a living.

They have increased my reaction time, typing skills, and problem solving ability.

They have consistently provided stress relief.

Interestingly, after my "intense" gaming time of my life (several years ago) I've found that I actually spend less time online reading forums (since I was burnt out on clan forums, etc), and care less about being "connected with teh intarweb". Even though I'm here in this thread. :D :cool: ;)
 
Well, If I ever get into a stand off situation, me vs 4 baddies, some m4's and some ak's, I'll be able to hold my own :p

BOOOM HEADSHOT!!!
 
Hand-eye coordination
Increased logical thinking skills
Awareness
Problem solving
creativity.

etcetc. I'd provided examples but I've done it before and don't feel like typing it out. So I'll just leave it at that.
 
Not to overstate the obvious, but there's got to be more than just "games gave me better reflexes and coordination". That's like stating that books taught you how to read or watching Forest Gump gave you respect for retarded people.

I mean, I can't be just three or four people that had games do more for them than just twitch faster. Sure it gave me a job and I'm probably the exception to the rule, but for the rest of you there's got to be more intangibles. Did you meet your girlfriend/boyfriend playing games? Did you meet someone famous because of it? Perhaps you got a job talking about how to beat the last level of Castlevania.
 
Typing with one hand...oh wait nvm.

Photoshop
Website building
Hardware/software
OCing
Votages
Arguing
Own my own computer biz
Own my own house cleaning biz
Met my wife
free movies/music/apps/games/more!

The list goes on and on.
 
Now for the neg's -'s

Panic attacks
gained weight
spank it to much
game to much
don't come out of my room
Smoke to much
Cuss to much....
the list goes on and I will be dead by the time I'm 35 but hey...I'm still [H] right? ;)
 
helped me improve my reading skills..

i played final fantasy games startfrom like age 7-8 something like that.. and i had to read alot.. so it helped me read better..

also.. some games introduce new words i've never known.. so i would jsut look them up in the dictionary.. that's about it for me...

probably hand eye coordination as well.. but i'm sure that's for everyone
 
lets see what i've gained? wasted time? um extra weight? more wasted time? wasted money? extra lazyness? hahaha i'm sure theere are more.

do i still game? yes? why? cause its like crack. haha honestly crack aint good for you period, but if you hooked then you hooked.
 
Made me hate some of my friends(temporarily)for looking at my screen, haha..halo2.

Definently type faster.

Haven't met anyone too insanely awesome on videogames I haven't already known.

Hate my video card x329

Probably won't be able to afford a car 'til im 18.

Learned teh awesome language of 1337 :p
 
Helped me build a better bond/relationship with my nephew and niece. Seriously, it's a way to come together and have fun. They live in Houston, but they visit me here in NY all the time, and the first thing they want to do is spend time with me so we can play the xbox and ps2. Great kids, and it's very rewarding to see the excitement and joy on their faces as we play together. Before that, we just had a normal type of relationship, but now i'm the "cool uncle" and my sister says they are always talking about when they are going to come visit again and how they don't care to see their other uncles and aunts because they're not cool....lol.
 
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