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Marc Greve · 02-10-2007, 09:37 AM

I've been a pretty heavy gamer through most of my childhood.

And I do love my LAN-parties - nothing like screaming your head off over Dog Fight or Serious Sam.

My view on gaming (or, indeed, anything), is this:
If you can learn something useful and transferable from it - it's worth it.
From gaming (you name it, RTS, FPS, RPG, Adventure...) you can pull valuable lessons. The most rewarding thing about it is the logical faculties you develop. I find I can often reduce lots of areas of expertise - comedy, social interactions, cooking, whatever - to easily managable chunks.

It's really a thinking process more than anything else.

RTS; you compare units' sterngth to each other, you optimize resource harvesting, you invest wisely, you learn how to expand your bases...

FPS;
you learn how to VERY quickly anticipate other's actions,

you learn the value of seeking out information about your "expertise" (try playing Unreal Tournament without double-tapping and dodging, I DARE you!)

you get a chance to teach others what you've learned (thus developing your inter-personal skills - I did this in Jedi Outcast and Academy with a friend, man that was so great. We coached groups of 12 and then split them up into 6 pairs of 2, each learning lightsaber dueling; I became a better teacher, they enjoyed the game more and realized how useful it was to ask someone better than them for advice).

RPG;
You learn the incredible value of skill-building
You realize that it's a more slow and methodical process.
You learn to develop your own style as you go along.
AND you can really get some good introspective distinctions if you look closely at your recurring choices; do you like elves? dwarves? humans? mages? thieves? figthers? don't pigeonhole yourself here, but learn from the stereotypes you play.

I've already written way too much for easy application, but just consider this;
Everything's interrelated.

Try this one:
Take out a blank piece of paper, write gaming in the middle of it, take out a dictionary and look up random words, connect the words to gaming in the center - mindmap-style.
See how it all applies. Learning is inevitable.

Let gaming enrich your life, not define it.

02-10-2007, 09:37 AM	#9 (permalink)
Marc Greve Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Roskilde, Denmark Posts: 46	I've been a pretty heavy gamer through most of my childhood. And I do love my LAN-parties - nothing like screaming your head off over Dog Fight or Serious Sam. My view on gaming (or, indeed, anything), is this: If you can learn something useful and transferable from it - it's worth it. From gaming (you name it, RTS, FPS, RPG, Adventure...) you can pull valuable lessons. The most rewarding thing about it is the logical faculties you develop. I find I can often reduce lots of areas of expertise - comedy, social interactions, cooking, whatever - to easily managable chunks. It's really a thinking process more than anything else. RTS; you compare units' sterngth to each other, you optimize resource harvesting, you invest wisely, you learn how to expand your bases... FPS; you learn how to VERY quickly anticipate other's actions, you learn the value of seeking out information about your "expertise" (try playing Unreal Tournament without double-tapping and dodging, I DARE you!) you get a chance to teach others what you've learned (thus developing your inter-personal skills - I did this in Jedi Outcast and Academy with a friend, man that was so great. We coached groups of 12 and then split them up into 6 pairs of 2, each learning lightsaber dueling; I became a better teacher, they enjoyed the game more and realized how useful it was to ask someone better than them for advice). RPG; You learn the incredible value of skill-building You realize that it's a more slow and methodical process. You learn to develop your own style as you go along. AND you can really get some good introspective distinctions if you look closely at your recurring choices; do you like elves? dwarves? humans? mages? thieves? figthers? don't pigeonhole yourself here, but learn from the stereotypes you play. I've already written way too much for easy application, but just consider this; Everything's interrelated. Try this one: Take out a blank piece of paper, write gaming in the middle of it, take out a dictionary and look up random words, connect the words to gaming in the center - mindmap-style. See how it all applies. Learning is inevitable. Let gaming enrich your life, not define it.