Playing Games for personal insight

[Brutha]

I personally spend a lot of time playing the asian strategy game go. I don't much chess so I can't judge whether chess has similar characteristcs.

It interesting how thought patterns manifest of the go board. Fear, greed, appreation of beauty and the tidiness or untidiness of thoughts manifest. Somehow the character of player gets revealed through the flow of the stones.
But while emotions feel very subjective, measuring the strenght of a player can be very exact.

I know a few female players who get stuck at a specific lower playstrength because they don't try to take responsiblity for their moves and fear consequences of bold moves.

All the while I have a different problem. I can't accept the way things are and try to use force to change them, which hinders the flow of the game.
I like to be bold but my I lack structure.

The lack of sturcture can also be seen in other areas of my life. My room is a mess. After I had my oral exam in math one of the teachers said to me: " You certainly know enough of what you are talking about, but your presentation was so chaotic that you don't really deserved the mark.
A similar pattern, forceful but unstructured. My first Toastmaster speech also followed a similar pattern, I expressed a few interesting ideas but totally lacked structure (and my voice quality was really bad).

Simliar pattern appeared also in computer games. I also tried to choose higher tech, to make my units stronger. I also wanted to do cool things, rather than things that do simply work .

[I hope someone makes some sense of what I wrote, but somehow I felt the urge to express a few personal thoughts (probably because I feel bad that I didn't shared any in the "General & Introductions" forum by introducing myself there and map out myself]

[Freelancer]

When I read the title my first thought was 'are you sure it ain't just excuses?' but after reading the post I'll reconsider my first thought hehe. I'd say judging from the type of games played (as far as I know go is a pretty high intensity game, ie. you need a variety of skills and total concentration) and the general tone of the post it ain't just excuses.

Oh yeah, the idea of your post I get but god your structure doesn't make sense lol.

[Jes]

Be careful. I used to play games to get a different perspective on life, and it works, but as Freelancer said, don't let it become an excuse.

[Ilya]

I've written it before, and I'll repeat it as often as necessary. Games, even video-games, can be very useful for personal development.
I've been a professional drug... er... game developer for over 13 years and all this time my dream was to make high-profile educational games. Forget it. The industry is not mature enough yet. So I left the industry for now.
Still, even the current games can be useful for self reflection.
There are several ways.
First of all just trying to remain conscious during play can be a challenge. If you succeed, it will reduce the pleasure from the game, but it will be a great skill. You'll be much more able to remain conscious through most of the mental attacks the current mass media throws at you. Advertisement, News, TV shows, Politics, Stupid Internet Articles, Propaganda, Brainwashing, Elections You name it. Noticing that this exercise has become an excuse to play.

Second step is to do what Brutha is doing - analyze your behavior during play. It is useful, because we tend to act out the same patterns in games as in the real life. Do be successful in this step you should remain conscious, so the first step above is the prerequisite.

The third step would be to change your behavior in game and see how it would affect the results. This is a great chance to do mini 30-day trials in the virtual environment. Obviously it does not work with most habits or any physical skills, but ideal for attitude change, rage control, staying calm under stress and many other things.

[LifeFirst]

In my opinion Chess is the best game ever made. It's a pretty good model of Life .

[geekchic9]

Structure is very important. It brings clarity and beauty to what you are trying to communicate. It is a skill worth attaining.

I learned about structure by learning to program. Mathematical proofs also teach structure. In both cases, you have to focus your thoughts and plan what you are going to say before you actually do it. I recommend Python for beginning programmers, but I have not studied proofs yet. Another book I am reading is The Non-Designer's Design Book, which shows you how to create spatial structure through 4 simple principles.

I hope that helps.