[lettergram]

I think the point the prior commenter was making was that this research validates people who think gaming is good. They pointed out the issues and said “if you still want to believe this, I can’t stop you”

The commenter may have a bias, but most prior research shows us the opposite of the study.

I also saw the poor experimental design and had a similar thoughts. Basically, this research looks poorly done and like an effort to prop up the gaming industry (and / or validate the authors pre-suppositions).

[d3ckard]

In any case, using CoD as an example does not exactly show good will.

I personally believe in huge gains from gaming, based on personal experience (so obviously n = 1, read further accordingly).

Platformers train hand-eye coordination and pattern recognition, strategies teach resource management, RPGs about optimization and adopting growth mindset, racing games require long-time concentration, puzzlers and adventure games test your logic.

In general, games require you to: - learn a set of tools - master them - conquer objective

while also prevailing in face of adversity.

I never regretted the hours I spent gaming and I feel they contributed very much to my softeng career (not directly though).

[nosianu]

If you seriously play the game you get good at... the game.

Even within the same game genre that barely translates. People good at Starcraft I struggled with Starcraft II, people great at Warcraft made little headway in Starcraft II (e.g. WCIII players like Grubby or Happy).

Given that, claiming that things even further removed than those other games, which closely resemble one another, requires quite a bit of proof. It does not look like the skills transfer well even between similar games.

> while also prevailing in face of adversity.

I don't think we agree on what "adversity" is. You are just playing a game, and your brain knows it. If someone has the same brain reaction to the game avatar being in virtual "danger" to his actual body being in mortal danger than I'd like to see that, and I think most people would think that is not normal or healthy.

You don't need to defend yourself, if you had fun playing than that's more than enough. I don't understand why you want to drive yourself to seeing more in it than that.

[AlexandrB]

> Even within the same game genre that barely translates. People good at Starcraft I struggled with Starcraft II, people great at Warcraft made little headway in Starcraft II (e.g. WCIII players like Grubby or Happy).

That might be true if you're comparing the top 0.1%, but someone who played a lot of Starcraft would be miles ahead of any newcomer in both Starcraft II and Warcraft III.

Your example is like saying that a world-class sprinter would struggle to be a world-class cyclist. Yes, that's true, but the aspects that do carry over - cardio and muscle development - would immediately put them in the top 5% of the field even if they never win the Tour de France.

[svnt]

Maybe a world-class sprinter would be in the top 5% of the entire population who has ever cycled (not “the field”). Sprinting and cycling are so different you may as well be comparing snooker and darts and saying that wrist control is the determining factor.

[bnralt]

> Even within the same game genre that barely translates. People good at Starcraft I struggled with Starcraft II, people great at Warcraft made little headway in Starcraft II (e.g. WCIII players like Grubby or Happy).

Even being good at Starcraft I in 1998 wouldn't make you good at Starcraft I in 2003. People uncover certain optimizations and strategies over times that are quickly adopted by everyone, to the extent that playing the same a good player in 1998 would get you dubbed a "noob" in 2003.

[confidantlake]

It didn't translate 100%, but even a pro player in Starcraft1 unsuccessfully transitioning to Starcraft2 still played at an insanely high level relative to the general population. It was the difference from maybe being a top 50 player before to a top 500 player after. I would say that this is evidence of a very high carryover.

WC3 => Sc2 is a much greater leap than sc1 -> sc2 but still there was decent carryover. Grubby was still a GM or high masters player, even if he was no longer elite.

[michaelt]

> Platformers train hand-eye coordination and pattern recognition, strategies teach resource management, RPGs about optimization and adopting growth mindset...

Sure - and joining the high school football team teaches teamwork, self-discipline, dealing with adversity, appearing before crowds, nutrition, fitness, etc etc

So what?

[wing-_-nuts]

Video games are available to people of all abilities. You certainly can't say the same of football (indeed, with concussions, one might question if this lowers intelligence over the long term)

[AlexandrB]

I'm actually really curious what effect playing fast, twitchy games will have on things like reaction time as one ages. Would be interesting to see long-term studies on the subject.

[rowanG077]

I don't understand your reply. This is a thread about the impact video games can have and whether they are positive. How is it not relevant listing a few examples on how specific games could improve certain areas of a person?

[guerrilla]

> good will.

I think you meant good faith. They didn't use it as an example though, it was just rhetorical.

[hackernewds]

The question is about incrementality. in those same hours you played CoD, do you think (assuming the endpoint as you suggest is being a softeng) you could have learned more by practicing softeng (even if for half the time)

[BlargMcLarg]

Obviously. Which is why the question isn't about incrementality. It's about whether the choices one was willing to make were beneficial to something that doesn't seem remotely related at first glance.

Most people aren't going to program 10 hours a day. But they might program 8 hours a day and then do 2 hours of entertainment. Maybe those 2 hours of watching TV were better spent gaming in terms of contributing to other aspects in life. Maybe those 2 hours of gaming could've been 2 hours of drawing instead.

If we're talking about incrementality, we'd better question why almost every software company is still treating their employees like idiot savants when games show us how quickly people can learn drastically different concepts, as long as presented correctly.