Report: Violent Gaming is Good For the Brain

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will99

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If we allow elderly to play games, we might have a transition from modern warfare to call of duty 2. Out of stuborness they ll keep telling us the old ways are better...

And it keeps me wondering how the tide of the elderly will effect the war between activision - Respawn..
 

ElCdt

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Yep, games are giving birth to a whole generation of little Einsteins. Just look at WoW, it´s riddled with rocket scientists! Oh wait...
 

Swindez95

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I've always believed that gaming, in any form, benefited us on more ways than just getting entertainment. Yea you have people who argue that gaming is bad because it makes us couch potatoes and we get no physical exercise making the obesity epidemic worse, and yes this is true. However gaming has always been good for hand-eye coordination, tactical thinking, training our minds to multi-task, even pay closer attention to what we see and do. Im sure I could go on and on about the benefits (oh and lets not forget awesome stress reliever in some cases) but I won't.
 

blarneypete

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[citation][nom]Parrish[/nom]Who cares about the gore, profanity, and a lack of consequences for committing violent acts--the cognitive skills are more important[/citation]

Careful, now. You might end up looking like you're taking sides on the issue and not just reporting the story.
 

will99

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Allowing elderly to play games is the same as allowing someone with removable denture to join a boxing tournament...
 

Bolbi

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I imagine that there would be different benefits for different games. Maybe FPS games are better for quick observation, coordination, and thinking, but strategy games, e.g. Civilization, are probably better for "big picture" thinking and long-term planning.
 

brendano257

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"Who cares about the gore, profanity, and a lack of consequences for committing violent acts--"

Although I agree the cognitive skills are important, I think less gore/profanity and such should be available to the younger age group. I have nothing against something like MW2, as I own it and play it, but there is an increasingly early exposure rate to sex, drugs, violence and such that I wish was not proliferating.

As for games, I am sure they increase reflexes as I have great reflexes despite not being an incredible or avid athlete. I think a lot of my quick critical thinking comes from forced situations provided in games. Although more of an FPS player, I also see the benefits of strategic and "thinker" games. (Portal, HL series etc.)
 

buckcm

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[citation][nom]brendano257[/nom]"Who cares about the gore, profanity, and a lack of consequences for committing violent acts--" Although I agree the cognitive skills are important, I think less gore/profanity and such should be available to the younger age group. I have nothing against something like MW2,[/citation]

Yeah. None of the CoD games are terribly bad. There are little spurts, especially from headshots. L4D2 on the other hand is tantalizing with its gore. It's important to not over-expose a child since they haven't developed their sense of morality yet.
 

dannyaa

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is this really anything new? The title is a bit misleading, understandably for the "hook" factor. it has nothing to do with violence and profanity being good for your brain, it's the fast paced multi-tasking.

StarCraft would be a prime example of a video game that is good for the brain. The mental work-out and hand eye coordination required is insane. I imagine it's like playing a musical instrument in some ways, forcing your brain and hands to successfully coordinate so many things at once.

This will do nothing to end the debate over gory video games. It is however more applicable to video games as a medium not being a "brain rot" .... though if you neglect other things in life that will certainly be a side effect
 
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