http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/25/gaming-grannies-world-warcraft-boosts-cognitive-abilities/?intcmp=features
Finally, something many of us have been touting for years. With all the anti-game crap (and that's about all it is), it's nice to see a major media outlet posting some research that proves games, specifically ones like WoW, are GOOD for you. Obviously, it's all in moderation. Even water in high amounts can...well...drown you.
I wrote a paper for school a couple of years ago outlining a lot of the research that has proven video games are indeed useful. Many of us have provided anecdotal evidence. The fact is that there is such a heavy bias (which has been challenged by not only gamers, but professionals in the field) that rarely do we see any good news when the reality is there IS.
Video Games aren't a cure-all for cancer, but they have many positive benefits that are ignored or scoffed at.
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This is a sort of "You don't say!?" thing.
I'm looking at this and I'm going "Wut, exercising your brain keeps it healthier!? Who'da thunk it!?"
But yeah, I always knew this, my own mom is a pretty good example of this. I got her into console gaming way back when (15 or so years ago, she started having bone density problems, and that one winter she almost broke a hip bone, that's when I knew I need to get her into a good hobby that didn't involve physical danger) and her mind is still pretty sharp. My dad, in contrast, is a couch zombie 50% of his day time and even then he talks slow, takes awhile to think of what he wants to say, and takes forever to read anything.
Mom's miles ahead of him in brainpower. And I like to think that I was the one who helped her be more mentally healthy.
The brain works much like the body does -- exercise it, and it will be ready to go when you need it to. Let it go without using it, and it'll waste away on you. The main difference is that you can live without leg/arm strength. No brain strength = you're a living zombie, who couldn't possibly be enjoying life much.
Edited, Feb 25th 2012 11:30pm by Lyrailis
I'm looking at this and I'm going "Wut, exercising your brain keeps it healthier!? Who'da thunk it!?"
But yeah, I always knew this, my own mom is a pretty good example of this. I got her into console gaming way back when (15 or so years ago, she started having bone density problems, and that one winter she almost broke a hip bone, that's when I knew I need to get her into a good hobby that didn't involve physical danger) and her mind is still pretty sharp. My dad, in contrast, is a couch zombie 50% of his day time and even then he talks slow, takes awhile to think of what he wants to say, and takes forever to read anything.
Mom's miles ahead of him in brainpower. And I like to think that I was the one who helped her be more mentally healthy.
The brain works much like the body does -- exercise it, and it will be ready to go when you need it to. Let it go without using it, and it'll waste away on you. The main difference is that you can live without leg/arm strength. No brain strength = you're a living zombie, who couldn't possibly be enjoying life much.
Edited, Feb 25th 2012 11:30pm by Lyrailis
44 posts
I liked how a study last year PROVED that World of Warcraft can help someone with social anxiety. Now out of 10 people it helped 1... the other 9 supposedly got worse. In my opinion.. 10% success is still a chance :)
DarkPoet2011 wrote:
I liked how a study last year PROVED that World of Warcraft can help someone with social anxiety. Now out of 10 people it helped 1... the other 9 supposedly got worse. In my opinion.. 10% success is still a chance :)
Given that 98% were probably hopelessly introverted social misfits when they/we started playing, 10% sane sounds like a five-fold improvement.
Edited, Feb 26th 2012 12:10am by Ollamnh
Definitely keep working your mind as you get older. My dad's a physicist who'll retire when they pry the keyboard out of his cold dead hands, and my mom's taken her fluting hobby pre-retirement and turned it into more of a full-time thing, a few different local groups, conferences, all sorts of stuff to interact with others and study technique/theory. They're both as sharp as I've ever seen them, and I'd say my mom's even gotten sharper. I used to have issues all the time with shoddy memory, where she'd insist something happened that didn't; doesn't occur anymore.
#6REDACTED,
Posted: Feb 27 2012 at 7:21 PM, Rating: Sub-Default, (Expand Post) Great for mental gymnastics and hand-eye coordination. Lousy for developing or maintaining social skills.
ROOTVET wrote:
Great for mental gymnastics and hand-eye coordination. Lousy for developing or maintaining social skills.
Not so sure about that.
In MMOs like WoW, you do infact need to interact with other people.
It WON'T teach you face-to-face communication skills, but it CAN help you meet new people (especially those in different parts of the world, even if they are in other areas in your own country), and you still interact with other human beings if you join a guild, participate in endgame/PvP/whatever.
It can also help you build teamwork skills too.
And chances are, most older people already had all of the social skills they're going to get. Especially those who are not medically fit, those who have health problems, etc.
Sitting at home wheelchair/walker/etc-bound, WoW and games like it are about the only social interaction they're gonna get outside of something like Facebook, et. al.
Edited, Feb 27th 2012 8:31pm by Lyrailis
Lyrailis wrote:
ROOTVET wrote:
Great for mental gymnastics and hand-eye coordination. Lousy for developing or maintaining social skills.
Not so sure about that.
In MMOs like WoW, you do infact need to interact with other people.
It WON'T teach you face-to-face communication skills, but it CAN help you meet new people (especially those in different parts of the world, even if they are in other areas in your own country), and you still interact with other human beings if you join a guild, participate in endgame/PvP/whatever.
It can also help you build teamwork skills too.
And chances are, most older people already had all of the social skills they're going to get. Especially those who are not medically fit, those who have health problems, etc.
Sitting at home wheelchair/walker/etc-bound, WoW and games like it are about the only social interaction they're gonna get outside of something like Facebook, et. al.
Edited, Feb 27th 2012 8:31pm by Lyrailis
So true. And sadly, far too many people IN and OUT of the game fail to realize or accept that REAL people are playing. But isn't that the problem with the Internet in general? I have friends I've met online who have become lifelong friends. Yet some members of my family vehemently insist that they are online "online friends". Which means they are just some trivial computer text.
I'm looking at human hands typing this post...so I can only assume that their are human hands typing the other post. Except for maybe Mental... he's a frog you know.
ekaterinodar wrote:
Except for maybe Mental... he's a frog you know.
I have my suspicions about some of the others, as well.
idiggory, King of Bards wrote:
I have a racist ****.
Steam: TuxedoFish
battle.net: Fishy #1649
GW2: Fishy.4129
IDrownFish of the Seven Seas wrote:
ekaterinodar wrote:
Except for maybe Mental... he's a frog you know.
I have my suspicions about some of the others, as well.
I've always assumed that you are actually a fish.
Something I wish my husband would recognize. He and I have a generation gap. We are 14 years apart and doesn't see meeting people online or online gamers are people you could build long life friendships with. However, dating is a different story *thats how he met me*. He makes no sense sometimes -_-;
There are several reasons why the internet is better than the... the... the not internet.
Please "talk up" if your comprehension white-shifts. I will use simple-happy language-words to help you understand.
Lyrailis wrote:
This is a sort of "You don't say!?" thing.
I'm looking at this and I'm going "Wut, exercising your brain keeps it healthier!? Who'da thunk it!?"
I'm looking at this and I'm going "Wut, exercising your brain keeps it healthier!? Who'da thunk it!?"
That monster in the mirror, he just might be you. -Grover
Not one:
but two related pics.
but two related pics.
George Carlin wrote:
I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.
teacake wrote:
IDrownFish of the Seven Seas wrote:
ekaterinodar wrote:
Except for maybe Mental... he's a frog you know.
I have my suspicions about some of the others, as well.
I've always assumed that you are actually a fish.
I knew it. He's a cannibal.
ekaterinodar wrote:
teacake wrote:
IDrownFish of the Seven Seas wrote:
ekaterinodar wrote:
Except for maybe Mental... he's a frog you know.
I have my suspicions about some of the others, as well.
I've always assumed that you are actually a fish.
I knew it. He's a cannibal.
Slanderous! It's not like he calls himself Ieatfish.
teacake wrote:
IDrownFish of the Seven Seas wrote:
ekaterinodar wrote:
Except for maybe Mental... he's a frog you know.
I have my suspicions about some of the others, as well.
I've always assumed that you are actually a fish.
A recent picture of me:
idiggory, King of Bards wrote:
I have a racist ****.
Steam: TuxedoFish
battle.net: Fishy #1649
GW2: Fishy.4129
12 posts
Thanks for link, which I've posted on FB :)
And you can rest assured that I too will one day be one of these awesome grannie gamers!
And you can rest assured that I too will one day be one of these awesome grannie gamers!
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