AllCdnboy's Blog - Day's of a Geek

I was reading the news (caption on TV) at the gym yesterday and heard another piece on how playing video games makes you smarter. This study was done by some University (missed because a hot girl walked in) that people who play video games scored well above others in tasks involving mind solving skills and multi-tasking. Of course, you could try and draw the opposite conclusion that these people enjoy playing video games because of the challenges in games that involve these skill sets.

Now, I always knew this, and is my running excuse for playing games when I should be working. The arguement being, the more time I spend playing games, the better results my employers will get when i actually get the task done ... I then tell them, "I hate video games. I'm doing this for you" --- kind of one of those, "this will hurt you more than me" lines. Anyway, the truth is, I love video games for the pure entertainment, but I will admit that I only like games that can challenge me AND entertain me.

Here is an exerpt from a related story, as I couldn't find anything on the one I was listening to.

Do Video Games Make Kids Smarter - Children who play such video games exhibit what experts call "fluid intelligence," or problem solving.

"They have to discover the rules of the game and how to think strategically," said James Paul Gee, a University of Wisconsin-Madison curriculum and instruction professor. "Like any problem solving that is good for your head, it makes you smarter."