Everything Bad Is Good for You

[Jürgen Hubert]

More educated, at least - my proficiency in the English language doesn't come from nothing...

 

[Chaldfont]

D&D has made me an ace at looking things up in a reference manual. How many of us can remember sections of the AD&D DMG by landmarks (adjacent illustrations, page layout, etc) rather than page number? Or the approximate area of the book (its about 3/4 of the way through)?

My math skills really improved when I played in a huge (9 players) game as a kid. The older kids made a big deal out of how fast you could figure remaining hit points or chances to hit--I learned to do math fast just to fit in. Hehehe, what a geek!

The dragon subdual rules in the AD&D DMG introduced me to fractions a year before I learned them in school.

I tought myself BASIC so I could program my C-64 to calculate the funky Marvel Super Hero RPG result chart. Now I am a professional software developer.

I'm sure my creative thinking improved while trying to come up with the right phrasing of a wish so my DM wouldn't hose me over!

 

[mmadsen]

I think it helps you interact with media in a different way -- I know I don't just "consume" a book or a movie, but I'm always on the lookout for what I might have done were I the DM (or player) in this story.

So true -- and one of Johnson's points about watching a game (reality show) versus watching a scripted narrative: when you watch a game, you think, What would I do? It's the "Monday-morning quarterback" phenomenon.

 

[jmucchiello]

It does however have its downside. I can't watch adventure movies without shouting at the screen "Don't split up!" or "Hey, you have that mcguffin from act 1, use it."

 

[Celebrim]

Doesn't seem to have helped my overuse of parenthetical asides...but nothing's perfect

No, but it does seem to have helped you become aware of what is a parenthetical aside, and that you can overuse them. This puts you several grades above the average internet user.

I think D&D has been profoundly influential on all manner of things since its introduction. I'm not sure which is more influential, HG Well's popularization of wargaming as a recreational tool, or Gygax/Arneson's related and later transformation of role playing from a tool of pyschological theraphy into a recreational tool, but between the two innovations and the resulting spread of complex gaming throughout society, I think they rate as among the most important innovations of the 20th century and we are only now beginning to realize it.

Yes, I do think complex gaming makes you smarter. I also think that complex gaming is increasingly a powerful educational tool. Eventually, I expect that interactive games will overtake passive entertainment as the dominate form of mental recreation in society. Arguably, we've already reached that point.

For myself, probably the one thing I'd point to is the influence D&D has had on my map reading and sense of direction.

But, I also ended up reading far more history than I probably ever would have had I not been interested in RPG's.

As long as I'm praising games though, I think it only fair to play devil's advocate for a while I think video games in particular don't necessarily encourage people to develop the mental endurance required for really hard problem solving. Somethings just require longer attention spans, resistance to boredom, and long study _without_ continually getting rewards and positive feedback. Video games - even those requiring long attention spans and repetitive tasks - still give you continual feedback, and can train you to have poor tolerance for things that don't continually blink at you.

 

[yennico]

More educated, at least - my proficiency in the English language doesn't come from nothing...

Ditto.

 

[MonsterMash]

Yes, I do think complex gaming makes you smarter. I also think that complex gaming is increasingly a powerful educational tool. Eventually, I expect that interactive games will overtake passive entertainment as the dominate form of mental recreation in society. Arguably, we've already reached that point.

For myself, probably the one thing I'd point to is the influence D&D has had on my map reading and sense of direction.

But, I also ended up reading far more history than I probably ever would have had I not been interested in RPG's.

As long as I'm praising games though, I think it only fair to play devil's advocate for a while I think video games in particular don't necessarily encourage people to develop the mental endurance required for really hard problem solving. Somethings just require longer attention spans, resistance to boredom, and long study _without_ continually getting rewards and positive feedback. Video games - even those requiring long attention spans and repetitive tasks - still give you continual feedback, and can train you to have poor tolerance for things that don't continually blink at you.

I think your last point and the following note from the Wired article are significant though.

Video games and TV -- from The Sopranos to The Simpsons to Grand Theft Auto -- may indeed be helping to make us smarter, and in surprising ways, just as Johnson argues. But the nagging and unanswered fear is that they may not be making us better people or helping us create a better society

I'd say I have noticed that younger people seem to have shorter attention spans than I did at their age, this may be incipient geezerdom as I approach 40 or may be that I do have a different way of working that comes from being old enough to have been an adult before the instant gratification culture emerged.

What about those that do not consume the new interactive rather than passive media? There is also a definite link (I'll dig up some details) about physical exercise helping to improve brain functioning.

The argument about increasing IQ test scores is always something I take with a pinch of salt as how much is due to much more frequent exposure to these types of test and practice? Also do IQ tests measure anything else than the ability to do well at an IQ test?

So what has D&D done for me?
Largely prompted me to learn odd bits of information that I may not have picked up at large, though I was always interested in history and did it through to 'A' level at school.

I was already playing tabletop wargames so those would also teach probability and military history.

 

[mmadsen]

I'd say I have noticed that younger people seem to have shorter attention spans than I did at their age, this may be incipient geezerdom as I approach 40 or may be that I do have a different way of working that comes from being old enough to have been an adult before the instant gratification culture emerged.

Mature adults have always found the younger generation flighty, impulsive, lazy, disrespectful, etc.

There is also a definite link (I'll dig up some details) about physical exercise helping to improve brain functioning.

Certainly, exercise is good. I grew up watching TV, playing video games, and running around, playing Nerf football.

 

[MonsterMash]

Not totally linked to exercise, but useful stuff on maximising your grey matter here

Yes I am turning into an old git now! "you youngsters of today wouldn't know role playing if it came up and bit you"

 

[werk]

I know it's made me smarter.

...says the guy with sharpee on his forehead.


j/k