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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 2275328" data-attributes="member: 4937">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.</blockquote>

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