What has gaming done for you?

[ForceUser]

I gave a speech on this over the summer. For starters, RPGs encourage youngsters to be literate; everyone knows that someone who's truly into RPGs collects and reads the game books, many of which are on a reading level higher than your average newspaper. RPGs inspire the imagination. Kids who play them tend to be more creative than others, and this helps them later in life when they are in school and at work. Similarly, RPGs train problem-solving, critical thinking, and arithmetic skills, all of which are helpful no matter what career one chooses. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, RPGs provide years of training in communication and teamwork. The ability to listen, a part of communication, is one of the top skills possessed by successful executives and politicians. Among my gaming friends, I count several college graduates, several computer engineers, and even a former corporate executive for a major financial institution. Most of them have played RPGs all their lives.

For me, my success as a DM has directly translated into the career I have chosen to work toward; I want to teach at a university someday. To be a good professor, one needs not just the skills outlined above, but also the ability to be comfortable when speaking publicly. As anyone who has been part of an RPG group knows, the DM spends most of his time speaking to groups of people. This is a valuable skill; most Americans fear public speaking more than they fear death!

 

[shilsen]

For me, it's first and foremost a great creative outlet and an excellent excuse to keep my brain buzzing all the time. It doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing - if I need to exercise my brain, I just have to think of something from D&D, whether it's a plot idea, or some number crunching exercise, or a PC concept, or a house rule I want to use, etc. and run with it. D&D = push-ups for the mind

That and the fact that it's more fun than a barrel of awakened fiendish spiked chain-wielding monkeys.

 

[Incenjucar]

Gaming hasn't done anything positive for my hand-writing, but then, I usually DM or go online, so nobody had to read what I wrote but me, anyways.

However, for much of the rest, I have similar experiences.

Gaming (Both D&D and other, but D&D is where most of the direction comes from) has done the following for me:

-Helped me decide my major and my career goals (English Major, Writer/Editor/Critic/Crusader for getting graphic novels and genre fiction more respect)

-Gotten me past my fear of relationships (When a gal who initially had a crush on your ability to play your character crosses the ocean just to jump you... hard to go back to being shy)

-Helped me get my self-esteem up and anxiety down enough where I'm all but immune to stage fright (Recently, for a club I'm in, I had to go on stage in front of a hundred or so people, where I knew I looked like an idiot due to being too big for my costume, and just grinned the whole while)

-Led to my developing a personal style, which makes me much more able to get attention than the boring, quiet, simpleton look I had for most of my youth.

-Caused people to spontaniously gain interest in my existence when I mention a game (of course, one of those people just groans and says I should play Pallidium instead, but, hey).

-Made me a know-it-all in my lit classes, where I was only a know-it-all in science courses in the past.

-Led to a few interesting discussions with my dad, entirely because I knew (thanks to one of the 2.5 books) what an 'adze' was. (He, being in the carpentry trade, has actually handled them on the job, since they're largely wood-carving tools).

-Gives me a topic to change to or bring up when I say something confusing (reference-based humor just doesn't work unless someone has a really strong memory).

-Gives me ideas for drawings and plot lines, which preserve my sanity when nothing else does.

-Gives me a chance to argue with people all night long, every night, forever. Bwahahahaha.

 

[francisca]

Ask not what gaming can do for you, but what you can do for gaming.

There, someone had to say it.

 

[was]

Kept me sane..

 

[Bloodstone Press]

Kept me out of jail.

Made learning fun.

Gave me an edge in every class I ever took in High school and college

Has become a source of income

 

[VirgilCaine]

Given me something to do with the 20,000 days of adulthood*. And waste time on the 'net surfing message boards instead of developing my campaign setting.

* (I figured out that you have 20,000 days or something like 40 years of relatively healthy--mental and physical--life.)

 

[MythosaAkira]

Met my wife in my first gaming group in college (and tomorrow night, she gets to meet a marilith Well, her and the rest of the party...).

 

[Rel]

Painting miniatures for the game has made me much better at painting my own fingernails.

I've had the opposite experience. My wife used to love for me to paint her toenails. Now she doesn't like to sit through all the drybrushing and ink-wash. Plus there's the flocking.

 

[DragonLancer]

Gaming has certainly improved my maths, and my problem solving.