What has RP done for your education?

[sckeener]

Gaming got me to read. My parents were non-fiction types. It took them awhile to release I liked fiction/fantasy/sci-fi/horror....it wasn't until I was 8 that I started reading seriously.

I can honestly point to Ars Magica for making me research the 12 century. I think I now know more about popes than I ever wanted to....

 

[Mercule]

Mr. Gygax, in particular, had a hand in me developing an unnaturally large vocabulary. I can't tell anymore what's a "normal" word and what's unusual, but I've had English teachers have to ask me what a word means. (Note: my spelling still sucks.)

Worldbuilding also got me to read many large books on a variety of subjects -- cartography, geology and plate tectonics, history, mythology, social sciences (especially history), religion, math and statistics, metalurgy, etc.

In high school, I new the librarian better than any of my teachers. In fact, I once freaked someone out because they were wanting to find a book on some topic (I forget what) and I said, "Oh, that'll be under number xxx (Dewey Decimal), which is in this shelf, here. Try this book." I doubt I could do that today, but I will acknowledge the true depths of my adolecent geekdom.

 

[Psion]

I managed to awe my sociology teacher about how much I knew about different systems of government back in junior high... all thanks to the 1e DMG and a little supporting reading.

More into my adult life, in my college and career, I think writing up various gaming documents, both technical and literary, has helped sharpen my writing skills.

 

[Odhanan]

What do you reckon playing RPGs has done for your education?

Oh my. A lot.
From reading encyclopedias at 11 years old to devouring anything historical, RPGs certainly did a lot for me as far as knowledge is concerned. There is also the imaginative part of RPGs, which pushes me not so much to accept things just because they're said by Dr.X, Mr.Y or under this or that field of knowledge, but to try to understand concepts as relative to their contexts rather than exclusive "truth". A bit like you'd have different game systems each doing something different but doing them each well as opposed to one game system that would be "the best".
Also, if I know English today, that's because one day, around 11 or 12, I decided that I had to read these cool AD&D books that were only available in English at the time. So I started deciphering the language with an Harrap's dictionary. That's how I came here, come to think of it!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I read classic lit, fantasy & sci-fi early on- its what drove me to gaming, but RP led me to pay more attention to historical details of why countries go to war, cultural nuances, military tactics, firearms, etc.

I discovered new heroic archetypes, like Audie Murphy. I discovered that things I thought of as modern were far more ancient than I had believed, like concrete.

Writers like Machiavelli, Von Clausewitz, Nietzche, Kafka and Mishima got added to my list of authors- though admittedly some were as much for school as for fun.

And MAN did it reinforce my drive to improve my vocabulary!

 

[Theron]

Nearly scuttled it. I became an obsessive gamer kid in high school and my grades took a nosedive. I managed to pull out with a lot of parental discipline.

I blew a scholarship to my first college between gaming and skateboarding.

On the plus side, when I did finally get it together to take things seriously, the math skills I'd picked up from playing Champions allowed me to finally pass College Algebra with an A having failed it twice before.

 

[ShadowRaven]

saddly gameing did very little to help my education, however, a gamer friend did. Before he introduced me to AD&D he introduced me to Drizzt Do'Urden and RA Salvatores other works, which where set in a world, so different then my own dull and mundane one that I could not get enough. Already I could read at a university level (this was in grade 7) I just never cared to read much. Then I began an ascention into the great 'fantasy' literature. Tolkein then on to classics like Mary Shelly and Bram Stoker, and atlast to such heights (and depths) as Dante's 'Divine Comedy' My grasp of literature and the written word expanded greatly, and grew into an obsession. Soon I was helping write modules and scenarios for his regular gameing group, doing research into topics as varried as renisance fashions and geology. The war between science and the church, seen especially in some of the grat minds of the past, such as Galileo and DaVinci became one of the main themes in the world we created, with alchemy and wizardry takeing the place of science. So, I guess, if it wasn't for a good friend introduceing me first to an ebon skinned elf, and then on to the game that spawned him, I suppose my love of the written word and knowledge may never have developed