I was interested in how video games helped you in your life. Did they teach you anything? Have they made you closer to someone? How were they beneficial to you aside from entertainment? The article the Myth of the Media Myth this week reminded me of a conversation I recently had with a total stranger.
I had a parent semi chastise me for letting my young daughter play her DS while we waited for a table at a restaraunt. The conversation turned to games being bad for children in general and how she would never let her boy play video games.
Her kid, a year older than mine, asked her what a one word sign said and she told him. I then asked my daughter to read several different signs around the waiting area. She did just fine then went back to playing Kirby. She was amazed and praised my daughter for being able to read so well. I told her that video games helped me teach her.
That's right, video games helped me teach my child to read.
For some inexplicable reason, my daughter would get all flustered when I tried to teach her how to read with books. She knew all the letters and their sounds, but would get all nervous and just guess at the words. I figured that she was just bored. Children's books, after all, aren't the most riveting of stories and my daughter has a very strong imagination that needs larger fuel than children's stories could provide.
I sat down and used RPG Maker XP to make a short series of games staring her. We sat together in my office chair and she played through them.
She was into it. I didn't even have to prompt her and rarely even had to help! After rescuing me from the evil necromancer Vrax, our virtual selves went on and destroyed Vrax only to discover that she was the last one who could summon dragons and that Vrax was only a puppet. She loved it. More importantly, she read it. After the first episode, I became merely a cushion that she sat on as she played. Nearly forgotten except when hitting an odd word here and there.
Now, I still make some of those but it's becoming harder to make challenging words for her to read. We also play more adult games since she can read the rules/cards/etc.
So, thank you video games for helping me help my child.
How did they make your life better?

Learned to read because of Police Quest. I don't know which came first, my liking puzzles or my being good at puzzling games (like cranium), but I know that I blow through Zelda games more often than not. I'm fairly certain they helped me make friends when I first went to college. Friends I hung out with outside of any club or class.

I dont know if I could narrow down one specific way videogames helped my life. They've just been there. I can't imagine what my past would have been like had those long boring country hours not been filled with my genesis playing. And as the years carried on, and television made my intelligence and imagination wane, videogames have always offered what I believe to be a much more engaging and fulfilling past time. If it weren't for videogames, I never would have had motivation to get my first job, and every job since. If it weren't for videogames, I'd be bored out of my skull.

I would like to think that video games helped me with hero practice. Sounds corny I know, but allow me to explain. In video games you play the hero and time after time help others out. This has carried over a bit in the real world and allowed me to interact with others more (being fairly shy myself) to discover their problems and see if I can help them rather than to ignore them and walk past like many would. What I trying to say rather than be just another bystander, I would become involved and actively helping other in need.

It has also helped me with my resolution. Often when I find myself becoming lazy (my favorite vice is sloth) or thinking about giving up, I think about the characters I have played as and think how they would haven given up. Additionally, I remember how many times I failed at a level or a task in a game and apply to when I fail at something in life. Sometimes you just get up and try again and keep trying until you get.

Like I said, corny but true.

I have two long, but relevant stories.

When I was four years old I started wearing glasses because I was really near sighted. Around that time that I was five or six I started playing video games. Years down the road, my optometrist had to keep changing my glasses prescription every time I went for an exam until I was 14 and the optometrist told me I didn't need glasses anymore. He said he hadn't seen anyone's eyes go from as bad as mine were to normal in just a few years. He asked me if I read a lot (which I did) and then asked if I played video games. He said that when I played those games I was focusing at the things on the screen, adjusting my focus to look at something else, etc, and all of that was basically exercise for my eyes. Or at least that's the only explanation he could come up with.

Fast forward to last June. At the young age of 25 I had a stroke that affected my right side. My hand and arm were almost completely paralyzed. Over time I got the movement back but I still had trouble with my thumb. I bought Bioshock shortly after its release and started playing. As any gamer knows, an FPS on the console usually requires the right thumb for aiming. Needless to say I was firing at Big Daddys with the shotgun at point blank range and still missing because I was suddenly change my aim to an arbitrary point on the ceiling at the last second. I eventually got better, and thanks to Bioshock and Halo 3 my right thumb now works almost as well as it used to.

mspencer82:
I have two long, but relevant stories.

Man! That's horrible! I'm sorry about the stroke... I'm glad that you are getting back at least some use from your right side though. Also, it's great that you were able to help your sight!

StoneColdMonkey, that's not corny, dude. What ever works for you!

As a kid I remembered the Zelda hearts health system making learning to understand basic fractions easy, buying/selling and scoresystems gave me lots of practice with other math, the ability to try try again 'cause it'll be worth it when you beat a challenge. To do good deeds just cuz you can. Just like the Guyver cartoon showed me that a hard challenge can be beaten with a little perserverence and gigantic lasers instead of nipples...or at least I think that was the moral???

CasualZombie:
As a kid I remembered the Zelda hearts health system making learning to understand basic fractions easy, buying/selling and scoresystems gave me lots of practice with other math, the ability to try try again 'cause it'll be worth it when you beat a challenge. To do good deeds just cuz you can. Just like the Guyver cartoon showed me that a hard challenge can be beaten with a little perserverence and gigantic lasers instead of nipples...or at least I think that was the moral???

Oh yeah... ADnD taught me WAY better math skills than I had before I started playing. P&P game, not video, but still maligned as 'evil!'. I got a good laugh out of the Guyver reference.
hehe.. a quote from a friend of mine (different big mecha thing.)
"If I learned anything from Voltron, it's that teamwork and a gigantic powersword can take on any challenge."
This was said at a business meeting...

Learned to read from them, which is awesome.

I also learned some sub-basic information about games and programs from assorted modding and hacking, as well as programming from WireMod in Garry's Mod.

Made me more creative as a person, and here i am today studying hard and long to hopefully become an Games Designer.

Its funny. I've noticed that anyone who plays anything like Final Fantasy reads much faster then the average person.

I don't have much to contribute to this topic, but what kind of to mind is that gaming helped me find my calling in life. I've always been into art, basing most of my inspirations on movies and TV shows I had seen when I was a kid. But about a 3 years ago when I tried Silent Hill 2 for the first time I came to realize that video games are the ultimate form of art. Animation, paintings, movies, they all limit you with how you can experience the art within them. Video games on the other hand give the viewer total control in which to explore the world thats been created for them, and that is what inspired me to go pursue video game development. So I have video games to thanks me for that.

The only thing I could say is that Fallout got me into writing, and now I'm an aspiring writer :glee:

Guitar Hero helped me improve my hand-eye coordination and reflexes. Plus, video games helped me get away from it all when my life was, quite frankly, hell.

Wow, I love the OP's story. :D Sounds like one of those Reader's Digest anecdotes my mom is always telling me, except positive toward those vidjamagames.

As for me, my parents are from India, and hvae lived less than half of their lives in the US, so they're not really that computer-literate, having never taken compter classes or having used computers much at all in India. Ironically, they can operate the latest, most high-tech biological equipment that requires months of training and special permits and classes to operate, yet sometimes need my help with scanning for viruses or updating their software. Anyway, my huge love of PC gaming has made me an expert (relatively speaking, I suppose) with computers, especially troubleshooting them. So I can help my parents with the small, everyday computing problems that they run into, such as text formatting in PowerPoint, while learning how to use Photoshop and learning how to operate million-dollar laser microscopes from them at the same time, and telling them what the best and latest computer equipment is so they can get good stuff for their lab. It really brings us together and is a learning experience on both ends.

Plus, I can reasonably argue a case for getting a sweet gaming rig, since they trust me to know what's best in that area without trying to rip them off.

Well I used to suck at guitar.
But after beating TTFATF on Expert on GH3 I picked up a guitar and was much better than I remember being.
I also play bass now, as well as drums.
I'm even in a band me and some friends from school made called "My Trained Pet Walrus".
Don't ask where the name came from, I thought it up suddenly and don't know how the hell it happened.

TheFishIsSad:
Well I used to suck at guitar.
But after beating TTFATF on Expert on GH3 I picked up a guitar and was much better than I remember being.
I also play bass now, as well as drums.
I'm even in a band me and some friends from school made called "My Trained Pet Walrus".
Don't ask where the name came from, I thought it up suddenly and don't know how the hell it happened.

You beat TTFAF on Expert? *looks at my failure to beat Jordan, cries in shame*

They taught me english.

Seriously.

@monodiabloloco - I think that is so awesome that you made a game for your daughter and sat down with her to play it. That is a little girl who is going to grow up knowing she is valued and recognized for herself by her parents.

@mspencer - I had a similar experience. Due to eyestrain from my tech job, one of the muscles that moves the eye around gave out and I developed double-vision. But as I played video games, my vision would slowly realign. Apparently it was exactly the sort of low-impact exercise my eye muscles needed and now my vision is fine. I also use videogames to reverse the temporary near-sightedness I develop from doing up close detail work on something (usually knitting.) I had the satisfaction of going to my mom and saying, "Ha! Video games are good for my eyes, so there!" I was raised with the admonishment that to much TV would ruin my sight.

My own story: I didn't start playing video games until my late 20's-early 30's, when I worked for an employer who put a multiplayer VG setup in the breakroom. I sat there and watched the guys on every lunch break, bouncing out of their seats with shouts of triumph and talking metric tons of trash. I really wanted to play but I was intimidated by the testoterone cloud. Finally I decided to suck it up and fight for my spot on the game couch. I was the only woman in that entire organization that did. That's how I learned to play, and also how to stick up for myself in a room full of gamer guys.

Or maybe this is the story about how games ruined me. That's right, fellas, games and gamers made me the monster I am today. BWAHAHAHAHAHH! ;D

Games gave me a sense of humour. They also stopped me from having nightmares. They gave me a lot of joy. They allowed me to take pride in beating my older brother. Games truly are important in my life. They changed me for the worse, but I choose not to care. Hoe Hoe, I just realised, they gave me the mentality that just made me not care. "Fuck em'" is my phrase and has been for a while.

mshcherbatskaya:
@monodiabloloco - I think that is so awesome that you made a game for your daughter and sat down with her to play it. That is a little girl who is going to grow up knowing she is valued and recognized for herself by her parents.

@mspencer - I had a similar experience. Due to eyestrain from my tech job, one of the muscles that moves the eye around gave out and I developed double-vision. But as I played video games, my vision would slowly realign. Apparently it was exactly the sort of low-impact exercise my eye muscles needed and now my vision is fine. I also use videogames to reverse the temporary near-sightedness I develop from doing up close detail work on something (usually knitting.) I had the satisfaction of going to my mom and saying, "Ha! Video games are good for my eyes, so there!" I was raised with the admonishment that to much TV would ruin my sight.

My own story: I didn't start playing video games until my late 20's-early 30's, when I worked for an employer who put a multiplayer VG setup in the breakroom. I sat there and watched the guys on every lunch break, bouncing out of their seats with shouts of triumph and talking metric tons of trash. I really wanted to play but I was intimidated by the testoterone cloud. Finally I decided to suck it up and fight for my spot on the game couch. I was the only woman in that entire organization that did. That's how I learned to play, and also how to stick up for myself in a room full of gamer guys.

Or maybe this is the story about how games ruined me. That's right, fellas, games and gamers made me the monster I am today. BWAHAHAHAHAHH! ;D

And I still want you to be my wife.

OK, so its not that life-changing, but before I began playing First-Person Shooters, my right hand was completely uncoordinated. Just this Summer, I literally -had- to spend nearly $100 in a used-game store, and now use my left hand for gestural painting and my right for straight lines and fine details. It was kinda alarming to realise that I had been painting with the wrong hand, at first. Now its a useful tool for my Art major!

Well, when i was younger (like say, 5 years old) i was a pretty angry child. I would always cry for no aparant reason, get angry at something i hope never to remember, and a few other things i'd rather repress.

Jump up to 8 years old (i think?) when i get my first playstation (i had a gameboy but didn't play it too often, only on long car rides) and the games helped me concentrate my anger on the game when i got frustrated. Still does today.

I guess that's how videogames helped me, made me concentrate more to.

Also made me get more buisiness sense and save up money and plan out how I would use my money to get a game i wanted through those years. Oh memories.

Crap_haT:

mshcherbatskaya:

Or maybe this is the story about how games ruined me. That's right, fellas, games and gamers made me the monster I am today. BWAHAHAHAHAHH! ;D

And I still want you to be my wife.

Aww, that's sweet! And even after I my best Godzilla imitation all over the forum? You are either very forgiving or a glutton for punishment. Seriously though, sorry for going overboard back there. I gave myself a very stern talking to and sent myself to bed early, which didn't do a damn bit of good cuz I just laid awake until 5 a.m. like usual, but anyway. I would ground myself but the bike is in the shop still, so that's kind of moot.

If I had to shoot someone in the face in real life.. I think I would naturally aim for the skull now, rather then the chest.

Kidding aside.. they've helped me in two major ways. In both reasoning skills and hand-to-eye coordination. Or maybe I just had good reasoning skills and hand-to-eye coordination in the first place and that's why I like video games? Or did the chicken come after the egg? I can't remember anymore. I'm old.

In typing tests I average at about 90 words-per-minute with 99% accuracy, and I owe Operation Flashpoint a nod of thanks for my typing skills. In the game's mission editor you do a hell of a lot of typing. Lines of code in the init fields of units, briefings, scripts...

- I've improved my reaction time a hell of a lot, as well as hand-eye coordination (Mega Man, Halo, Smash Bros.)

- Improved multitasking (Starcraft)

- I've also broadened my vocabulary most of the "big words" I know, I learned from games (Exile 3: Ruined World, 7th Legion, X-Men Legends, Starcraft)

While I was taking driving classes, I was given this computer program designed to test and improve driving-related skills, such as reaction time, risk avoidance, depth perception, and width of field of vision. The interesting thing is, the program pretty much IS a game. I believe I can attribute my high mark on reaction time to my numerous sessions of playing the likes of Mega Man, Halo, and Smash Bros.

One time in business class, we were playing a game in which we had to run a business. It's likely that I owe the fact that I did the best in the class to Roller Coaster Tycoon, or possibly Sim City.

thebobmaster:
Guitar Hero helped me improve my hand-eye coordination and reflexes. Plus, video games helped me get away from it all when my life was, quite frankly, hell.

I play bass and strangely enough sitting down with Guitar Hero an hour before I have to play is the most fun way I've found to warm up. It's effective and not half as boring as my old finger exercises.

Also, finishing Day Of The Tentacle without a walkthrough made me realise that there are people out there whose thought processes are as backward as mine ;-)

I suppose RPGs made me the reading fiend I am today, as well FPSs causing my extremely fast reaction time and above average hand-eye co-ordination. Mainly, my love of modern history was realised after playing Brothers in Arms. 'Cos of that, I ended up coming first history for that year. I owe a lot to this passion, I really do.

SEE! Anyone who says that vidjamagames (Yeah, I stole that, but it made me laugh!) are evil needs to read this thread. So many people are bettered by their electronic addiction.

@-Darth mobius, HA! Grand Turismo made me a more agressive driver AND made me look for hte best driving line. I find myself always wanting to pass people though...

@- Mattydienhoff, Oh man, I didn't even include that! I was typing my own hunt and peck style for so long I was up to about 30 wpm, but had to keep one eye on the keyboard. When Gametap got typing of the dead, I tried it, found it cheesy, but really fun, and next thing I know, I can type the correct way and am up to about 50-60 wpm. Take that Mavis Beacon!

@naturalhazard, look forward to your 1st game!

@mshcherbatskaya/Crap_Hat, Aww... romance on teh intarweb. lol. Sounds like you were made into a stronger woman cause of gaming. Well, at least one unafraid to put we weaker sex types in our place. :) That's pretty awesome. I have never found timid women attractive. If a woman isn't willing to get in my face no matter how pissed off I am, I don't want 'em around. Friends or lovers. Hell, I'm nearly afraid of my fiance. In a I-don't-want-her-pissed-cause-she-owns-guns sort of way.
Now that I think on it, gaming helped several of my socially backward friends become better with people. Just playing together with dorm-mates or even working with others online...
Damnit! Went all rambly again. I do that.... My bad.

mshcherbatskaya:

Crap_haT:

mshcherbatskaya:

Or maybe this is the story about how games ruined me. That's right, fellas, games and gamers made me the monster I am today. BWAHAHAHAHAHH! ;D

And I still want you to be my wife.

Aww, that's sweet! And even after I my best Godzilla imitation all over the forum? You are either very forgiving or a glutton for punishment. Seriously though, sorry for going overboard back there. I gave myself a very stern talking to and sent myself to bed early, which didn't do a damn bit of good cuz I just laid awake until 5 a.m. like usual, but anyway. I would ground myself but the bike is in the shop still, so that's kind of moot.

LOL, yah well. Love can go past Godzilla like appearance and sound right? RIGHT?!

I say sound... you're typing. Oh dear. Also, don't be so hard on your self (resist inuendo) and make sure you get that bike back.

Playing KoTOR put my mindset into more of like a jedi; unbiased, level-headed and fair. Abeit the fact that jedis seem to refelct upon Buddhism.... (I'll leave you to assumtions of what I'm talking about. Speculation is fun.)

And I think about the concept of learning games like Will Wright does.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_Rt_grfUUo

Well i suppose this isnt really helping me, but ive met lots of good friends on MMOs, hell ive known one for almost 5years now even after we both stopped playing the MMO we met on, matter of fact i was playing some CoD4 with him earlier today. So i suppose the games have helped me make some good friends?