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Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children

nida.nih.gov

121–130 of 332 posts

Re: Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Video games are like the cheapest way to keep a kid busy for low income working parents. I guess they could send the kids outside but people nowadays start asking questions if a kid is caught outside while single mom is working for 3 hours or something. Given infinite money I think many of those parents would send the kid with nanny if needed or whatever to organized sports, piano classes, etc.

> Video games are like the cheapest way to keep a kid busy for low income working parents Source on that? Video games (console or pc) is very expensive and not something low income folks can generally afford for their kids.

A PC and free pirated games is pretty inexpensive.

Re: Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children

#122
post #118

I’d be a very different person without games when I was young. Got me into programming, thinking beyond my immediate reality… etc. More stimulation is probably good for development, that’s how pathways form, I have been told. Call me armchair “points out the obvious parts then gets pessimistic guy,” but we’ll likely never actually know if it’s a correlation in the time period that’s more consistent with like… the nut…

I’d be a very different person if I played more video games when I was young.

I spent a lot of my time outside exploring and playing games with my friends. Later in college when a lot of my peers were playing counter strike all day long I got into programming because I always wanted to learn how to do it.

Re: Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its too addicting.

No more addicting than TV or movies. More engaging, on the other hand…

I don’t think I have ever heard of someone having a movie addiction?

Re: Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children

#124

my only beef ( as a dad to a 10yr old ) is that at all the game he loves playing are incredibly bloody violent. - Far Cry - Assassin's Creed *exceptions ( Fortnite ) What kind of games do you recommend that can extend his critical thinking while increasing his focus? Lastly, is there a WYSIWYG game creation platform that is high-quality/fidelity? not Minecraft/Roblox. I see him making stuff in the game industry one d…

Mario Maker 2 and Game Builder Garage are great for getting into game creation (or at the very least level creation). Super intuitive as well.

As for extending critical thinking, I feel puzzle based games are great at this like Captain Toad Tracker. But also strategy games like Mario Rabbids are great because there's basic math mixed in with probability and action.

Also games like Brother: A tale of two sons (which you can play with him) can go a long way to developing more complex feelings of empathy which might help him in the long run in regards to games that are just mindlessly super bloody violent. Psychonaut 2 is another great one, lots to talk about there and there's some action but it's never bloody.

Re: Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children

#125
post #118

I’d be a very different person without games when I was young. Got me into programming, thinking beyond my immediate reality… etc. More stimulation is probably good for development, that’s how pathways form, I have been told. Call me armchair “points out the obvious parts then gets pessimistic guy,” but we’ll likely never actually know if it’s a correlation in the time period that’s more consistent with like… the nut…

I’d be a very different person if I played more video games when I was young. I spent a lot of my time outside exploring and playing games with my friends. Later in college when a lot of my peers were playing counter strike all day long I got into programming because I always wanted to learn how to do it.

[deleted]

Re: Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children

#126
post #49

I credit RuneScape with teaching me the value of delayed gratification and basic economics. I credit competitive Halo 3 with teaching me team building and strategy skills. I credit StarCraft with training my mind to travel at warp speed. Honestly. My video game experience was instrumental to my success so far in life. This is not surprising to me.

In the same boat and it is great until I run into a more complex multi-faceted problem, pick a solution and end up 30 miles down the road before I realize I need to backtrack and try a different one. If my childhood had more books and boredom I might have the patience to spend longer in the planning stage and less enthusiasm for the drinking coffee and pounding out a solution stage.

My two biggest childhood hobbies were reading and video games. Frankly, grand strategy games like the Civilization series and simulation games like SimCity taught patience and planning much more effectively than any of the books.

What the books taught me was how to write clearly, if with a somewhat unorthodox style. Turns out that's extremely important for a software engineer.

Re: Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children

#127
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What games do you recommend for kids of that age?

Spelunky HD! Easy to understand and control, terribly difficult to master. I started my oldest on it when she was 4 and she beat it for the first time around age 6. Now she tears through it like a ninja master. She also enjoyed Bit Trip Runner 2 when she was 3-4 yrs old.

The idea that it took 1/3 of her life-so-far to beat the game is kind of hilarious.

Re: Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children

#128
post #118

I’d be a very different person without games when I was young. Got me into programming, thinking beyond my immediate reality… etc. More stimulation is probably good for development, that’s how pathways form, I have been told. Call me armchair “points out the obvious parts then gets pessimistic guy,” but we’ll likely never actually know if it’s a correlation in the time period that’s more consistent with like… the nut…

[deleted]

Re: Video gaming may be associated with better cognitive performance in children

#130

my only beef ( as a dad to a 10yr old ) is that at all the game he loves playing are incredibly bloody violent. - Far Cry - Assassin's Creed *exceptions ( Fortnite ) What kind of games do you recommend that can extend his critical thinking while increasing his focus? Lastly, is there a WYSIWYG game creation platform that is high-quality/fidelity? not Minecraft/Roblox. I see him making stuff in the game industry one d…

Most games on Nintendo aren't that gory. Also lots of "card games" essentially boil down to math/statistics.
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