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'StarCraft' Gameplay Boosts Mental Flexibility, Says Study

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Re: 'StarCraft' Gameplay Boosts Mental Flexibility, Says Study

#31

Post by dmead »

rsheridan6 wrote: post #29
Sagat wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Starcraft is arguably a more difficult game due to the real-time element and the fact that the pieces aren't constrained by squares on a board (meaning there is more positional variation). As Bobby Fischer complained, chess between accomplished players can seem stale when the first twenty moves are often played from memory, following opening theory and leaving no place for experimentation.

The beginning of Starcraft can be stale too. You're probably going to follow one of the standard builds at first.

you say that, until you get proxy everything'd

Re: 'StarCraft' Gameplay Boosts Mental Flexibility, Says Study

#33

Post by dmead »

Sagat wrote: post #28
dmead wrote: post #22

bad study. they don't account for the mental toll induced by lack of sleep. source: myself.

I've also noticed from personal experience that playing video games for long lengths of time reduces your ability to concentrate on real world tasks or simple things such as reading.

yes.

Re: 'StarCraft' Gameplay Boosts Mental Flexibility, Says Study

#34

Post by ajuc »

Sagat wrote: post #27
eykanal wrote: post #26

The best analogy I've heard is that a good game of Starcraft is very similar to fencing; you have to predict what your opponent will do, and react accordingly, with speed and agility. Another good comparison is chess; see where the pieces are going and be sure to be ready when the battle comes.

Starcraft is arguably a more difficult game due to the real-time element and the fact that the pieces aren't constrained by squares on a board (meaning there is more positional variation). As Bobby Fischer complained, chess between accomplished players can seem stale when the first twenty moves are often played from memory, following opening theory and leaving no place for experimentation.

Starcraft has codified openings too. Even casual players use them, and on high level these are almost mandatory (except for a few players that develop their own buildorders). First 3 or so minutes of proffesional games are usually played "by book" with very small variations, and you can recognize from minor details how the game will look until someone make a mistake.

The difference is - in starcraft the metagame isn't stable - in a year buildorders that were very strong become almost useless (because of balance patches, better strategies discovered, and most often because the popularity of buildorders make them weaker - more people blind-counter them).

Re: 'StarCraft' Gameplay Boosts Mental Flexibility, Says Study

#35

Post by ajuc »

astrobe_ wrote: post #17
kayoone wrote: post #13

Nothing new really. There have been alot of studies that show that games train reflexes and other mental abilities [1] If engaging in a very strategic game for a couple of hours each week wouldnt lead to any positive mental improvements, i would be suprised. Human ability is based upon experience, training and talent in almost any field. [1] http://www.wate.com/story/3684503/study-video-games-help-qui...

What is a far from obvious, to me, is that this specific training in a specific context improves response outside of this context and for other tasks. Really how knowing that you have to build immortals when you see roaches - or vikings when you see colossi, could possibly useful in everyday life?

Unit counters are just heuristic, and not very good one (you can easily lose game building just perfect counters to enemy army composition).

I think the part that helps in other contexts is keeping complex structure and rules to modify it in memory, trying to predict how it will change with time and to direct that change to your benefit. Just like chess or math, but more fuzzy and in real-time.

Re: 'StarCraft' Gameplay Boosts Mental Flexibility, Says Study

#37

Post by hueyp »

eykanal wrote: post #26

The best analogy I've heard is that a good game of Starcraft is very similar to fencing; you have to predict what your opponent will do, and react accordingly, with speed and agility. Another good comparison is chess; see where the pieces are going and be sure to be ready when the battle comes.

One thing those analogies miss is that starcraft is an imperfect knowledge game. You don't know everything about your opponent as you would in chess and fencing. It is similar to poker in that regard.

This is probably my favorite part of the game -- watching pro level players react perfectly to even the slightest tell.

Re: 'StarCraft' Gameplay Boosts Mental Flexibility, Says Study

#38

Post by EthanHeilman »

dmead wrote: post #31
rsheridan6 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The beginning of Starcraft can be stale too. You're probably going to follow one of the standard builds at first.

you say that, until you get proxy everything'd

I haven't been successfully proxied in a very long time and I'm an awful sc2 player (you see many more proxies in bronze than silver). A standard build order will crush a proxy 99/100 assuming the players are vaguely close in skill.

Re: 'StarCraft' Gameplay Boosts Mental Flexibility, Says Study

#39

Post by rfnslyr »

Top 100 world ranked grand master here. The amount of time I have poured into this game is absolutely unreal, I could have probably raised a family of 5 in the time I spent playing StarCraft.

I found myself better at a lot of games after being so intense in SCII. Co-ordination, decision making, a better understanding of strategy, all improved. I got better at Chess, was able to pick things up quicker.

Great experience but I'm too burnt out to keep going in SC2. It got so hard you had to treat it like a job.

The thing about SCII competitive is, once you seriously get competitive, every single game you play is such an absolute mental drain. I used to have to do pushups / run a few KM before a few games. I had to mentally prepare myself for every single game.

Once you play at top competitive tier in SC2, every other game is honestly a joke (videogames, not boardgames). What other games REQUIRE you to have 300APM? None, that's how many.

Re: 'StarCraft' Gameplay Boosts Mental Flexibility, Says Study

#40

Post by ajuc »

EthanHeilman wrote: post #38
dmead wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you say that, until you get proxy everything'd

I haven't been successfully proxied in a very long time and I'm an awful sc2 player (you see many more proxies in bronze than silver). A standard build order will crush a proxy 99/100 assuming the players are vaguely close in skill.

I played proxy oracle vs terran in silver and gold and had 80% win rate with them. I stopped doing it cause it's not fun the 30th time, but it works very reliably.
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