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Fellow Gamers, how has gaming helped you in your life?

V

VernalSole1355

Well-Known Member
Fellow Gamers, in what ways has gaming made you a better person than who you were before? This can be physical, mental, spiritual, or anything really.

I'd say that, on a physical note, gaming allowed me to gain hand strength & dexterity as well as motor skills. Mentally, it's helped me be able to think differently (my favorite video game series of all time is likely Fire Emblem), & to strategize. It improved my problem solving skills.

But most importantly, I think gaming, especially online, gave and still gives me the opportunity to interact with people when I couldn't normally do it. I'm an introvert, and so outside of my inner circle of friends and church, I don't interact with people too often, although with the pandemic and me realizing I don't like being stuck inside 24/7, I have been trying to reach out externally.

What about you?

Fun Fact, I could guide you through Resident Evil 3 at like 4 years old. Couldn't play it, but knew exactly what to do. For all the what the h e double hockey sticks that I'm now getting, my dad played it. He's ex-navy and an electrician. Lol.
 
Hoboy, it's had an enormous effect on me.

1. I am very, *very* fast. Which I do attribute to this. When it comes to competitive gaming I'm known for winning via sheer overwhelming speed (you cant defeat the opponent if you never HIT them), and this ridiculous processing speed certainly can apply to real life. Driving, for instance... it helps to dodge out of the way of sudden threats.

2. Very coordinated. Duh.

3. I can process LOTS of things at once. Thank you, bullet-hell genre, as that helped with that.

4. I got into cosplay & conventions as a result of it. Which had a ton of side effects....

5. Such as travelling for the first time on my own, and later becoming very comfortable doing that. Exploring new places and all.

6. The cosplay aspect allowed me to confront the gender issues that, up until that point, I'd only sort of vaguely suspected I had. This ended up being... important, yes. Gotta say, I learned a lot more about myself, and through that hobby was able to express it freely without getting laughed at.

7. It's a getaway! Being able to just step away from this stupid area entirely for a weekend every now and then is a big boon for my mood.

8. Back to gaming as a whole, I've met sooooooooo many people through it. Some of which became lasting friends.

9. WAY more confidence. Way more. When I started playing competitive fighting games, I thought I'd never get anywhere. Fast forward, and... I simply stopped losing, even against tournament pros. I really COULD do things, if I tried and kept at it! I realized, after a time, the strength and importance of things like determination, willpower/belief, and an absolute refusal to give up... those things are how you improve, and how you climb to the top of whatever. This all made me a MUCH more positive person overall, and that's a good thing no matter what I'm doing.

10. I got into indie games a few years ago, back when the original Spelunky and Isaac came out. Aside from being amazing, those led to finally fulfilling a childhood dream: being able to make a game of my own. Though, I must thank an extremely specific game for that most of all, which is The Binding of Isaac. If I'd never played that, the game I made would not exist.

11. Additional hobbies! I got into board gaming too, because of this. And that has a great tactile aspect that helps as a stim. Also drone piloting and RC cars, the coordination made it very easy to learn those (as in, do them without things crashing and exploding).


There's probably more I could think up but those are the big ones for me.
 
Ive invested over 3 years, 24/7 in gaming throughout my life, and that is a conservative estimate.

Not sure if it's helped more than its hindered. I've made some friends over the years, but mainly I think it's just been one of many avoidance behaviours.

Ed
 
Driving games (GTA, Gran Turismo, etc) have helped me get out of a few real life close calls.
 
VernalSole1355 said:
Interesting, care to explain in a bit more detail? I'm just curious how robbing a bank in-game can help you IRL, lol.
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Lol, not the robbing a bank part. Just the driving parts. Especially since in that game you're doing a lot racing through busy streets, sliding around corners, losing control, regaining control. All that stuff.

Where it pertains to real life driving, I've found it taught me not to panic/freeze up, but to just react per the "driving training" of GTA.

In one real life instance, I was driving along and a person at a stop sign I guess didn't see me coming, so they started to cross my lane. I had not enough time to stop without T-boning them, so, instead I hit the gas and skidded around the front of them in the opposing lane of traffic. Fortunately they had stopped by then (saw me eventually) in the middle of my lane. And I had to hit the gas cause there were oncoming cars in the opposing lane as well. It was a narrow miss for all parties. But I think without the chaos of playing games like GTA I likely would have just hit them instead. I don't think my reaction would have been to do what I did.
 
Varzar said:
Lol, not the robbing a bank part. Just the driving parts. Especially since in that game you're doing a lot racing through busy streets, sliding around corners, losing control, regaining control. All that stuff.

Where it pertains to real life driving, I've found it taught me not to panic/freeze up, but to just react per the "driving training" of GTA.

In one real life instance, I was driving along and a person at a stop sign I guess didn't see me coming, so they started to cross my lane. I had not enough time to stop without T-boning them, so, instead I hit the gas and skidded around the front of them in the opposing lane of traffic. Fortunately they had stopped by then (saw me eventually) in the middle of my lane. And I had to hit the gas cause there were oncoming cars in the opposing lane as well. It was a narrow miss for all parties. But I think without the chaos of playing games like GTA I likely would have just hit them instead. I don't think my reaction would have been to do what I did.
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Interesting.
 
Gaming hits all the right dopamine receptors when I finally defeat a challenging boss, or clear a room full of challenging enemies that really make me work for my victory.

I prefer SP gaming for the most part, though. Xbox and PlayStation online culture is quite toxic.

The dopamine rush feels similar to cocaine, only without the side effects.
 
VernalSole1355 said:
There are a few exceptions to this, but yes, MOST of the time online gaming in general is toxic. Most of the time Singleplayer games are for me.
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Yeah, same here.

I used to do fighting games a lot, but... yeah running into too many jerks, sore losers, and jerks who were also sore losers tended to kill the fun.

And the less said about team-based games the better.

Just... bleh. All of it, bleh.
 
Oddly enough, the only online MP game I have played where I have found consistently friendly random people happens to be friggin' Tetris of all games.
 
Story based games were my thing. PS4 God of War is an excellent example. Being somewhere and someone else. Maybe stronger then you or weaker. How they cope in life and world's we can barely imagine. I like to think it makes us stronger and better people. Along with being able to cope with our darker sides. And open up new forms of thought to consider.
Mass Effect would be next. The ending still tears me up. Shepherd gave all. He will be missed.

Ghosts of Tsushima is another good one. I always feel very peaceful playing it.

Oh. Final Fantasy with Prince Noctis. I cried. Beautiful ending and song. Truly a magnificent game.
 
Wulven said:
Console. Original Xbox Burnout 3.
Xbox360 Split Second.
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That'd do it. Only consoles I ever had were PS2 and PS3. And I bought those mainly to double as a DVD player.. Now that there's Netflix, DVDs have sort of become obsolete, and for me consoles have become too costly for how long they last before they get replaced by the next version.
 
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