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Video Games with Shooting May Improve Eyesight
anthemaniac writes "Playing video games that involve firing guns (Gears of War, Halo, take your pick) can improve eyesight, according to a new study. From the article: 'People who started out as non-gamers and then received 30 hours of training on first-person action video games showed a substantial increase in their ability to see objects accurately in a cluttered space, compared to non-gamers given the same test.' The games push the brain to the limit, the thinking goes, and it adapts by developing better spatial resolution. The effect was not duplicated in more sedate games like Tetris."
masturbation causes blindness so it all equals out I guess.
Anyway i am in ... i better go search for my Quake III for the darker side of computing :)
-- "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration" - TAE --
I've already read this before, and the same comments apply: Eyesight != visual ability
Sure, they can pick things out better... But they can't actually SEE better. It's not like they needed glasses before and now they don't. This is merely human pattern-recognition training.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
In studies, playing a steady amount of MMORPGSs daily also improved the following conditions:
Depression (urge to kick passing cats and gain exp points)
Management skills (Can't afford +2 plat armor on a beer budget)
Nacrolepsy (no explanation needed)
However, it only worsened the symptoms of kleptomania sufferers.
About 4 years ago I was driving in my Jeep down one of thoes 1 lane roads. (Where traffic goes one way and another) It was around midnight and a drunk driver was coming the other way. Just as I was passing him he swirved into my lane. Instantly I turned right as hard as I could to miss him. My Jeep spun around and he hit the back side of my Jeep. It ripped off the back half and I spun out into the ditch. My Jeep was demolished except for the driver side. I was a bit banged up but if not for my quick reaction I would have been dead.
:-D
In short I believe video games also can help increase reaction time. In racing games or First Person Shooters. It seems people who play faster pace games are quicker to think. Video games saved my life
The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
http://games.slashdot.org/games/03/05/28/2329209.s html?tid=127&tid=186
I often notice many increased sensory abilities that others (family and friends) are just incapable of handling. For example, peripheral vision while driving. Reaction time in sports (frisbees, baseballs, tennis balls, etc). Sound and location of objects based on sound. Lastly is problem solving. Believe it or not, the tactical requirements and logical deductions in a high level of competition can be related to many different puzzles (just like in chess).
Sigs are for Terrorists.
These people are obviously not the masters of our russian past-time.
Thunderclone: ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE! ONE MAN ENTERS! TWO MEN LEAVE!
Improvements from playing Tetris include the ability to jockey for the best position at the next red light.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
This particular bit reminded me of a letter I read in the old Nintendo Power magazine where the writer told his story about being legally blind. His grandmother bought him an NES for Christmas one year and he decided to try playing it. At first he saw mostly rough shapes, but as time passed, he was able to see a little more, and a little more. After a year or so of exercising his eyes he had gotten them into good enough shape where he was no longer legally blind while wearing (very strong) glasses.
Love sees no species.
Yeah, but unfortunately that "improvement" is meaningless unless you want to become a fighter pilot. I hate articles which make the bogus "video games make you a better person" claim. Everyone knows that for whatever improvements the eyesight receives there is a decrease in sociability or an increase in weight or something else. No matter what you do you will be affected both mentally and physically, and a redundant reaction speed test which requires one to sit still for extended periods of time isn't overall beneficial to one's wellbeing.
I like playing video games, but I'm not going to lie to myself and believe that they make me a better person in real life. If anything, articles like these only reinforce Jack Thompson's claim that they're nothing more than murder simulators. Anyway, I usually don't play shooters because they're all too similar. Games like Brain Age or old Lucas Art adventure games which are truly mentally stimulating, that's what I enjoy. And interestingly enough you don't need to conduct a study to conclude that these games are mentally beneficial - common sense tells one so, just as common sense tells one that Halo/Unreal/Farcry/Whatever are just mindless entertainment - the video game form of a Steven Segal film. That doesn't make them bad, I just don't think it's appropriate to pretend like they're more redeeming than they are.
That's cool, and obviously the end result was pretty great for him. But what kind of bitch grandma gives her BLIND grandson a video game system for Christmas? What did he get for his birthday, a telescope?
Not to mention all the other RL skill that CS taught me.
For example, before my CS days I never used to always strafe (side-step) in front of doors. CS taught me that. I don't have to tell you how useful that is, in case there's something camping with an AWP in the boss's office. My co-workers may look funny at me, but I know I'll have the last laugh when they get headshot for just walking in front of a door without looking.
Always stop and listen before going through any door. Sound is your friend. You can know whether someone's coming around a corner by their footsteps long before you actually have line of sight on them. So always, I repeat, always, stop and listen for 10 seconds or so before barging through any door or around any corner. Sure, the people behind you in the elevator or subway may get impatient, but you're really saving their non-gamer arses. Without you, they could walk right into an ambush.
Then there's crouching in dark corners. Invaluable skill that. When in doubt, you can't go wrong with crouching in some dark corner or on the roof. Sure, your neighbours and co-workers may look funny when they see you huddled between the dumpster and the hedge, but the laugh is on them if the terrorists ever decide to use your office or block as a map.
Spatial orientation. Only loser looking to be headshot use the front door. Surprise your boss today by climbing up the fire escape and through a vent. Then spend half the day jumping up and down in front of the vent, to see if some enemy's coming through it. It's a repetitive job, but someone has to do it. If noone does, the terrorists win.
Oh, and always explore and memorize all possible escape routes. Your life will depend on it later. Sometimes after the next paragraph.
Then there are the social skills. An online game is a perfect training ground for your polite interaction with fellow humans. Don't laugh, it's like a virtual party. You just mingle and call everyone a "camping faggot" or, as the case may be, a "cheater". Be sure to tell them how good their mother was in bed too. People are insecure about that kind of thing, and it's polite to put their doubts to rest about their relatives' sexual abilities. (Hey, one million CS players can't all be wrong.) And be sure to tell every woman that she's probably a 40 year old fat male wanker. Works like a charm as an ice breaker.
Creative use of hostages. Those guys aren't there just to get stuck in doors and behind fallen twigs. Did you know you can jump on a hostage's head to climb on a balcony? Erm... actually scratch that. I'm still trying to live down _that_ silly lawsuit.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
What does this mean about games with sex?
EYESIGHT IMPROVES YOU!
-insert a witty something-