Virtua fighter makes you smarter

Because of neuroplasticity, the brain adapts to new challenges and skill acquisitions. To reach a high level in virtua fighter you need to learn your character moves, other character moves, looking up information in general,combos, figuring out new combos, figuring out the game mechanics, frames, reading the opponent(his tendencies), mind games, manipulate the opponent all at a fast pace. Then again, going from a joystick to an arcacde stick and at the same time trying out a new character, becomes yet another challenge. Its no doubt a big hurdle to reach the top... a dull mind wont make it.

I cant really imagine anyone who play at a high level is below 120 iq or dumb, because you really have to adapt fast to new situations and read the opponent and memorize his tendencies, all while playing and the same time doing mind games and at the same time going on with your own game agenda etc.

 

tell that to all the stupid people i know

 

This is what losers who play video games all day want to belive.

 

this is actually an intelligent guess. Playing virtua fighter at a low level isnt as brainy, since you are not aware of all the factors. At a high level you know all factors, and need to decide quickly. Lots of logical and problem solving is involved.

Star craft at a high level may also be good,as well as poker at the highest levels. I dont believe that much in brain training games, fps games etc. i think onlyh certain games are qualified.

 

hmm and you are not biased in the least...

 

Actually, video games do make you smarter. There have even been studies that back it up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNycSARuGcE

This isn't from a gaming channel either.

 

No offense, but i've played with you some times - you played Lion and Jacky - and all what have you done was SPAMMING 1-2 strikes, then you loosed. Very strange to hear such words from the-same-move-spammer

Btw, i fully AGREE:
Fighting genre and especially Virtua Fgihter - rising you mental abilities!

 

FGC and Mobas has already proven me that the number 7 is totally not true lol

 

Folk seem to be forgetting that 99% of the fighting game community aren't high level players

 

Maybe not for those two genres, but those are competition based. It depends on your mindset. I could see some story driven games, or games that aren't too frustrating being good stress relief though. Even then it depends on what you consider frustrating, or stress relieving. So that one varies from person to person.

That's not really relevant unless they're not thinking while they're playing.

 

I agree with that though, but (like you said) I think it really depends on the mindset of the person playing. Video games can be a tool to become smarter, but only if you want to use them to. For example, you can either study VF to try to reach it's highest level and acquire godlike Yomi/reactions/pattern reading in the process, or you can just go to ranked, spam the same moves mindlessly and complain about a move being broken when you lose.

About the stress relief part, I used to play shooters and puzzle games for that, headshots are the best for that.

 

I think you missed the point....

 

Also, reading or doing something else makes you even smarter. But "virtua smarts" is cool too.

 

Actually I did half of my clinical masters papers on the benefits of gaming and the OP is spot on. Gamers that don't go into mastering or continuing to play the game (give up..which is a majority of players) don't get the benefit. However sites like Luminosity do help brain development. The same goes for any competitive game such as fighters, mmorpg, shooters etc. It will be interesting to see how this REALLY affects brain development as this is studied more with neuropsych testing. However it is my contention that processing all of the information very quickly, adapting, learning the skill sets (whether it's VFS or counter-strike, BF3, COD, etc) leads to new neural pathways that allow people to think very quickly which can translate to real world advantages as well. I picked up VF5:FS just a few weeks ago and have played some of the best players on PSN...and lost quite a bit. However the reason I have gotten to Hunter in a few weeks against people with 5000+ games is because I have played fighters, shooters and other games and play them at the more competitive level (online). If you are a fighting game fan, I would venture to say that all of you are within the best 10% ranking wise online. Same goes for shooting games. I played CS:S (Counter-strike source at the lowest level of competitive play...CAL-O (cyberathlete amateur league-Open) back in 2004-2006ish. I could NEVER get to the highest professional level as I didn't have the skill set.

Gaming is a skill when taken competitively and I think it's Chess on Steroids or at least fast, time-based chess. However the brain is not used to having such information overload and there could be NEGATIVE effects on brain development from all of this information and game playing from an early age just due to evolution and computers and gaming are a novel development to the brain; so it's not used to it. However I think the good outweigh the negatives but I could believe that excessive gaming can be addicting, lead to more anxiety, depression and other mental health issues.

Interesting post OP. I agree with you but don't think the game itself makes one smarter; rather the people that delve into the game and the deeper mechanics.

 

Hey another clinical masters professional! Shoot me a PM if you're still doing psych (or even if you aren't) I'd love to talk shop with you.

 

Well,you have played this games for thousands of matches, you still suck and are a hunter, so you are a slow learner, maybe because of your low iq. So when i play matches against someone like you i just practice setups or combos im not 100% sure about to execute. Your enormous ego cant understand this though.


Im more about trying setups, and dont care too much about winning. To improve your game, you should not be afraid of losing, and try new setups.

 

Everytime I lose, I feel stupid...

 

I'm cool with the idea of nueroplasticity in the realm of video games. I play Starcraft as well and I can certainly see a higher level of thinking involved as opposed to the stuff like CoD. Whether it makes you smarter? I'll leave that up to folks that study this stuff.

However, I'm quite sure that if there is a benefit to playing games a high level, that most players will never benefit from it. If the usual crowd in VF ranked mode is any sort of indication, most players just rapidly bang their head against the stick and pray something comes out.

I'm sure that has the opposite effect of what the OP was suggesting.

 

You know there is a DOJO mode in VF5FS? 4th in main menu named D_O_J_O
Good luck next time.

 

Nah, i can execute all things nearly perfect in dojo.Its another thing to do it during a match with lag. And i think it is ok, because our matches got quite even, while i was practicing ^^