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Any sort of gaming counts. Video games, sports (yes, I'll count sports, they're games), tabletops, board games, all the stuff.
For me, tabletops like PF are a good way to flex my character and story muscles and enhance my improv skills. They let me test out different voices, tones, attitudes, and put them in context with the character's current predicament and past experiences. For someone looking to get into acting, it's a wonderful tool.
Videogames work in similar way, but from a more observational point of view. It's from there that I actually learned about how situations affect people, how they react. Why yes, that guy killing your whole family -is- a horrible thing. That revenge quest certainly seems worth it. Yet, in the progress of it, you ended up making a new family. It's a shame that instead of embracing that you choose to plunge neck-deep into your bloodthirsty obsession despite having something else to live for now.
Discuss!
Games can educate us.
Sports, obviously, can exercise our bodies. Board games can exercise our minds, as we ponder our next move. Tabletop role playing games can do the latter and more, as they can tell stories, which can educate us on the subjects of those stories. (To be sure, the facts presented in games usually only pepper the tremendous amount of fiction, but that fiction can grab our interest long enough to teach us the factual parts.) Just reading a gaming manual, like reading many other kinds of books, can teach us about many subjects, as well as enhance our vocabulary. And using computers for our gaming encourages us to learn new technologies, such as software.
Some have told me that instead of wasting our time stimulating our minds with games we could be doing so learning real, practical information, but because games are fun, they MOTIVATE us.
Encouragement of critical thinking, improvisation ability, strategy, and spontaneous action.
Helps to appreciate the camaraderie of friends and teach us cooperation and teamwork.
Great topic Cap,
I could go on and on about the many ways gaming is enriching my life but I'll focus on one particularly awesome thing I've seen at the game table with others.
I've seen some painfully shy folks come out of their shell at the game table. These are people who in normal life can go an entire day without speaking or making eye contact with co-workers.
But something magical happens when you put them around a table. They have to engage, speak, look, and react to social cues because that is a big part of the game. Perhaps the act of "playing in character" displaces some of the anxiety of public speaking. But the result is them speaking and contributing to a group activity instills a great amount of confidence. That can fundamentally change a person’s life for the better.
How interesting would psychology studies be on people with social anxiety, social phobia and even autism?
-MD