Do games (excluding senseless ones) may increase vocabulary, maturity or intellegence?

[Tiscolfo]

(read full topic subject before posting please )

I had just been sitting in my english class for the last few days "learning" new vocabulary words and it seems strange that people don't know many of the words like epiphany, persuade, or malice But as a gamer I had learned these words. "The evil king displayed great malice to his wife or subject" "Roll die 56 and you have persuaded big gaurd" and etc.

 

[Bihac]

I wouldn't say they are likely to increase intelligence, problem solving ability perhaps but those arn't the same thing.

Likewise, having played a few games has helped increase knowledge in certain (if not rather specific) area's.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

Judging by the thread title, no.

I did learn the word 'syndicates' from playing Oblivion though.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Probably not unless you can grasp the context of the word.

Though they dont seem to help with grammar.

 

[oplinger]

It it makes you look it up with the power of internet. Then yes I'd say so. Otherwise no.

...Also you get an A for effort

 

[lovest harding]

Fallout 3 taught me to read...

Not entirely true. But one of the quests introduced me to the idea of Ray Bradbury's There Will Come Soft Rains short story (in The Martian Chronicles) which lead me to the book as a whole.
And I absolutely love it.
There Will Come Soft Rains is my favorite short story (even beating Poe's The Black Cat which I also love dearly).

Mature games can open someone to not only mature subjects, but other mature media. Well written games (or at least games with a big vocabulary) can lead to the discovery of words and put those words in an understandable context.
Having a big vocabulary doesn't lead to being smarter, it just leads to better speech and writing skills as well as comprehension. ^^

 

[bak00777]

i've increased my vocabulary from WoW.

 

[Xaio30]

Not being a native English-speaker, games has been pretty much the only source for me to learn it from. Pokemon got me started. Baldurs Gate II also gave me a few challanges, especially with the riddles.

 

[sahharmalta]

Well, judging from a particular scene in Mass Effect 2, you can learn to become very good in threatening them buggers you want threaten.

And a group of scenes with the Drell may give a decent inspiration for poetic writing.

But really, I think the answer is ultimately 'No'. This is because the vocabulary used in game dialogues and narratives are not going to to contain new bombastic words because the gamer might lose the 'feel' of the game by being distracted by such vocabulary.

As for the Maturity and Intelligence part, I didn't have any particular enlightening conversations with other gamer [not more than non-gamers anyway]. So I guess No either.

[...on the other hand I noticed a certain kind of increase in sense sharpness]

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I called my girlfriend a noob yesterday when she spilled her tea.

Then I saw an old lady fall over the pavement and I eloquently exclaimed: ' LOLZ U GOT PWND'

 

[Goody]

I was going to say if you play them, they don't appear to help with grammatical accuracy.

But it seems that I have been ninja'd, repeatedly, within the first 4 responses.

 

[OakTaooper]

It may for certain people, though it didn't really help me at all because I was a reader before I was a gamer, so I gained a large vocabulary before I started gaming. But on the intelligence half, I really doubt that gaming helps very much, unless it has certain things to expose you to.

 

[astrav1]

Absolutely they do. Games like FFVII and VIII helped me become much more mature. MGS2 helped me learn about how war is horrible.

 

[p3t3r]

i don't know but today some girl was trying to give me trouble for using large words but i thought it was because i used to read a lot and have a good memory. that being said some games can defiantly have big words in them that one could include in there day to day vocabulary.

 

[random_bars]

Brutal Legend taught me what a dirgible is. Oh, and Assassin's Creed taught me when the crusades took place. 2 examples straight off the top of my head, I'm sure I could think of loads more.

 

[OliverTwist72]

Well you're reading, and any type of reading will help with your vocabulary. Although, the same cannot be said for grammar.

Edit: I mean to say your grammar is awful.

 

[Techno Squidgy]

For most online multiplayer games, it will negatively impact your vocabulary, spelling and grammar.

However some heavily story based/ heavily dialogue based may improve your grammar and vocab.

Gaming might also increase creativity by giving you more source material to draw influence from, but it could just as well degrade your creativity if it becomes the only thing you can think about.

 

[Thaluikhain]

It can increase your creativity, sure, same as anything else which has new words you didn't previously know.

I'd be wary of people claiming to have learnt alot by playing video games though. Of course, most people "learn" way too much from the wrong kind of TV anyway.

 

[KalosCast]

Most of the time, when games use uncommon words, they're terms that are made up for the game itself. So... no.

Xbox Live did teach me new and innovative ways to combine vulgarities, though, for what it's worth.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

some games can defiantly have big words in them that one could include in there day to day vocabulary.

I'd suggest perfecting the small ones first.

I'm not usually this pedantic. It's just that it's a thread about games making your vocabulary better...

...and stuff.