How has a game POSITIVELY affected your life?

[oblivion220791]

I learn english from games and movies, and also it enhances my reflex and problem solving skill

 

[bak00777]

Believe it or not World of Warcraft has made me a bit more of a social person.

happend to me, because of it i became friends with quite a few upperclassman when i was a sophomore in HighSchool. Also one of my teachers started playing, and my friends and I played with him, and it made me be sure to do all of my homework that year because if i didnt, he would know that i was on WoW instead of doing it.

Now im a Freshman in College and for a while i didnt rly know anyone, then i saw a flyer for a Gaming Club, i went to the meeting and became friends with a bunch of people(all upperclassman) We get together once a week and play games(usually Gear of War2) for a few hours. It rly nice, because i can ask them about professors and who i should take for certain classes.

 

[Addicted Muffin]

i'll start off by spouting the usual...better reflexes and reaction times...

now, I've learned a little about myself from really good fames like Silent Hill 2, and the mass effect series...Mass Effect is constantly making me think about how i could act in those moral decisions...

Silent hill 2 gave me a better knollege of what scares the fuck out of me, and how i can get over that shit (failing misserabley)

 

[mikemart]

at one point in my life i was extremely depressed and considered suicide at multiple points but video games helped distract me and not worry about my problems

soo yea i think that is really positive

 

[Blue_vision]

Umm... I've been gaming since I could read so I don't really notice any positive (or, indeed, negative) affects on my personality. It's just part of who I am.

Apart from this, of course,

There are plenty of games that have just made me think about things. Especially games like Mass Effect, Bioshock, Metal Gear Solid and GTA4 (notably that I can think of right now.) Just the things that happen inside them make me wonder about what's going on inside them. You know, opening up ideas in philosophy and such.

Otherwise, AoE and AoM taught me a bunch about History and Ancient Mythology with the little information book that they have for every technology and unit.
Sim City actually introduced me and got my interest into urban issues and urban planning.
Alpha Centauri got me almost totally immersed in philosophy, existentialism, and thoughts towards the future, which is like 50% of what defines me right now (okay, maybe a bit less than that.)
And games in general have given me a sense of wonder about the world that I don't think movies ever could. If I grew up without games, I'd definitely be a much, much different person than I am now. And that person would most probably be much less interesting, much less thoughtful, and generally worse than who I am now.

 

[Vrex360]

Prior to playing Mass Effect, I had a very negative view of people with religious beliefs. I actually didn't understand, or rather refused to understand, the notion that people who have a belief in god aren't all hysterical fanatics or crazy god nuts.
Yes, for a while I was actually quite bigotted.

And then I played Mass Effect and grew to quite like the character of Ashley Williams, planning to romance her and all. Well, in one of the conversations she mentions that she believes in god and at first it shocked and confused me, but then I just decided to shrug it off an accept it. After that, I grew to like her despite knowing that she and I would have different beliefs (what with how I am an athiest) if this were the real world.

And suddenly when she starts getting hated on by people on youtube comments, I find myself defending her and her right to believe whatever she wants. So suddenly I, who once insulted people for religious beliefs, was now defending a fictional character about her right to have whatever beliefs she wanted.

So yeah, it took a hot chick in a video game to do it but I finally became more accepting of religious people.

 

[Phlakes]

Mario Teaches Typing.


Loved that game, and because of it I could type well while other kids were learning where the space bar was.

Plus, shooters have helped improve my reflexes and vision.

 

[Tom. The Taxidermist =]]

I'm pretty introverted in nature; I'm most comfortable communicating through technological means (texting, Facebook IM, game server chat, and the like). As such, my best friendships have been developed through the likes of World of Warcraft, Diablo 2, CS:S, CoD, Halo, Gmod, and LAN parties (featuring Dawn of War, AoE2, and Dungeon Siege 2... and Rock Band). It's the medium I enjoy the most, and it has helped me connect with people making some damned good friends along the way.

Although, arguably, gaming online since I was 5 didn't exactly help me develop proper social skills.

 

[eytrvnbmgkhjiuty]

.

 

[Bloodastral]

The Prince of Persia series gave me the power to freeze time and wall run and now i'm never late for work.

 

[n19h7m4r3]

If it wasn't for the Original Halflife, diablo and counter strike; I would never have met some of my most memorable friends in an internet cafe early in my life.

Sicne then I've managed to balance most things in my life with gaming, sports, love and the rest of life.

All thanks to a simple internet cafe with gaming where it was R1 for 10 minutes or R6 for an hour

 

[LandoCristo]

I used to not go out on weekends, only for school. But then I started hanging out with a bunch of WoW players, and now I spend a lot more time interacting socially with them then I would have if I had kept playing games by myself.

 

[Kris015]

Not that I can think of.

Metro 2033 made me more open minded.

How so?

 

[AbyssalSanhedrin]

Gaming, I feel, has given me an impeccable, unshakeable sense of geographical direction. Get me drunk, spin me round with eyes my closed, whatever, I can still navigate like a pigeon. I attribute this to countless hours of learning to navigate my way around Doom as a child, and continual practice with any less-than-perfectly linear game since.

 

[CoL0sS]

Good topic. After thinking about it for a little bit, I could only think of one way it affected my life. People. I met some great guys playing CoD4, learned to be more tolerable, and most importantly, discussing games with other people on forums made me realize I'm not some weirdo, and that there are a lot of people like me.

 

[hyperhammy]

Halo Reach was a great conversation starter for me in my Italian class.
I learned plenty in Civ, for example, Gandhi will fuck your shit UP!

 

[Sebenko]

I just lost the game.

Which has allowed me to easily spot other internet folks in the real world. Just shout "the game" in a public place, and the number of groans of irritation is a good count of the interdwellers.