Have you learned any life lessons from video games?

[Iamerror]

I've been thinking about this for many years. I get annoyed when I'm told that games are useless, you don't learn anything from them. I disagree, I think that we learn several things from games.
1.I learned from A Link to the Past that you can't judge a book by its cover(pardon the cliche).
2. Time and money management from Harvest Moon.
3.Hand and eye coordination(obviously)

These are a few examples, I want to know if anyone else has thought about this. I have been playing games for over 25 years and I would like to think that I've gained something from it.

[HateKore]

Mass Effect 3:

If it would all end tomorrow, what would you regret not doing today ?

[luffy4]

i learned

1) sephiroth is a dumbass
2) that i hate typos
3) tactical skills that i apply to life subconsciously
4) depending on when you started gaming you usually will only play games from the first gen you played up to the current (applies to certain people)
5) i like reading in games
6) replaying a game you used to love as a kid, doesnt mean you will love it now (i loved MMBN1 but now its too ugly to play)
7) if it ages well, its a VERY good game

[hyufei]

Yes: I need save-states to get anywhere.

[Muscab]

What you actually learned from video games are usually useless. It is just something that kids can easily learn.
Like what some of you said, "I learned from A Link to the Past that you can't judge a book by its cover"
I found that this is pretty simple stuff. That is probably good reason why my parents declined video games..

Please don't attack me, I have no intention to offence anybody. I hope you understand iamerror.

[Iamerror]

I understand, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion without fear of reprisal. I don't mind.

[Knightshade]

What you actually learned from video games are usually useless. It is just something that kids can easily learn.
Like what some of you said, "I learned from A Link to the Past that you can't judge a book by its cover"
I found that this is pretty simple stuff. That is probably good reason why my parents declined video games..

Please don't attack me, I'm have no intention to offence anybody. I hope you understand iamerror.

I understand, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion without fear of reprisal. I don't mind.

I agree with Iamerror and do understand what you are saying, but I also know an autistic kid who has a hard time understanding anything outside of his video games so those life lessons like in a link to the past are a very important part of the game for people like him.

I should also point out his parents carefully monitors what he plays...
we wouldn't want him learning that when you shoot someone like in COD that they just re-spawn somewhere else would we?

[Gare]

Life lessons? I dunno. Language skills? Hell yeah. Every time people ask me why my English is so good (since I'm not a native speaker and such) I tell them it's mostly due to video games. Same goes for Japanese. JRPGs actually help a lot with my studies. So next time someone tells you games are useless, allow yourself a chuckle or two.

[Knightshade]

Life lessons? I dunno. Language skills? Hell yeah. Every time people ask me why my English is so good (since I'm not a native speaker and such) I tell them it's mostly due to video games. Same goes for Japanese. JRPGs actually help a lot with my studies. So next time someone tells you games are useless, allow yourself a chuckle or two.

Funny by the way you type on the forums I always figured English to be your native language, by which I mean you don't type in the broken English that most other non native speakers do.

[Elin]

Funny by the way you type on the forums I always figured English to be your native language, by which I mean you don't type in the broken English that most other non native speakers do.

I've long since given up on assuming people online are native speakers or non natives based on their English proficiency or lack thereof, as so many non-native speakers online speak fantastic English, and you never have to look very far online to find a native speaker of English brutally murdering our dear language. :'D

As to the question, basically ditto to Gare's answer. I'm reasonably proficient at Japanese now, to the point where I'm pretty much completely comfortable reading novels in the language, and at a guess, I'd say I learned about 90% of what I know from videogames. Actually, this topic is kind of eerily relevant, as I was asked to be a guest lecturer at my university just this week, and had to give a talk on videogames as a tool for learners of Japanese. :'D I even mentioned an anecdote about a few of my friends here and their escapades learning English from videogames growing up, as those stories had a big influence on me back when I was first starting to learn Japanese.

Aside from that, um... Well this isn't a lesson I learned from videogames per se, but playing games brought me much, much closer to my older brother growing up. There are only two and a half years between us, and we never really got along as kids. By the time he was nine and I was seven, we were really pretty distant from each other, and lived in the same house without ever really interacting.

Then one day he bought a game called Phantasy Star 2 with some birthday money. And though games had always been his thing and had never hugely interested me, I soon found that not only was I entranced by the game, but that the two of us were starting to spend a lot of time together because of it. We'd sit there on afternoons after school and gradually play through it. We'd share a file, taking turns at playing and watching. And we'd chat about the story and the world over dinner. Eventually we came to the end of the game, but by that time we had another role-playing game - Shining Force 2. And once Shining Force 2 was finished, we found another and another. By the time Final Fantasy IX eventually rolled around toward the twilight years of the Playstation, he was sort of off videogames. But by then we had spent so many hours together that we had grown quite friendly even when the games were turned off. And these days we're pretty much close as can be.

Like I say, it's not really a lesson that games taught me so much as an unintended positive impact they had on me. And it's perfectly possible that if games hadn't have become our common ground, something else would have. But I'm still really, really grateful to some of those developers for bringing me closer to someone who means so much to me now.

[gezegond]

Well, A LOT can be learned from videogames. If you're a gamer, you've probably learned lots of things from them without even realizing it.

Languages as other people have mentioned can be learned from videogames. I have found out that since games are interactive media and learning a language is an interactive process (the main purpose of any language is to communicate with others on the spot), they go together very well.

You learn some general skills while playing videogames that might come in handy in real life:
Hand/Eye coordination as someone mentioned, can be useful when operating certain devices in real life ("It's just like a video-game!" is something a gamer would say for a difficult task which others have difficulties dealing with)
Attention to details: You learn this from plenty of games, specially adventure ones. It can be helpful in real life when trying to solve a problem (such as fixing a mechanical device)
Micro management: self explanatory
Decision making: You learn this practically from all games. Most people can't deal with decision making: they try to delay it to a later time, and become stressed while trying to make an important decision. Gamers make so many decisions that they become used to the pressure.
Planning: You learn this from games with long playtimes, such as RPG and Strategy games. By carefully planning for the future, you learn a skill that is used in everyday life and is quite important.
etc.

Some games that are based on real world (not fantasy or sci-fi) give you some information about their context:
Games with historical context such as Age of Empires teach you about the history. In my case after reading some in-game information provided about the time (Early dark ages) I found myself wanting to know more, and I researched (read: wikipedia) some of the stuff myself and learned quite a lot.
Simulation games teach you what are simulating. In my case, I learned about the science of ballistic weaponry and general military tactics from a game called Operation Flashpoint. But it doesn't end here: You can learn race driving, plane and helicopter piloting, and much more from simulation games.
I learned about some SWAT tactics from the SWAT series of games.
I learned about World War II from related games.
etc.

And finally, there are some life lessons that you learn and use subconsciously without even realizing it. Here are some thing that I've learned from games, I'm sure each of you have learned something similar:
Always keep an extra magazine! I learned this from Resident Evil games. I apply this in real life by always having something in reserve for future use: I usually have some money that I don't spend, I keep it in case some emergency occurs and I find myself in need of money. I keep some money in a special pocket of my wallet, I don't spend it for the same reason. I have at least 1 game/movie/novel in reserve in case I feel like playing/watching/reading one. I use these when I get a new one to put it in reserve.
If you're failing, it doesn't mean what you are doing is wrong, it means HOW you're doing it is. I've learned this from all the difficult games with a certain amount of strategic elements. Knowing there's always a way to win the game, I always find myself rethinking my strategy to finally beat the game. I do the same in real life, If I don't seem to be good at something, I go at it in a different way. I occasionally find people that upon failing for the first time, they conclude that their initial decision and goal was wrong, and they give up doing it completely (I'm just not good at it!)
Be creative! Don't be afraid of failure! You know, when you get hit by this wild idea that wouldn't seem to work and is quite risky, you always do it in a game. What's the worst thing that can happen? You just restart the game if you fail! (I don't think I can jump that far, but might as well give it a try!) I have realized that surprisingly, my "wild ideas" usually work. This gives me courage to take a risk in real life and do something "my way". I often see people who are so afraid of failing, they don't dare to do something that's not "by the book". Not for me.

And finally games themselves are something that I learn! Hoping to become a video game developer in the near future, each game I play teaches me a lot about game design which might become quite useful for me in the future.

These are some of the things that I could think about right now, but I'm sure we learn plenty more from games. We just don't realize it because we're having fun doing it. "Learning should be painful, right? There's no way someone can learn something from a game!"

[Elmdor Rizer]

Whenever I'm in a fight I always make sure to stand against the left wall while I study my opponents attack pattern.

[Mistral]

The most important life lesson I ever learned: "Never pay more than 20 bucks for a computer game."

[skullpoker]

I learned how to win video poker from DOAX. Not only a profitable lesson, but great fun in the process of learning.

It also occurs to me that if you pay attention to Final Fantasy games they almost always pull from various religions and mythos from around the globe. This can be a great way to get started learning History, Mythology, and especially Esoteric knowledge.

The most obvious example: Sephiroth refers to any single level of existence on the Jewish Tree of Life. The Tree of Life ties directly into their creation myth and spiritual teachings about the journey of Life.

[Clive]

I remember playing some hentai game called True Love. At least I think it was called that, the major thing I really recall is the copious amount of cartoon tits on display.

Anyway, did I learn any life skills from it? Probably not, but for the young lad I was it amused the hell out of me.