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Recently, I have been trying to play video games in the same way as I would read a book i.e. I play the story or the interactive puzzles and events until I am f

Recently, I have been trying to play video games in the same way as I would read a book i.e. I play the story or the interactive puzzles and events until I am finished or satisifed, and then move on. I find I get very similar things from a good video game and a good book. Both entertain me, but also educate me and make me think about the world in a different way. The main difference is that each format has different strengths, books tend to change how I describe the world or find insight into ideas and things. A good game changes how I experience the world. "The Last of Us" made me really focus on the sounds around me in a way I hadn't before, "Cities Skylines" made me think of the visible and hidden networks that keep our cities functioning. Do others have similar impressions?

themodelplumber 8y ago
Maybe similar, but maybe not--I use video games as a way to monitor my status, kind of get an outside view of myself. If a particular video game sounds interesting, I'll play it for a while and analyze the imagery, story, music, etc. to get a sort of metaphorical read on what my interest says about where I'm at. For example, if I am experiencing lots of stress, and feeling a deficit of power, I noticed that military tactics and strategy games seem to suggest themselves. If a really long-term, cool strategy is called for, I notice that I play games like golf. If the day is filling up with lots of busy tasks that require a deft navigation of circumstance, the classic Snake-like game always seems to sound fun to play. Looking more objectively at the game as a learning opportunity, I find that game development is huge for me here. I develop pen and paper games of given topics (from tennis to dungeon combat) and it's interesting to map real life attributes and circumstances like charisma and "home court advantage" onto my mental model of the game. I have to develop a broader model of what makes a player successful, and this spills over into my own approach to life and its problems. For example, if I'm a skilled researcher, it should follow that the more I ramp up and employ that particular skill, the faster my luck will grow, as opposed to skills at which I'm naturally an amateur. And it follows that I probably need a diversely-skilled team to turn to, should I come up against a truly difficult problem which does not yield to my research skills easily. While I build that team, I employ and continue to deepen my research skill.
itronitron 8y ago
I can see how playing video games is similar to reading for entertainment, it is a good escape that requires concentration and when finished you can just walk away from it without anything material that has to be dealt with. Minecraft is interesting in that it requires a lot of knowledge in terms of how to make things/play the game, and requires exploration for resources. The harder game modes require more tactics and strategy which are typically first learned outside of Minecraft through youtube or friends. There are a number of high quality Minecraft reference books (by Scholastic and Mojang) which are great.

themodelplumber 8y ago

Maybe similar, but maybe not--I use video games as a way to monitor my status, kind of get an outside view of myself. If a particular video game sounds interesting, I'll play it for a while and analyze the imagery, story, music, etc. to get a sort of metaphorical read on what my interest says about where I'm at. For example, if I am experiencing lots of stress, and feeling a deficit of power, I noticed that military tactics and strategy games seem to suggest themselves. If a really long-term, cool strategy is called for, I notice that I play games like golf. If the day is filling up with lots of busy tasks that require a deft navigation of circumstance, the classic Snake-like game always seems to sound fun to play. Looking more objectively at the game as a learning opportunity, I find that game development is huge for me here. I develop pen and paper games of given topics (from tennis to dungeon combat) and it's interesting to map real life attributes and circumstances like charisma and "home court advantage" onto my mental model of the game. I have to develop a broader model of what makes a player successful, and this spills over into my own approach to life and its problems. For example, if I'm a skilled researcher, it should follow that the more I ramp up and employ that particular skill, the faster my luck will grow, as opposed to skills at which I'm naturally an amateur. And it follows that I probably need a diversely-skilled team to turn to, should I come up against a truly difficult problem which does not yield to my research skills easily. While I build that team, I employ and continue to deepen my research skill.

itronitron 8y ago

I can see how playing video games is similar to reading for entertainment, it is a good escape that requires concentration and when finished you can just walk away from it without anything material that has to be dealt with. Minecraft is interesting in that it requires a lot of knowledge in terms of how to make things/play the game, and requires exploration for resources. The harder game modes require more tactics and strategy which are typically first learned outside of Minecraft through youtube or friends. There are a number of high quality Minecraft reference books (by Scholastic and Mojang) which are great.