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Nictone has been known to cause nootropic effects, yet it results in long term damage and dependence. Considering the gaming industry is big money (just like bi

Nictone has been known to cause nootropic effects, yet it results in long term damage and dependence. Considering the gaming industry is big money (just like big tobacco, big weed, big sugar, and big infinite scroll), I would take any study like this with a boulder of salt. Video games might improve cognitive abilities, but they also cheat the reward centers of your brain and offer the feeling of success while achieving none. A Stanford professor was teaching a seminar on engagement (engagement is a euphemism for addiction). He has a pretty choice quote: "You will play my game thinking you're getting better and better, but you will just be playing longer and longer." Games can be a force for good, but the average game company is not optimizing for cognitive performance, they are optimizing for engagement (or loot boxes), the lack of alignment coupled with capitalist investment into games seems hazardous to the positive qualities they can have.

djtango 4y ago
Agree although if you can sift through the noise there are some gems about. For me, the golden era of games was SNES to PS2 as feels like the best mix of budget creativity and computing power. The industry was still figuring itself out back then. Games like Hollow Knight aspire to that older era too. That said, I recently picked up Overwatch 2 and I'm impressed at how high the skill ceiling is, the spatial and strategic reasoning to play that game semi-pro is definitely nontrivial and Blizzard are definitely a part of Big Gaming. >Games can be a force for good, but the average game company is not optimizing for cognitive performance Unsure if you have games like Factorio in mind or Nintendo brain games but games that are mechanically rich (eg Souls or Elder Scrolls) can give plenty for someone to reason about if they are already so inclined. I spent a lot of time thinking how to min/max from a very young age and it's a similar mindset to at least QA but also coding.
- govg 4y ago
  Overwatch 2, for all the criticism it gets has a really good core that has been worked on for a while now. It's a shame that good game and level design will be marred by Blizzard's monetisation and content policies. If you're in the market for more gems of games to play, Deep Rock Galactic is quite fantastic.
bawolff 4y ago
> Video games might improve cognitive abilities, but they also cheat the reward centers of your brain and offer the feeling of success while achieving none. Isn't that all games & sports? If you were achieving something they would call it a "job" not a "game".
- TeMPOraL 4y ago
  What makes it a "job" is less about achieving something, and more about you becoming dependent on it. Like, I definitely achieved something playing Kerbal Space Program (at the very least, a much deeper understanding of kinematics and orbital mechanics), but it's still just a game, because I can stop playing it if I want to, and nothing bad happens. I can't do that with my job.
  - bawolff 4y ago
    I was assuming that the person i was responding to's definition of "achieve something" was puting food on the table. I generally agree that we can achieve and get value out of all sorts of things, including video games. Even spending an hour sitting quietly meditating is an achievement for many people. Life is what we make of it; value and beauty can be anywhere
TeMPOraL 4y ago
> Nictone has been known to cause nootropic effects, yet it results in long term damage and dependence. You mean raw nicotine (as in e.g. anti-smoking gums and patches), or tobacco?
nottorp 4y ago
Avoid games with IAPs in them. Free or not. The second an IAP shows up it twists the design towards "engagement". MMOs are also a problem even if they have no IAPs. There's a nasty feedback loop here. Non gamer parent won't pay upfront for a non predatory game for the kids. Kids will install free to play crap. Parent will think all the games are like that.

djtango 4y ago

Agree although if you can sift through the noise there are some gems about. For me, the golden era of games was SNES to PS2 as feels like the best mix of budget creativity and computing power. The industry was still figuring itself out back then. Games like Hollow Knight aspire to that older era too. That said, I recently picked up Overwatch 2 and I'm impressed at how high the skill ceiling is, the spatial and strategic reasoning to play that game semi-pro is definitely nontrivial and Blizzard are definitely a part of Big Gaming. >Games can be a force for good, but the average game company is not optimizing for cognitive performance Unsure if you have games like Factorio in mind or Nintendo brain games but games that are mechanically rich (eg Souls or Elder Scrolls) can give plenty for someone to reason about if they are already so inclined. I spent a lot of time thinking how to min/max from a very young age and it's a similar mindset to at least QA but also coding.

govg 4y ago
Overwatch 2, for all the criticism it gets has a really good core that has been worked on for a while now. It's a shame that good game and level design will be marred by Blizzard's monetisation and content policies. If you're in the market for more gems of games to play, Deep Rock Galactic is quite fantastic.

bawolff 4y ago

> Video games might improve cognitive abilities, but they also cheat the reward centers of your brain and offer the feeling of success while achieving none. Isn't that all games & sports? If you were achieving something they would call it a "job" not a "game".

TeMPOraL 4y ago
What makes it a "job" is less about achieving something, and more about you becoming dependent on it. Like, I definitely achieved something playing Kerbal Space Program (at the very least, a much deeper understanding of kinematics and orbital mechanics), but it's still just a game, because I can stop playing it if I want to, and nothing bad happens. I can't do that with my job.
- bawolff 4y ago
  I was assuming that the person i was responding to's definition of "achieve something" was puting food on the table. I generally agree that we can achieve and get value out of all sorts of things, including video games. Even spending an hour sitting quietly meditating is an achievement for many people. Life is what we make of it; value and beauty can be anywhere

TeMPOraL 4y ago

> Nictone has been known to cause nootropic effects, yet it results in long term damage and dependence. You mean raw nicotine (as in e.g. anti-smoking gums and patches), or tobacco?

nottorp 4y ago

Avoid games with IAPs in them. Free or not. The second an IAP shows up it twists the design towards "engagement". MMOs are also a problem even if they have no IAPs. There's a nasty feedback loop here. Non gamer parent won't pay upfront for a non predatory game for the kids. Kids will install free to play crap. Parent will think all the games are like that.