why games are good for you (a subjectivist’s view)
Well, I have been thinking about this topic for a few days at least. The first moment it came up was five days ago when I was in the airport. And then I promptly forgot about it.
Today I was having a discussion with a friend – she was confessing to me how she thinks that all these facebook,myspace,bebo etc corrupt the young generation and lead young people to isolation. My honest opinion on that is ‘bollocks’ – technology is amazing, it is up to you how you use it. My topic, however, is not social networking. I got to thinking, how many hours of my life I have spent (happily, I must confess) playing games. Did that turn me into a social recluse? No way, and I do not say this self-consciously.
So I got to thinking, how have games actually helped me develop into a sane (almost) person? I have been playing computer games since I was about 11. Now I am .. uh.. more than 29 and less than 31 
This, my friends, is a LONG time. Retrospectively, I can confirm, that games have helped a lot, here are some examples.
- Sense of location: I think all this running around fps levels and knowing where I’m going all the time has unconsciously helped me in noticing small details in an area. So the next time I visit it, I know where things are supposed to be. This is what occured to me in the airport: I was thirsty. I had been to that airport many times before and I knew there was a water cooler behind a magazine shop near to the gate I was going towards. This came to me as a flash as I was walking. I ignored it and proceeded to the gate, thinking I must be wrong. I was not. I came back, and there it was. The water cooler.
- Reaction times: My reaction times are fast. And I don’t panic. When accidents happen sometimes it feels to me like things move slowly in split seconds so 9/10 times I manage to grab anything falling etc etc. A few weeks ago we were on a cycling trip with 50 other cyclists, running quite fast. At some point, the girl in front of me lost her balance. I knew she would fall. Split second decisions influence the handling of the brakes and avoiding to hit anybody.
- Puzzle-solving: I love puzzles. I think this was helped by maniac mansion and all those nice adventures. It made me question things around me, and always strive to find solutions, however hard or hidden they may be.
- English: English is not my mother language. If it was not for games, I don’t think I would love the English language as much as I do now. The dialogues of the first games I played, like monkey island or any sierra adventure, were very very good. They give you the sense of storytelling, and for me, they helped me to start reading English lit.
- Persistence: You spend hours fighting the boss and you die. OK so you try again. You have to, otherwise you can’t move on. It is a funny thing, but for many tasks in life, persistence is the key. Keep trying and you will be better on it and be rewarded in the end.
- Friendships: I can’t even remember the number of friends I have made when starting a conversation about games that we both may have played. Games are a funny thing; they entertain you, but they also move you in a way that you remember them fondly for a long time.
- Technology: Tell you the truth, I think it was games that first got me started with computers. OK for some weird reason, DOS fascinated me as well.
Well, this turned out in a bit personal-looking post, but I don’t mind at all. If I remember any other reasons, I’ll probably update 
