Do you think any games help become smarter, or to think faster?

play more stuff like Deus Ex, Prey, System Shock etc. and less Sony games. that should help. 😆

unironically tho, there was some study I think a few years ago that suggested that games that make you follow mission/objective markers all the time make you dumber. while games that ask the player to find their own path to the next objective train your spatial awareness

so play Morrowind instead of Skyrim basically 😅
Skyrim makes you stupid, Morrowind makes you smart... and Spider-Man 2 basically should be seen as a health risk as it could make you mentally retarded
 
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Definitely. There's a huge notable difference between before I started playing Melee competitively, and afterwards. My reaction time is so much faster, my hand-eye coordination improved, and I'm think I'm just quicker and sharper in general. But that's what ~15,000 hours of some of the sweatiest gaming possible will do to you. That game was just a constant electric shock to my prefrontal and motor cortex.

I imagine a lot of fast-paced games that require a lot of decision making and snap calculations would do this for someone. Melee was just the perfect balance of high complexity and precision timing for me.
 
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If yes, which titles?
DrKawashima%20Brain%20Training.png


I'm becoming stupider every day. :messenger_frowning_

Simply too slow with my brain.
Try doing daily stuff that makes you use your brain. Code, do puzzles, read or play the aforementioned game.
 
If yes, which titles?

I'm becoming stupider every day. :messenger_frowning_

Simply too slow with my brain.
Try reading Hegels "The Phenomenology of Spirit". Read every sentence as many times as needed to understand. When you're finished, your (for the most part) genetically determined IQ will have improved by at least 5 points. Thank me dialectically later.
 
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If you are old and staving off dementia or if you are barely able to play videogames because they are too complex, playing pretty much any videogame where you have to use your memory and your fine motor functions daily can be like exercise and can be a huge help in the long term.

Often you get more and more alone as you age. Videogames can also provide a sense of purpose and community which can help with this loneliness.

Hobbies and play are good and heathy for human beings their entire lives.

So YES, YES to every question.

Puzzle games that require abstract thought are good. Baba Is You for example. Old Zelda 2D games like LTTP may be a little overboard depending on the patient but that would be a high level game to help exercise cognitive abilities. Often these kinds of patients may have other issues so keeping the game simple in as many areas as possible is ideal. Simple and easy to understand games with straight forward puzzles could go a long way for some people. Professor Layton is another example. Phoenix Wright would not be a good one because while it is a great game, super fun, and simple, the logic of the puzzles isn't straightforward and the solutions may not make sense, so that might not be the best option.
 
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A lot of Tetris, pre-puberty. Hard to really increase IQ later in life.
 
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I learnt small team management from RPG, JRPG usually, especially if You had to customize your character builds, such as older Final Fantasy for example 5 - 12.
I learnt big team management from RTS or strategy as well, such as Star Wars Battle Ground, CnC, Homeworld 2, FF Tactics, and SD Gundam G Gen Zero - Spirit.
I learnt english from story driven RPG or Action RPG, or Action Adventure, i learnt a lot from Zelda and Brave Fencer Musashi back then.
I learnt how to drive well and following traffic rules from open world games, i even learnt to park my car from GTA Vice city and San Andreas.
I learnt how to socialize with Harvest Moon Back to nature for example
I learnt to think more with multipath games, such as KoTOR and Neverwinter Night
I learnt for that life must be trying hard even if it's bored from grinding with older JRPG
I learnt to manage my studio, even from simulation games, like Gamedev story
I learnt patience from stealth games such as Metal Gears, and Deus EX HR

I learnt a lot from games, as I roleplayed lot of characters in video games.
their situations, my own decisions, affect me these years

I even learn something in my locale, if I knew the guy who plays pokemon in their earlier days, they will be manager when they grew up.
most of my manager friends, are avid pokemon player or digimon worlds at least. not all of course.
 
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Yeah that Brain training game on DS, I felt like I was exercising a muscle.
Stuff like Tetris and Lumines kind of but they only flex your brain in one or two ways and that Brain Training game seemed to hit a bunch of different areas of the brain in quick succesion.
 
I don't know if that counts as being smarter, but playing Half Life 2 excessively at launch gave me the subconscious urge to rip out radiators irl whenever I walked into a room. I don't work in construction so I have yet to find a way to put that skillset to good use.
 
They used to, mainstream games were far more puzzle-oriented years ago.

but playing actual puzzle games will of course help, outside of the literal brain games, you have things like escape room games, games like myst or Talos Principle, Outer Wilds etc.

anything that activates the brain to think and think mathematically or laterally is gonna help either way
 
try stephen's sausage roll
definitely made me smarter
It's one of the very few puzzle games I've not 100%. I'm close though, and I really should go back to it.

The only other one is Baba is You, but mostly because I hated the style of puzzle that game was; it felt too trial-and-error.
 
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Factorio made me feel smart from time to time. Afaik, it's turing complete. So watch me make GTA 7 in it. It will run like shit and will feel sluggish to control, just like the real thing.
 
I think some games can somehow help you to think out of the box, give you an eye for detail, get a better awareness of your surroundings, train your memory or imrpove your spatial imagination. But of course not the AAA blockbusters, those rather make you stupid like scrolling through YouTube Shorts or TokTok for hours.
 
If yes, which titles?

I'm becoming stupider every day. :messenger_frowning_

Simply too slow with my brain.

Sounds like you have low self esteem. Games in general help train your brain to remain agile/focused, but it won't magically make you smarter. Some peoples brains just work differently, simple as that. You can certainly read books and whatnot, but at the end of the day that just makes your more knowledgeable, not necessarily smarter. There's a difference between being wise and intelligent.

That being said if you're looking for games to challenge your thinking puzzle games are a good start. both Talos Principle games are a great start not just for the puzzle mechanics, but they're both very philosophical and will question what you think about humans in general, really great writing.
 
I'd recommend Baba Is You but that game made feel more stupid than anything else. :goog_relieved:

Great puzzle game tho.
 
Depends. RTS or turn based strategy on PC make you smarter for sure. Console gaming? Definitely dumber.
 
Reading good non-fiction will give you a lot more bang for the buck in that department, but there are some games specifically designed to exercise the brain. Trouble is, they tend not to be very fun, and the cognitive skills they teach tend to be fairly narrow.

Personally, I play games to relax from the parts of my life that require hard thinking. I use other things to keep myself sharp. Unfortunately, I would have to admit that my 25 years of gaming has, overall, made me stupider.
 
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