# Skills you learned or honed because of a game.



## GothicIII (Mar 28, 2018)

Reflexes. Goddamn reflexes... I was in vacation and caught a very tiny and fast crab while it was pitch dark. They can run really fast! I just saw it from the corner of the eye  and immediately catched it by hand without realizing first what it was. Very strange experience and definitely came from gaming.


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## Noctosphere (Mar 28, 2018)

speaking english
like most of quebecois


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## matthi321 (Mar 28, 2018)

learned english


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## Cyan (Mar 28, 2018)

Speaking (at least reading) english !
Reflexes and logic
Visual memory, or is it the other way ? I'm good at navigation and positioning myself on a map because I have good visual and spacial memory? 
learned a little of japanese
Made (semi) friends here and part of something I like, I can be me without acting. though, it's not a skill I learned.
don't know, that's the first things I though, maybe there are more.


What it did wrong : broke me socially, I guess?


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## KiiWii (Mar 28, 2018)

Driving. GTA.


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## Noctosphere (Mar 28, 2018)

KiiWii said:


> Driving. GTA.


I guess it taught you how to beat whore too, right?


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## KiiWii (Mar 28, 2018)

Noctosphere said:


> I guess it taught you how to beat whore too, right?


Standard.


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## BvanBart (Mar 28, 2018)

Speaking and writing English.
Looking for other ways the obvious ones
Speed and somehow accuracy?
How not to save money


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## leon315 (Mar 28, 2018)

English! i learned how to use old heavy English dictionary;
now thanks to Overwatch i learned how to speak properly or even swear toxictly in English too!


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## Noctosphere (Mar 28, 2018)

leon315 said:


> English! i learned how to use old heavy English dictionary, and now thanks to Overwatch i learned how to swear toxictly in English too!


english toxicity is nothing compared to quebecois's


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## zlaco123 (Mar 28, 2018)

English and time managment,a lot of reflexive arcade games i played and im working in kitchen


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## gameboy (Mar 28, 2018)

I became a pokemon master


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## Noctosphere (Mar 28, 2018)

gameboy said:


> I became a pokemon master


same 
almost


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## Issac (Mar 28, 2018)

English, for sure.
One of my strongest memories was when I was playing Mario 64. The Christmas after it's launch, and I had to watch the intro time and time again because I never got a star, and therefore never saved. Eventually I got going, and when I got to the first water level, and the star hint was about a "manta ray". I picked up a thick dictionary, and looked up that word and finally figured it out. This was when we had 56k modem internet, so I never looked anything up online.

That way I then looked up every word I came across, to help me find the way forward.

Ah, the memories.


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## Noctosphere (Mar 28, 2018)

Issac said:


> English, for sure.
> One of my strongest memories was when I was playing Mario 64. The Christmas after it's launch, and I had to watch the intro time and time again because I never got a star, and therefore never saved. Eventually I got going, and when I got to the first water level, and the star hint was about a "manta ray". I picked up a thick dictionary, and looked up that word and finally figured it out. This was when we had 56k modem internet, so I never looked anything up online.
> 
> That way I then looked up every word I came across, to help me find the way forward.
> ...


I learned a bit of english with one of my favorite NES game, Nightshade, ever heard?


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## Issac (Mar 28, 2018)

Noctosphere said:


> I learned a bit of english with one of my favorite NES game, Nightshade, ever heard?


I've heard of it, and seen it, but never played it.


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## Noctosphere (Mar 28, 2018)

Issac said:


> I've heard of it, and seen it, but never played it.


its a very cool game 
Unfortunatly, if you look at full intro (without skipping it) you'll see "Part 1" at the beginning of a very long text
Part 2 never came out


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## eriol33 (Mar 28, 2018)

Maybe team management, because I like srpg.


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## mightymuffy (Mar 28, 2018)

...Fits nicely with a topic I replied to yesterday: going on about foreign games I enjoyed - I have become somewhat decent at reading and understanding Japanese due to games, mainly due to the huge number of quality JRPG's on the SNES and a lesser extent PS1 that never made it out of Japan.. Not fluent by any stretch of the imagination, but good enough to mostly traverse any JRPG, etc.

I can also get my groove on in a nightclub far better (or, at least, I THINK I can..) being heavily into DDR machines (and thus, Stepmania) back in the day, even going down to London for a couple of tournies/meetups. Im no fukkin Michael Jackson style show off, but I know I 'move' better than I did pre-DDR.


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## Noctosphere (Mar 28, 2018)

eriol33 said:


> Maybe team management, because I like srpg.


Now that you say it, I had a Warcraft Clan of over 200 members
but that was years ago lol^^


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## RedoLane (Mar 28, 2018)

English at an early age, hand reflexes, massive boost on information processing from the eyes to the brain, and multi-tasking.
Also more styles of humor lol


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## AdamFX990 (Mar 28, 2018)

Singing and, to some degree, bass & keyboard. 

I played a lot of Guitar Hero & Rock Band over the past 11 years.


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## anhminh (Mar 28, 2018)

Does autism count as a skill?


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## Greymane (Mar 28, 2018)

English, and some tactic skills and a few other things here and there.


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## T-hug (Mar 28, 2018)

Driving games taught me how to understand gear shifting well before I ever passed my test.


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## Pluupy (Mar 28, 2018)

Visual novels and fantasy games taught me a lot about the English language, so I credit my reading skill to video games.  

I'm still learning many new words from games like Final Fantasy XIV.


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## gameboy (Mar 28, 2018)

I learned nothing but pure violence from video games


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## Justeego (Mar 28, 2018)

rhythm by rhythm games, I played classic guitar for 3 years and wasn't able to follow a fixed rhythm, now I can


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## Taffy (Mar 28, 2018)

Games can make you think, encourage you to try new things and experiment. The same holds true for life!
(although generally real life does not involve punching things or jumping off random cliffs, trying to glitch into walls, etc.)

I feel like the games themselves haven't given me many skills aside from forcing me to think occasionally, but deciding to join the Super Mario World hacking (SNES) community was a good choice. Posting on the SMW Central forums has helped me understand that the internet isn't formal, and I've made some lifelong friends there.


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## Noctosphere (Mar 28, 2018)

gameboy said:


> I learned nothing but pure violence from video games


boooo


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## Bimmel (Mar 28, 2018)

Knowing when someone is lying. Thank you, Phoenix Wright!


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## Deleted User (Mar 28, 2018)

I think, more than anything, video games shaped the way I seem to learn things.

In a video game, there are a set of defined, universal, unquestionable rules regarding how the game works, and, to get good at the games, you must understand said rules and have them work for you.  When I played my first platformer, at first I wondered why there were platforms hanging in the middle of the air, without gravity bringing them down or anything.  Nowadays, when playing through a platformer, I don't give something like that a second thought; it's all a part the platforming genre's list of implicit rules.

Once you acknowledge that games have rules, you begin to pick up on them much more quickly, making you better at subsequent games in a series or genre.  It may even get to the point where you start interpreting learning other skills this way, with several practices having their own implicit rules that you want to make work for you.  It can be handy, but also dangerous; any mindset where you're forced into not questioning how things work is particularly dangerous, and something that needs to be addressed.

On a less abstract note, my 3DS basically taught me my first programming language (Petit Computer and SmileBASIC and all that), and is probably indirectly responsible for bringing me to the Console Homebrew scene and GBATemp in general.  It's also the reason why I'm currently a Computer Science major.  I was really bad at programming at first, though, and, even now, I doubt I'm all that much better.


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## Dr.Hacknik (Mar 28, 2018)

Does being able to play many levels in Sonic Generations without looking, and getting an S rank count? 

_I'm crazy... Don't mind me _


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## Noctosphere (Mar 28, 2018)

Dr.Hacknik said:


> Does being able to play many levels in Sonic Generations without looking, and getting an S rank count?
> 
> _I'm crazy... Don't mind me _


Well, I once saw a video of a blind child completing Zelda OoT
many dead link, but seems possible


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## Dr.Hacknik (Mar 28, 2018)

Noctosphere said:


> Well, I once saw a video of a blind child completing Zelda OoT
> many dead link, but seems possible


Well, that's impressive. But I had muscle memory and I was able to time everything according to sound effects and the music.


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## Deleted User (Mar 28, 2018)

GothicIII said:


> Reflexes. Goddamn reflexes... I was in vacation and caught a very tiny and fast crab while it was pitch dark. They can run really fast! I just saw it from the corner of the eye  and immediately catched it by hand without realizing first what it was. Very strange experience and definitely came from gaming.


same here
after playing alot of games like super meat boy I've gotten really good at catching stuff and noticing things out the corner of my eye


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## FAST6191 (Mar 28, 2018)

Considerable amount of people learning English from games it seems. Granted I find games considerably more compelling than the language textbooks at school so it is not entirely surprising. More curiously though is I don't often see signs of it -- I am told Japanese has this problem particularly but if you are more familiar with language training then think difference between someone learning from reading and someone learning from listening.



Bimmel said:


> Knowing when someone is lying. Thank you, Phoenix Wright!


You learned that from Phoenix Wright? I could sort of understand had you said L.A. Noire but other than teaching you to read into words and analyse sentences (and technically press people on details*) I don't see it.

*the game never taught it explicitly but if you are used to it then it works either way. Pressing people on details in then a good way to break a rehearsed script, as is asking them to tell it backwards or stop and start at arbitrary places.



B_E_P_I_S_M_A_N said:


> I think, more than anything, video games shaped the way I seem to learn things.
> 
> In a video game, there are a set of defined, universal, unquestionable rules regarding how the game works, and, to get good at the games, you must understand said rules and have them work for you.


I have issue with the word defined in that.
I like games which have emergent gameplay, and rules that go unstated or undefined until you figure them out. Like read the manual to xbox ninja gaiden and you can expect a fairly standard beat em up, actually get into the game and all but the most unobservant will find there are serious rhythm and timing aspects to the fighting, as well as a few very useful hidden moves.
More abstract you also have games that introduce mechanics and then throw them at you randomly. A game from a little while back called Thoth is probably a good example here, though I see it in everything from some of the Warioware minigames to stealth sections if I want to look at it that way.

I should also say "understand said rules" might only apply in solo games. I got to playing Battlefield 4 on the PS4. I am not anywhere near as good with a joypad as I am/was with a mouse and keyboard, however I found it works really well for me to hang back and keep in cover as it seems nobody else does that and I have easy pickings and minimal danger as a result.

The unquestionable thing I also would ponder further. They are not my main thing but I have done a lot of board games and similar such things. There house rules are a thing nobody really thinks about. In computer games though with most people having behaviours hard coded in basically unchangeable silicon it does alter something fundamental. As it stands were are already seeing the start of this (be it stuff like https://sgimenez.github.io/laby/ or things where you combine aspects in unknowable ways). This is also before we consider mods, be they the classical PC type or the more ROM hacking side of things.


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## Old (Mar 28, 2018)

Masturbatory enhancements.


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## Farazzakk (Mar 28, 2018)

I learned not to leave my kids alone in a crowd. Thanks Heavy Rain. 
I feel sorry for all the fathers who have to press 'X' to Jason.


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## slaphappygamer (Mar 28, 2018)

I’ve learned how to manage money (thanks to all rpg). I’ve learned how to problem solve (Tetris, The lost Vikings, and klax). I’ve also learned how to prioritize my inventory (those games with limited inventory slots, Diablo). Most importantly of all, I’ve learned patience (all games, ever). It really is a virtue.


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## Deleted User (Mar 28, 2018)

FAST6191 said:


> I have issue with the word defined in that.
> I like games which have emergent gameplay, and rules that go unstated or undefined until you figure them out. Like read the manual to xbox ninja gaiden and you can expect a fairly standard beat em up, actually get into the game and all but the most unobservant will find there are serious rhythm and timing aspects to the fighting, as well as a few very useful hidden moves.
> More abstract you also have games that introduce mechanics and then throw them at you randomly. A game from a little while back called Thoth is probably a good example here, though I see it in everything from some of the Warioware minigames to stealth sections if I want to look at it that way.


I probably should've mentioned that "rules" of a game also encompasses everything in a game world, from how your character moves and interacts with the world, and aspects like hidden moves, what to do in certain situations, and, probably more importantly, what _not _to do in certain situations are just as important, if not more important, than the more obvious rules of the game.



> I should also say "understand said rules" might only apply in solo games. I got to playing Battlefield 4 on the PS4. I am not anywhere near as good with a joypad as I am/was with a mouse and keyboard, however I found it works really well for me to hang back and keep in cover as it seems nobody else does that and I have easy pickings and minimal danger as a result.


Yeah.  As someone who plays single-player games most of the time, I tend to forget about the emergent rulesets and strategies that are found in a lot of competitive-oriented multiplayer games.



> The unquestionable thing I also would ponder further. They are not my main thing but I have done a lot of board games and similar such things. There house rules are a thing nobody really thinks about. In computer games though with most people having behaviours hard coded in basically unchangeable silicon it does alter something fundamental. As it stands were are already seeing the start of this (be it stuff like https://sgimenez.github.io/laby/ or things where you combine aspects in unknowable ways). This is also before we consider mods, be they the classical PC type or the more ROM hacking side of things.


I was mainly thinking of video games, as rulesets in video games do tend to be more strict than those in more traditional board games and the like.  However, I do concede that there are some mods out there that significantly affect the gameplay of any given game, be it the introduction of a simple mechanical, or something more fundamental to the workings of the game itself.


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## migles (Mar 28, 2018)

that if i end up lost somehwere i can punch a tree, and then stone, make a table by arranging the tree pieces in a certain way
then after some days i will have an entire house for myself and i can then proceeed to mining tons of metals and minerals like iron, gold, diamonds..

that a gun is weightless, magically disappears in your pockets and the recoil is something minimal which i can just shoot a gun like a desert eagly without any strength and worrying it will make me loose teeth and my nose

a silencer will make the gun sound completely disappear or nearby person will note there was some odd sound but after a minute it thinks it just it's imagination

if you deal a lot with explosives your body will adapt and don't take damage for explosives you set yourself. even if they get off in your feet

ok now seriously:
like everyone else, english. if it was not because videogames that were not translated in my language i wouldn't understand a thing of english...
i will think of this subject later, i can't  remember more serious stuff that i learned


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## jimmyj (Mar 28, 2018)

Learned to write English read English and reflexes. Plus video games got me into coding which I now love


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## MarkDarkness (Mar 28, 2018)

Ability to set goals and see them through to the end. This was inexistent during my early life, and only started becoming a concept after I decided to stop dropping games halfway and almost always see them through to the end.


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## Jacklack3 (Mar 28, 2018)

Playing Ace Attorney kinda helped me in arguments, but mainly in debates.


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## RustInPeace (Mar 28, 2018)

Patience, and button mashing, specifically with my right thumb and index finger, whether together or apart, can really fire away. On that, specifically from StarFox Adventures, there was a test of strength challenge that really made me improve on general button mashing. Over a decade later it helped me out with Mortal Kombat X's Test Your Might challenges...until they became ridiculous and I just used a double A battery and moved it up and down. I still used the powerful thumb and index finger, so, that counts for something.

I didn't learn patience from other areas in life other than video games. Specifically some clock based events in pokemon games, and I didn't know about clock skipping. Learning how to take defeat better, that involves patience and self-control, and I've largely been good at that. The key word is "largely," I still get really mad at certain things, nowadays the competitive community on Pokemon Showdown.


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## APartOfMe (Mar 28, 2018)

What not to do in social settings


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## Bimmel (Mar 28, 2018)

FAST6191 said:


> You learned that from Phoenix Wright? I could sort of understand had you said L.A. Noire but other than teaching you to read into words and analyse sentences (and technically press people on details*) I don't see it.
> 
> *the game never taught it explicitly but if you are used to it then it works either way. Pressing people on details in then a good way to break a rehearsed script, as is asking them to tell it backwards or stop and start at arbitrary places.


Well, good point. It was more about the pressing part, or more or less to "think around the corner" I guess. Retracing the steps and compare it to the persons statement so you can find the lie in the first place. :-)


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## Nerdtendo (Mar 28, 2018)

Large scale thinking and puzzles


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## DKB (Mar 28, 2018)

Coding in Java because of private servers of a game.


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## Deleted User (Mar 28, 2018)

I think one of the most important things that I've learned over the years from playing video games is critical thinking skills. Problem solving skills is a close second.

I'm sure by most people know about that time scientists created a game that revolves around protein folding a while back. Those who played ended up figuring something really important out. There was another article I remember reading about how someone who had managed money in World of Warcraft ended up in a job doing something similar (and doing it well.) Applied, skills like these can really have an impact.

Having played things like Metroid and Zelda growing up, and then later on different puzzle games or RPGs, it was apparent that in order to fully enjoy them, I couldn't just dick around and do whatever. I stopped playing Metroid when I first had my hands on it because it seemed too different. I didn't know where to go. The next time I played it, I was so excited I found the Long Beam (not that you need it.) Fast forward many years, and I've got Zero Mission for the GBA. Along the way you find different paths that let you skip sections you may have thought were previously required. So I skipped around and eventually realized I needed to get a 15% or lower item collection rate to get one of the images at the end. That was a fun challenge to figure out - it required you to get places without certain power-ups. I did the same in Mega Man X 1-3 with some of the capsules - if I saw that I might be able to make it without using the proper power-up, I stayed until I did.

And for real-world application, having hacked Super Smash Bros. Brawl (the Wii, really) and trying to make everything work taught me that with proper understanding of the situation, whatever the problem was could be fixed. At work right now we're in the middle of a temporary move, so we've had to think of lots of temporary solutions. It all has to do with time and resource management combined with critical thinking/problem solving.

Concerning people, the Phoenix Wright games helped me to be more observant of people's speech. Not to mention just more observant in general. There's usually always a reason behind why people are the way the are. It may be a shallow reason, but there's a reason.

All of these things really contribute to the way I think and how I do things today. There are bigger reasons that don't have to do with gaming necessarily, but I wouldn't be who I am today were it not for these experiences.

oh and I beat a large portion of Metroid Fusion with half a screen, so... perseverance?


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## GaaraPrime (Mar 28, 2018)

I learned how to play the game of Cricket (the basics and its mechanics) only after I played it on my PC as a kid


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## GhostLatte (Mar 28, 2018)

How to bang a hooker without paying! Thank you GTA.


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## Tom Bombadildo (Mar 28, 2018)

An interesting question.

I suppose there are things like precision timing, critical thinking and problem solving, hand eye coordination, and maybe even memorization to a certain degree that might count, but otherwise I can't think of to many other "actual" skills that I've really learned or improved upon purely because of video games. 

Typing is probably the one that comes up the most for me, if it weren't for video games I probably couldn't type the 80+WPM I can today. Special thanks goes to Typing of the Dead (of course), Age of Mythology/Age of Empires, and easily the thousands of hours I have in Halo 1 on PC without a mic. Being able to quickly type before getting shot was one of the more useful things I learned from that era of gaming 

Otherwise, not much else comes to mind.


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## jamezfat (Mar 28, 2018)

patience...

lots of patience.

being a kid who grew up with a gameboy color, and my only game being dragon quest 3.
and no, as much as i begged my parents, they would not let me order the guide...

i swear, it must've taken over 1000 hours to beat the game my first run through...
(but then again, i was like 5)


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## VinsCool (Mar 28, 2018)

- English (like everyone else mentionned)
- Patience (like playing a strategy game, calculating every move carefully)
- Observation (noticing little details, and patterns where people wouldn't immediately notice)
- Thinking outside of the box (which has given me a lot of help in real life)
- Reflexes, and spontaneous moves (Tetris is the first one coming in mind)

A combination of them generally helped me a lot, both for irl situations and games.


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## Jayro (Mar 29, 2018)

I have never been good with shooters on a console, since I was raised playing them on a PC. But GoldenEye 007 on the N64 got me used to inverted aiming, like Starfox uses by default. Since then, I've always struggled with modern shooters on consoles because they used non-inverted aiming, and I always sucked at them. But thanks to my Nintendo Switch with Zelda, I had no choice but to learn how to control the camera with the right stick, and that also got me into adding the right stick in Splatoon 2, in addition to the motion controls I am used to. Now I can pick up basically any console shooter and do pretty okay for myself, thanks to Zelda and Splatoon 2.


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## VitaType (Mar 29, 2018)

I guess supporting the developing of my hand–eye coordination and reflexes mainly.

I can't be the only one who is shocked to see how many people with anglo-saxon flags in there profiles said English. I just hope they speak about learning "more fancy" English thanks due to old-school D&D-RPGs and other games using more old-style English. I played a fair share of RPGs in my native language as I was younger and yet I wouldn't link these games to my ability to speak or write my mother tongue. It really shocked me to be honest.
Yet none of these posts showed horrible English skills, so maybe I overreact abit 



migles said:


> that if i end up lost somehwere i can punch a tree, and then stone, make a table by arranging the tree pieces in a certain way
> then after some days i will have an entire house for myself and i can then proceeed to mining tons of metals and minerals like iron, gold, diamonds..


That's a easy one: Minecraft.



migles said:


> that a gun is weightless, magically disappears in your pockets and the recoil is something minimal which i can just shoot a gun like a desert eagly without any strength and worrying it will make me loose teeth and my nose


Hm, I go with Counter-Strike because of the mentioned Deagle, yet that game knows weapon-weight but it only counts as long as you hold the weapon in your hand. A tough one.



migles said:


> a silencer will make the gun sound completely disappear or nearby person will note there was some odd sound but after a minute it thinks it just it's imagination


Hm. I think the same happens in these Splinter Cell games, but I think it's a Metal Gear Solid reference.



migles said:


> if you deal a lot with explosives your body will adapt and don't take damage for explosives you set yourself. even if they get off in your feet


I really have no idea. Which game does that refer to?



Jayro said:


> I have never been good with shooters on a console, since I was raised playing them on a PC. But GoldenEye 007 on the N64 got me used to inverted aiming, like Starfox uses by default. Since then, I've always struggled with modern shooters on consoles because they used non-inverted aiming, and I always sucked at them. But thanks to my Nintendo Switch with Zelda, I had no choice but to learn how to control the camera with the right stick, and that also got me into adding the right stick in Splatoon 2, in addition to the motion controls I am used to. Now I can pick up basically any console shooter and do pretty okay for myself, thanks to Zelda and Splatoon 2.


You get a couple of extra points for avoiding to read the OP-post or any post of this thread at all I guess


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## Geezerdorf (Mar 29, 2018)

Hehe. I owe a lot to videogames for the most part, as they have and still are helping me to stay sharp on certain things.

The first thing they helped me with was with learning proper english. I got Link's Awakening and a DMG long long time ago in 1993. Back in that era, you didn't have the luxuries of consulting something on the internet like we do now; and knowing what they told you on a game was crucial to advance. I struggled on the second dungeon because i didn't understood the context of a phrase on how killing in order certain enemies gave you the Nightmare Key of the place. 
After i merely discovered the result by accident, i swore that i would learn proper english for me to not to happen again in that or any other game.

Then they have helped me and still help me to maintain myself sharp on language. Not just english, but japanese as well, which i'm grateful.

Also, reaction times (not counting QTEs on games), since games helped me to get some great hand-eye coordination, something i've been thankful on the long run for driving and other life stuff (looking at you Ninja Gaiden)

And these are just the tip of the iceberg. Those who say that the games just incite violence without trying one, be it a puzzle or a driving simulator or what have you, don't know at all what they're bashing.


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## Xzi (Mar 29, 2018)

Pretty much all video games come down to a few elements: hand-eye coordination, timing, and memorization.  I would say gaming has improved my ability in all three to be sure, and even foot-eye coordination to a lesser extent with stuff like DDR and the games of VR. 

In specific, I think strategy games and deep RPGs are an interesting case study in building particular skillsets.  How useful those skillsets are to the real world I'm iffy on, but I do sometimes wish education and employment worked more like an RPG, allowing you to see tangible progression.


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## fvig2001 (Mar 29, 2018)

drawing thanks to Art Academy. I literally upgraded to a DSi XL just to have more drawing area.


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## SonicfanCEMUTesting (Mar 29, 2018)

Like most people: Learning English. I guess that's it.


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## AlanJohn (Mar 29, 2018)

Playing Ace Attorney helped me find contradictions in my ex girls story about her weekend which led to me finding out she was cheating on me. Thanks, Phoenix Wright!


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## Old (Mar 29, 2018)

AlanJohn said:


> Playing Ace Attorney helped me find contradictions in my ex girls story about her weekend which led to me finding out she was cheating on me. Thanks, Phoenix Wright!



'A Nintendo DS game ruined my relationship:  The Alan John Story'. (dramatic music plays)  Soon to be a major motion picture/Lifetime Channel movie!


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## x65943 (Mar 29, 2018)

I didn't go to school until I was 13. Video games taught me to read.

I also like to think they taught me problem solving. I played zelda non-stop growing up. 

Things I did in a videogame hundreds of times before doing them in real life: Fishing, driving, chopping down a tree, drinking, smoking, etc.

And there are so many things I'll never get to do in real life, that I've already experienced in a game; like milking cows (Thanks 1-2 switch)

Kind of brings a new meaning to Shakespeare's "*Cowards die many times before their deaths*, The valiant never taste of *death* but once"

Because if you play videogames you probably die every day of your life.


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## Old (Mar 29, 2018)

Xzi said:


> Pretty much all video games come down to a few elements: hand-eye coordination, timing, and memorization.  I would say gaming has improved my ability in all three to be sure, and even foot-eye coordination to a lesser extent with stuff like DDR and the games of VR.
> 
> In specific, I think strategy games and deep RPGs are an interesting case study in building particular skillsets.  How useful those skillsets are to the real world I'm iffy on, but I do sometimes wish education and employment worked more like an RPG, allowing you to see tangible progression.



Certain PS3 games/graphics have sure honed my 'hand-to-cock coordination', if you feel me.  


Spoiler


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## Xzi (Mar 29, 2018)

Old said:


> Certain PS3 games/graphics have sure honed my 'hand-to-cock coordination', if you feel me.
> 
> 
> Spoiler
> ...








Rofl that's some AO stuff right there.  I prefer my porn contained to videos, though.


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## Subtrot (Mar 30, 2018)

I learned to read 24-hour time. Which I can now brag about to all of my friends of course.


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## caitsith2 (Mar 30, 2018)

Morse code, because of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.


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## Vieela (Mar 30, 2018)

A lot of reflexes, but mainly english. It was my main way of training/learning the language, and it got me a push when i actually started studying to be fluent.


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## The Real Jdbye (Mar 30, 2018)

It's hard to really point to a specific skill that improved thanks to gaming, because I don't really have a before/after comparison. I've been playing games as far back as I can remember, and any change has been so gradual that it's hard to tell the difference.
But I would say that it's probably improved my reaction time to some degree, as well as my problem solving skills (although a lot of the latter comes from programming, since I don't really play puzzle games a lot), it might also have helped with memorization to some degree. I'm really good at remembering things like passwords and numbers but I'm terrible at remembering a lot of other things.
That is mostly a guess though, as those are the skills most often needed in games, and as I get better at a game, that has to be either because those skills are improving, or I've simply started to memorize levels/patterns well enough to play the games by memory.


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## Lmaokernel (Mar 30, 2018)

Melee attacks are not useful against flying enemies

Sent from my toaster running Rebug


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## WiiUBricker (Mar 30, 2018)

Bayonetta. I was pretty bad at it first but you get a lot better the more you practice.


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## Ryuzaki_MrL (Mar 30, 2018)

Apart from the standard muscular skills, videogames have incited my curiousity about things and places.
I've also learned a lot of general knowledge, random facts, and history through videogames.
And finally, it was by playing videogames and being curious about how they work that I decided to be a computer scientist.
For me, videogames are literally life. I love'em <3


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## LaPingas (Mar 30, 2018)

tbh all the "skills" I got from games are applied only for games.
You might think I have damn good reflexes but irl I'm below average, at least in MY point of view.
Or it's because I've grown up playing in a basketball team and my teammates had monster bodies


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## Taleweaver (Mar 30, 2018)

The more I thought about this question (@FAST6191 :  a very good one, btw  ), the more I had problems coming up with things. The reason: I think the question is worded wrong. It should more be in the area of "what kind of skills AREN'T learned or honored due to video games?". I honestly believe that if you design a game well, you can teach just about any mental skill as well as a few physical ones. Or perhaps better said vice versa: you can design a game around A LOT of skills.

And to be honest, I'm rather disappointed by quite some responses here. On one hand, we identify very strongly with our hobby (we call ourselves "gamers"...you think people reading books call themselves bookers, or others moviegoers?), but on the other hand we apparently downplay whatever benefit we get from playing games. I honestly hope this is a kind of modesty on our behalf, or perhaps an inability to see the cause of certain of our skills. Because the opposite is also possible: that we just play the wrong games, or play the games wrong (not all games train the same skill. And like sports, you need to play at, or slighly above, your skill level to improve).

So...here's what I had written down before I thought "screw it" and gave the honest answer (which boils down to "almost everything").:

* English: at least this one is mentioned a lot. Perhaps as a Belgian, I see the consequences of this more often. Belgium is bilingual (Dutch and French). And for about ten years, I've worked directly with French colleagues. While that obviously has improved, my skill level is far from my English, which is like a second nature to me even though I hardly had to use it in any professional setting whatsoever (note: this is partially due to movies as well...we don't dub Hollywood movies but give subtitles)

* writing: this is perhaps a bit weird because aside from some text adventures when I was very young (Leisure suit larry(1) and king's quest 2) I never really wrote that much. But games gave me a good reason to communicate on forums. You always have topics, I've got an audience that can appreciate my humour and I just like to do it. The main difference between writing on forums and making essays at school is that the topics at school are made by someone who aims it to be as boring as possible.

* typing: I once followed a 10-finger typing lesson, but while that layed the groundwork, the actual practice is something I got from writing...and from playing cook, serve, delicious (oh, and a few others, like typing of the dead and epistory)

* guitar: no, not guitar hero...rocksmith 2014. I swear: if that game was available 10 years earlier and I had played it then instead of UT2004, I'd be good enough to be in a band. Unfortunately, I'm now "just" good enough to not be embarrassingly bad (which is still one step above, well...embarrassingly bad  ).

* hand-eye co-ordination: a given for any avid FPS playing fan. It's just a skill that doesn't have much real-life use. I mean...a couple days ago I wanted to pick something from a bathroom cabinet when a plastic cup suddenly fell out (from about eye-level height of me). I just grabbed it before it could hit the sink. Now I don't claim that I could pull this off every time, but it's noticeable. Especially in my next skill...

* management (under pressure): from the replies, I notice that simulation games aren't that popular on gbatemp. But how to attribute resources isn't just interesting if you're an actual manager. Households or time are also things that can (and must) be managed. The 'under pressure' is between brackets because they're IMHO the main difference between RTS'es and simulation. The pressure is good when deadlines are tight, but simulations allow for more creativity or exploration.

* navigation: admitted: I'm old enough to still have had plenty of experience actually having to read maps to get somewhere. But even so, I'm among the best (if not the best) card readers among the people I've met. 

* karate: this is my other hobby, but they influence each other a lot. Of course I know some posters will frown at this because they totally draw the wrong conclusion (yes, I KNOW you can't learn karate by playing video games. If you're just going to be captain obvious, don't bother replying), but that doesn't make it less valid. Why? Because karate utilizes a lot of other skills like reflexes, timing, effort, muscle memory and so on. How to act or react depends a lot on what your opponent is doing, and this creates a lot of "win" or "lose" states (eg if we practice defense against (slow) strikes at the head, the defense must be solid or it won't last if it was performed harder and/or faster).

* learning: yeah...the previous is basically a "I can use games for everything". And that's more true than not. I'll give stone age as an example: it's a worker placement board game I play with my girlfriend. Even though we only play it with each other (not entirely true: she plays the app version more often) and are both still new to the entire genre, I'm so much better at it it's kind of embarrassing(2). We have roughly the same intelligence, know the rules equally well and love to play it...but even though she grasps the concept of strategy, it's...somehow harder for her to actually see certain options. She often appears to be stuck whereas I see opportunities.
(note: I could bang on about skills and improvement all day, but I think this'll suffice).


(1): on hindsight, I was WAAAAY too young for this one 
(2): I often even pretend to miss one or two victory cards, just to make it seem more close


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## FAST6191 (Mar 30, 2018)

Taleweaver said:


> The more I thought about this question (@FAST6191 :  a very good one, btw  ), the more I had problems coming up with things. The reason: I think the question is worded wrong. It should more be in the area of "what kind of skills AREN'T learned or honored due to video games?". I honestly believe that if you design a game well, you can teach just about any mental skill as well as a few physical ones. Or perhaps better said vice versa: you can design a game around A LOT of skills.


The very much related subject of the gamification of education spends no small amount of time "tricking" people into learning things by means of play. Similarly a trick I first saw when rather young is seeing someone be led through an idea and it suddenly becoming the one they had themselves, possibly all along.

Or if you prefer
Mission accomplished.



Taleweaver said:


> And to be honest, I'm rather disappointed by quite some responses here. On one hand, we identify very strongly with our hobby (we call ourselves "gamers"...you think people reading books call themselves bookers, or others moviegoers?), but on the other hand we apparently downplay whatever benefit we get from playing games. I honestly hope this is a kind of modesty on our behalf, or perhaps an inability to see the cause of certain of our skills. Because the opposite is also possible: that we just play the wrong games, or play the games wrong (not all games train the same skill. And like sports, you need to play at, or slighly above, your skill level to improve).


To be a pedant filmgoer is a thing, some might also use the term film buff. Likewise book clubs are also a thing and I have met several call themselves an avid reader.
I can write the rest off as a grammatical quirk -- one goes cycling or skateboarding as opposed to playing such things like you might in tennis or football, we'll ignore quirks where one can go golfing and play a couple of rounds of golf. Despite all easily having physical, coordination and competitive aspects.


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## Taleweaver (Mar 30, 2018)

Damn...I forgot to add the very important life lesson. It applies in most jobs (at least office jobs), and you'll learn it by playing the well known video game Tetris...



Spoiler



Your errors stack up; your achievements disappear.


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## The Catboy (Mar 30, 2018)

Actually reading and my language skills are two things that I honed through gaming. I used to struggle with reading growing up and that effected my vocabulary something horrible. I ended up getting really into RPGs through Pokemon and that branched into text heavy JRPGs and even text based adventure games. Which over time honed my reading skills and linguistic skills. RPGs just made reading more enjoyable and the gameplay felt like a reward for understanding the story.


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## Geezerdorf (Mar 30, 2018)

Taleweaver said:


> And to be honest, I'm rather disappointed by quite some responses here. On one hand, we identify very strongly with our hobby (we call ourselves "gamers"...you think people reading books call themselves bookers, or others moviegoers?), but on the other hand we apparently downplay whatever benefit we get from playing games. I honestly hope this is a kind of modesty on our behalf, or perhaps an inability to see the cause of certain of our skills. Because the opposite is also possible: that we just play the wrong games, or play the games wrong (not all games train the same skill. And like sports, you need to play at, or slighly above, your skill level to improve).



Well, to be fair, if i listed _everything _That i had learned from videogames, it'll be a boring long explanation. But if i were to actually sample it...

Critical Thinking.
Musical Appreciation, as well as learning (certain instruments)
Strategic thinking and problem-solving
Languages (both english and japanese as i said)
Hand-eye coordination
Management and administration (Thanks Sid Meier, Thanks MAXIS, but major thanks to Richard Garriott)
Navigation (Although we use GPS, i used to be the "Navigator" for the family; whenever that gets wrong, there i am to guide them with a map)
Consciousness for tough, and i mean _TOUGH & delicate matters _(Seeing backstabbing, assasinations and a lot of other strong themes at my young age, actually made me understand how harsh and how difficult would the whole real world package come to be; i shit you not. I owe a lot to games like Final Fantasy 4-6, Tales of Phantasia and Destiny of an emperor for such learnings)

And this is just a sample of the whole list.


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## JellyPerson (Mar 31, 2018)

Surgery and flight. Now I am a surgeon who only performs surgery while simultaneously flying a plane.


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## Zanoab (Mar 31, 2018)

MMORPGs taught me how to type efficiently. I still don't use "proper" hand positioning all the time but I have awesome muscle memory for every key if you give me a few days on a new keyboard.


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## Old (Mar 31, 2018)

JellyPerson said:


> Surgery and flight. Now I am a surgeon who only performs surgery while simultaneously flying a plane.



(Supposedly) My uncle knew of a guy in prison that would sit on the toilet/relieve himself, roll/smoke a cig, read a book, have a drink, and jack off, simultaneously.  Pure skill/time management.


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## JellyPerson (Mar 31, 2018)

I also learned how to be a defense and prosecution lawyer, a president, a mayor, a detective.


But for real, I actually did learn how to play the electric guitar. Thanks rocksmith.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------



Old said:


> (Supposedly) My uncle knew of a guy in prison that would sit on the toilet/relieve himself, roll/smoke a cig, read a book, have a drink, and jack off, simultaneously.  Pure skill/time management.


did he learn how to do that while playing surgeon simulator and flight simulator 1999?


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## UltraDolphinRevolution (Mar 31, 2018)

-Reflexes (Studies have apparently shown)
-Awareness of the environment (I guess if you constantly keep an eye out for pixels moving, it might improve your awareness in real life as well)
-Strategic thinking (Since most of us won't be generals in real life, it might not be super useful, but any kind of competitive game in which you can influence your opponent negatively builds strategic thinking)
-Movitation for learning a language (e.g. the Angry Video Game Nerd recently mentioned he wants to be able to read Japanese writing)


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## hamohamo (Apr 1, 2018)

i learned english from movies first than from youtube. but my reflexes have improved after playing more than 10000 hours of smash 64.


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## aofelix (Apr 2, 2018)

dark souls - determination.. lol


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## UltraDolphinRevolution (Apr 3, 2018)

hamohamo said:


> i learned english from movies first than from youtube. but my reflexes have improved after playing more than 10000 hours of smash 64.


10.000? Are u sure u didn't add too many 0. Wow. 
I do love the game but without online and enough local people to play it with, I didn't come anywhere near that much.
Sth about the game remains so satisfying. I would totally buy a 64-fied version of Smash 4 (with 64 gameplay, graphics and sound).


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## hamohamo (Apr 3, 2018)

UltraDolphinRevolution said:


> 10.000? Are u sure u didn't add too many 0. Wow.
> I do love the game but without online and enough local people to play it with, I didn't come anywhere near that much.
> Sth about the game remains so satisfying. I would totally buy a 64-fied version of Smash 4 (with 64 gameplay, graphics and sound).


well when i was a kid i used to play a lot of games but when it came to multiplayer that was my thing. me and my brother used to have so much fun playing kirby dittos on sector z. I mean today i don't play it as much as before cuz i'm playing smash 4 more but at the time even when brawl came out 64 felt way better and melee felt even worse than brawl cuz everyone feels like a rock and once you're out of the stage most of the time you won't make it back. and yea i probably defo played above 10000 hours my dude. i kept playing it since like more than a decade


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## Sathya (Apr 3, 2018)

Noctosphere said:


> speaking english
> like most of quebecois


Its better learning piano


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## Pacheko17 (Apr 4, 2018)

Games taught me English and really helped me with Japanese.
Even with Portuguese, since I really didn't do much writing/typing before I started playing MMOs.


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## Owenge (Apr 4, 2018)

1. PS2: love for games and consoles in general
2. Android: love for going outside the boundaries of what a electronic allows
3. Call of duty black ops 2: reflexes (I loved this COD,  sue me)
4. Rainbow 6: love for PC, also learned that the head is made of plastic wrap and the body I said made of steel


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## BlueFox gui (Apr 4, 2018)

waste my life time : D

not english because GBAtemp is my english school


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## FierceDeityLinkMask (Apr 4, 2018)

First played games with Mario AllStars Super Mario 3 for snes. Learned how to hold things, speak, and basically everything from playing games. My first memory is of my playing AllStars.


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## VitaType (Apr 6, 2018)

hamohamo said:


> well when i was a kid i used to play a lot of games but when it came to multiplayer that was my thing. me and my brother used to have so much fun playing kirby dittos on sector z. I mean today i don't play it as much as before cuz i'm playing smash 4 more but at the time even when brawl came out 64 felt way better and melee felt even worse than brawl cuz everyone feels like a rock and once you're out of the stage most of the time you won't make it back. and yea i probably defo played above 10000 hours my dude. i kept playing it since like more than a decade


10,000/20 = 1,000
1,000/365 ≈ 2.74
Which means that if you played the game for 10 years in total 10,000hrs you played in average ≈2.74hrs _every single day_. This isn't counting all Smash Bros. games, but just the first entry in the series. If you only played at the weekends it would be ≈9.59hrs _a day_.
I'm fairly sure your guess how long you played isn't enterly correct 
You should look-up how many hours you have in Smash4 to get to a better guess


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## VinsCool (Apr 6, 2018)

BlueFox gui said:


> waste my life time : D
> 
> not english because GBAtemp is my english school


You will laugh, but spending time around here since 2014 helped me a lot.
Not kidding.


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## BlueFox gui (Apr 6, 2018)

VinsCool said:


> You will laugh, but spending time around here since 2014 helped me a lot.
> Not kidding.


idk why i would laugh
this is exactly what i did


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## SonyUSA (Apr 6, 2018)

I learned that the mitochondria is the power house of the cell...


... Parasite Eve XD


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## AdenTheThird (Apr 13, 2018)

1. Self-control. Frustrating games (SMB) have helped me manage my temper over time.
2. Awesome skills. Mariokart 7 hours, day after day, have turned me into the best racer in town


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## Gon Freecss (Sep 6, 2018)

I've learned English mostly thanks to videogames


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## rustinrj (Sep 11, 2018)

I've learned that tenacity is very important to overcome obstacles in video games and in real life.


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## AmandaRose (Sep 11, 2018)

I have honed my technique doing something with boys by playing Soda Shake in 1-2 Switch lol.


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## Saintseiya911 (Sep 11, 2018)

Hand and eye coronation as I'm legally blind and play certain games


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## UltraDolphinRevolution (Sep 22, 2018)

Saintseiya911 said:


> Hand and eye coronation as I'm legally blind and play certain games


At birth or has your eye sight become worse? What types of games can you play? Are 2D games easier for you to play than 3D games?


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## AtsuNii (Sep 22, 2018)

I learned English mostly from it.
Next to that some reflexes altho not great, but also resource management aas i used to play quite a few RTS games and a shooter version of an rts


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## UltraDolphinRevolution (Sep 22, 2018)

AtsuNii said:


> and a shooter version of an rts


Command and Conquer?


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## Reploid (Sep 22, 2018)

Online games tought to ignoro mumbling  utter morons, trapped in their own world of confusion. YOu have no idea hot useful it is IRL


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## AtsuNii (Sep 22, 2018)

UltraDolphinRevolution said:


> Command and Conquer?


Command and conquer renegade and the mod Red Alert A Path Beyond, quite good games in my opinion


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## Saintseiya911 (Sep 22, 2018)

UltraDolphinRevolution said:


> At birth or has your eye sight become worse? What types of games can you play? Are 2D games easier for you to play than 3D games?


 Yeah since birth I've been considered legally blind and will never drive a car because of it as soon as for games I've played pretty much everything from Atari to ps4/xb1 which I own, The hardest games are the ones mostly with darker areas like RE2 on ps1 and such games like that.


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## FAST6191 (Sep 22, 2018)

Saintseiya911 said:


> Yeah since birth I've been considered legally blind and will never drive a car because of it



Don't know about the US (though I don't see why it would lack such things) but around here there are private courses where blind people can get behind the wheel of a car, usually similar sorts of places that give people advanced driver training, skid pan training and whatever else on a closed course -- it is all a giant lump of concrete/tarmac where you are only going to hit a plastic cone and they expect people will do so at points and design accordingly. Failing that I am sure you could ask a driving instructor with a dual controls car to see if they can arrange a go around a closed location. A few years back I was speaking to a blind lady and she was telling us about it and sounded like it was a great time, especially as it was a fairly fancy car in her case.
If it is the sort of thing that intrigues you then you might see about that, as it is not a huge market it will tend not to be advertised but do ask. Sometimes charities will also arrange a day where they drag a bunch of people out for a go as well.


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## Saintseiya911 (Sep 22, 2018)

FAST6191 said:


> Don't know about the US (though I don't see why it would lack such things) but around here there are private courses where blind people can get behind the wheel of a car, usually similar sorts of places that give people advanced driver training, skid pan training and whatever else on a closed course -- it is all a giant lump of concrete/tarmac where you are only going to hit a plastic cone and they expect people will do so at points and design accordingly. Failing that I am sure you could ask a driving instructor with a dual controls car to see if they can arrange a go around a closed location. A few years back I was speaking to a blind lady and she was telling us about it and sounded like it was a great time, especially as it was a fairly fancy car in her case.
> If it is the sort of thing that intrigues you then you might see about that, as it is not a huge market it will tend not to be advertised but do ask. Sometimes charities will also arrange a day where they drag a bunch of people out for a go as well.


Thanks I might have to look into that for sure as yes in the us there's so much laws on things it's ridiculous to a point.


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## FAST6191 (Sep 22, 2018)

Saintseiya911 said:


> Thanks I might have to look into that for sure as yes in the us there's so much laws on things it's ridiculous to a point.


While I would still look at said advanced driver training places or a simple driving instructor with a dual controls car and a closed off location I also have to look at all the ridiculous stuff that mythbusters show did over the years with vehicles. If they can do stuff like what they did I am sure you could find somewhere to arrange to have a dual controls car go around a course listening to commands and the like, especially if you also have enough sight to do shapes and contrast.
You probably won't end up doing doughnuts and jturns a supercar, at least not in your first go out, but this lady (don't know the precise name of the condition, age related degeneration and left with sharply limited peripheral vision) I was speaking to was doing 50-60 in a line and doing turns around a track (think real world windy country road rather than obstacle course). Certainly enough to say you did.

Definitely ask people in the sorts of fields mentioned though; it is far nicer to give someone a good time they will remember for a while than teach greasy teenagers to pay attention to what they are doing for the 200th time that month or run the same course for someone looking to shave a bit off their insurance.


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