Poll of the Day > Do you think games teach you to think logically?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I grew up playing games and I eventually got into programming and I was pretty good at it right off the bat. I found the intro to CS class extremely easy and I got an A+ without much effort. but I had some classmates that failed, some of whom got better overall grades than me in high school. I think it's correct to say programming is mostly to solve problems in a logical way.

So is it possible to be not-so logically minded and still succeed at school? further, succeed at programming? I detect a correlation between programmers and people who grew up gaming, could this be because games engage you in a logical problem solving sense? I know games are not often all that logical but they have their own in-world logic I suppose.

Like I grew up playing Pokemon, it doesn't make logical sense that fighting type is not good against bug type, but you can at least logically deduce that information from playing the game and then apply it to your strategy. I think often about what Pokemon is now, with the tutorials being outrageously long and upfront with the information. the excuse being it was made for kids or something. well, I don't feel like I was a "gifted" kid at like 5-6 years old but I managed to beat the first two gens of Pokemon easily enough. and obviously I wasn't the only one since those games were so popular with kids. I think it's reasonable to assume that helped develop my logical reasoning skills to a degree. Lots of questions here. I'm bored and wanted to ramble. What do you guys think?

Some aid in logical development, whether or not it's intended, and some do not. It's usually the more puzzle-oriented games that make you think about things on a critical or logical level.
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Gamer: "I think that's the way I need to go, so I'm gonna go this other way first, because I don't want to miss something."

Friend: "Can't you just follow the GPS's directions for once?"

Gamer: "Quit trying to rail road me!"

streamofthesky posted...

Gamer: "I think that's the way I need to go, so I'm gonna go this other way first, because I don't want to miss something."

Friend: "Can't you just follow the GPS's directions for once?"

Gamer: "Quit trying to rail road me!"

Yep...
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streamofthesky posted...

Gamer: "I think that's the way I need to go, so I'm gonna go this other way first, because I don't want to miss something."

There are few things more annoying than exploring a new world and accidentally going where you were supposed to go.
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keyblader1985 posted...

streamofthesky posted...

Gamer: "I think that's the way I need to go, so I'm gonna go this other way first, because I don't want to miss something."

There are few things more annoying than exploring a new world and accidentally going where you were supposed to go.

And then, naturally, you have to backtrack to check out the other directions, just in case you left behind something useful like another potion that you can't actually pick up because you've hit the cap on them.

I dont know man ive been playing video games my entire life and im still a moron
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No, most games don't teach logic. However, a lot of future programmers are drawn to activities like gaming. Basically you've put the cart before the horse, which isn't terribly logical.
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Entity13 posted...

Some aid in logical development, whether or not it's intended, and some do not. It's usually the more puzzle-oriented games that make you think about things on a critical or logical level.

And old-school adventure games basically teach you the opposite of logic.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19974_the-6-most-absurdly-difficult-video-game-puzzles.html


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Programmers tend to be very interested in gaming but I dont think that games make people interested in programming.
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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Entity13 posted...

Some aid in logical development, whether or not it's intended, and some do not. It's usually the more puzzle-oriented games that make you think about things on a critical or logical level.

And old-school adventure games basically teach you the opposite of logic.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19974_the-6-most-absurdly-difficult-video-game-puzzles.html

I remember this article from a while back... and still love it!
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Different games teach different things.
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jramirez23 posted...

Programmers tend to be very interested in gaming but I dont think that games make people interested in programming.

I only chose CS cause I was good at math in high school and wanted to make a salary some day, I wasn't really interested in math or programming at all

Every time I see a turtle I fucking stomp the shit out of it because of Mario