Games haul!

[spawn]

Well I hope you never watch movies, because at least with games you are exercising your brain, making decisions, using hand-eye coordination and so on. With movies all you do is sit there like a giant slug!

Read a book... THATS WHAT THE INSTRUCTION MANUALS ARE FOR!

 

[phlogiston]

You can actually learn something from books. You can learn things from some games, but people don't tend to play those; they're in schools.

It all depends on what sort of book you're going to read.

I mean, I learnt as much from The Dragonlance Chronicles as I did from playing Dragonlance: Baldurs Gate.

If you're comparing computer games to encyclopedia, then maybe I'd go with you, but at the moment you've made a blanket statement that I just can't agree with.

 

[plattopus]

I don't think I've learned more from books than I have from games. It all depends on what games you play, what books you read, and what you take out of them all.

People who say you don't learn anything from games must just play Pokemon and Doom and assume the rest of the games world is exactly the same.

 

[Southy]

Well I only read non-fiction books so I always learn stuff.

So fuck off and read a book

 

[Winmar]

Haha nice one Southy.

What can you learn in a computer game that you couldn't learn from a book? There are so many things that you could learn from a book that you couldn't learn from your average game.

If you learn more from games than you do books, then you're probably reading the wrong books! As far as learning is concerned anyway - lots of books are just for enjoyment, not learning....... If people learn more from computer *games* these days (as opposed to *programs*) then the literary world is seriously fucked.

 

[Spiff]

I think this is the silliest argument ever. Nothing compares to a good book. And I'm someone who likes computer/video games.

 

[phlogiston]

What can you learn in a computer game that you couldn't learn from a book?
...
As far as learning is concerned anyway - lots of books are just for enjoyment, not learning
...

You people are misunderstanding what I'm saying. I'm also a big one for books. I *love* books, whereas I merely like computer games.

I *am* saying, however, that the blanket statement "You learn more from books than you do from computer games" is false for many values of book.

Just because I go and read a book rather than play computer games does not automatically make me learn something, and so books are not automatically better than computer games. To return to my Balbur's Gate game/Dragonlance books example. I read/played both for hours, but learnt nothing from either of them. Both were read/played as a diversion.

In fact, if I read Dragonlance and played something like "Civilisation" or one of those read time strategy games, I'd probably learn more from the game about things like strategy, patience and timing.

Now when we start talking about histories, biographies and even stuff like historical fiction, that's when books start outshining games.

 

[Spiff]

Although you can learn more from playing Minesweeper on the PC than reading a book about it.

 

[spawn]

Fiction books are NO MORE educational than fictional games.

 

[plattopus]

Yeah... obviously if you're reading A Brief History of Time you're going to learn something. And if you're playing Pokemon you won't learn much at all. But that's only one set of circumstances, and there are hundreds more where you could learn more from games than you do from books.

If you're going to say "books are more educational than games", and you mean textbooks and the like, then obviously that's correct. But if you compare games to books that it is actually FAIR to be compared to (ie. fiction books), then I don't see how those books are necessarily more educational than the games.

I've said the word books way too often in this thread... better go play some more Broken Sword!

 

[Spiff]

But reading fiction does more for your brain than playing games.

 

[spawn]

No it doesnt.

 

[Winmar]

I said:
"If you learn more from games than you do books, then you're probably reading the wrong books! As far as learning is concerned anyway - lots of books are just for enjoyment, not learning......."

Those books that are just for enjoyment include novels, which you don't always learn a lot from, except if (for example) they're a fictionalised account of a war or something like that. So, I wasn't comparing them....I'm thinking more of like with like.

If you take any game you learn something from, then find a decent book on the same subject, surely the book will be more educational (except in the sense that you might have to act it out/make decisions yourself in the game)? And there are gazillions of educational topics covered in books that you'd never find in a game....

Anyway, I'm off to Tassie for a couple of weeks, so I hereby bow out of this argument. Thanks all, and see you on here when I get back!

 

[Stonewall]

It may also depend on what you view as being educational. If you believe that there are other, and more important, facets of education beyond acquiring facts and skills then this discussion is a no brainer. Books...

 

[Goreripper]

Todd, those pre-XP games should still work. I got Zork Nemesis to work on my XP computer. You have to frig around with the set-up or something to make your computer think that it's running 98 or 95 while the game is running. That's not real helpful I know, but I do know that you can do it.

 

[Southy]

All I was saying is that I am fucking right, your all wrong, go read a fucking NON-FICTION book learn something, and get back to me when your done



Me, well i'm off to kill something in Rainbow Six 3

 

[Spiff]

 

[Celestial-Todd]

Todd, those pre-XP games should still work. I got Zork Nemesis to work on my XP computer. You have to frig around with the set-up or something to make your computer think that it's running 98 or 95 while the game is running. That's not real helpful I know, but I do know that you can do it.

Yeah I tried running it under compatability mode but it still kept fucking up... meh, I guess I'll just have to fiddle with it a bit more

 

[The Amazer]

Monkey Island series is the best. I bought all of them Even though I could've downloaded the first two I'm proud of this for no reason

And even after these 8 years, Quake II is still my favourite single player FPS (and nearly fav mp) it's so awesome.

 

[Celestial-Todd]

I prefer the older games... back before graphics became the be all and end all in determining how "good" a game is. I'd take Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis or Beneath a Steel Sky over any of the games that have come out over the past year!