[fur]

Hi all, I am a Starcraft player from way back (like 2000/2001) and have gotten into Starcraft 2. I'm a teacher these days, and my thoughts on the educational value of Starcraft prompted a blog post, for those interested it can be found @ herelieswords.blogspot.com

My question to the forum, and particularly those in a younger demographic, is. Do you think there is any educational value to Starcraft, and video games in general? If so, what is it that you've learned?

Cheers

[Dox]

Any game with any sort of analytical/strategic elements is bound to demonstrate SOME educational value because it's demanding concentration and problem solving beyond the realm of "shoot bad guys."

Mario Kart or Quake?
Good for the reflexes I guess, but maybe not as thought-provoking.

But a puzzle or a fast-paced strategy game?
Definitely guaranteed to improve decision making and rational real-time analysis.

[NvPinder]

Originally Posted by Dox

Mario Kart or Quake?

yo man quake made me awesome at taking 25 and 35 from numbers instantly!

[Clammy]

Originally Posted by JPMoney

yo man quake made me awesome at taking 25 and 35 from numbers instantly!

Suuuure, you and I both know you needed someone else to tell you the respawn times for the megahealth and whatever the other thing was. ;o

[NDG.Stitch]

Yeah I agree with Dox. There is definitely some value into gaming - not saying it is going to be super beneficial to life but there are some. If you look at a game like SC2 as something like a Chess Game, it is actually beneficial, because there are tactics and strategy to it. And to some point, for me, casting games actually benefits my English fluency (Because I study in an International School) and I've kind of made casting a project for me to be more fluent in talking and better at the diction and pronunciation.
I would say out of all games, RTS games are the best because there is most strategy in it IMO, unlike shooting games where I don't really learn much from.
Hope this helps you fur!

[toasti0]

They have proven games help increase your hand eye co-ordination for fps games at least. The army uses it to train soldiers sometimes. Strat games I don't know, although any game teaches you more skills than the boob tube called tv. I think sc2 defiantly can help with multitasking ability in real life or work and when i played wow for a while i found that all those grinding quests got me used to repetitive tasks at work suddenly collecting 10 of the same thing never seemed so exciting.

[Tom]

Honestly, I don't think Starcraft teaches you anything other than how to play Starcraft (which is just fine as I play the game for its own sake).

I suspect its educational value is negative. Leaving aside the obvious problem of kids playing when they should be studying, there is an emerging body of literature in relation to how the internet is "rewiring" our brains - eg shortening attention spans, less information retention as a result of multi-tasking etc) (see eg The Shallows (2010), although the irony of that book is that its central thesis is that people are now less inclined to read books and less capable of absorbing information from traditional print media).

One could plausibly suggest it teaches people to control their emotions in situations of high stress (which will be a useful skill in later life in the workplace etc), but the anecdotal evidence suggests to me at least that the opposite is the case. I've read many stories now of people who swore they would be "good manner" devolving to into a raging beast after several months of laddering.

TL;DR - Thats my point, no one does anymore.

[ToRDjvillian]

Mathematics with addition subtraction projected income as well as resource management. Teaches you how to spend time and resources as well as micro management of every day life.

[ZergGirl]

I dunno, I think it enforces the incremental learning fundamental; Hard work = Achievements. If you work hard at something then you'll get good at it.
Not the whole entity learning principle, where you do something just because you are good at it.

I'm sure it CAN teach other things, certainly improves quick decision making.. and then forces you to deal with your errors lol

So in short.. Starcraft 2 has taught me how to deal with salesman irl as they are the cheesers of the real world. When they talk early on? oh boy, you know they are up to something.

[nGenLight]

How to defend multi-prone attacks/issues with an immobile race/situation. =P

[Delraich]

My 6 year old son is pretty good at maths, but since watching SC games he has become really good at quick addition and subtraction, even with fairly big numbers. Because he has a great incentive to work out who will win a fight, he needs to do quick sums of how many units each player has (the next trick i want to teach him is to count in multiples of 8 because of how the rows work) to guess who will win before the fight is over. He also looks at the vespene gas and minerals, esp when it says "not enough minerals, etc." and starts working out how many more is needed, which is think is pretty impressive for a youngster. He also looks for pattern recognition, so building a zealot and putting it in the gap against zerg and proudly says what is going to happen next on the replays. He even watched some pro level game where it was something vs. mech terran and he kept arguing with screen saying: kill the factory and then he won't be able to make more tanks! So i guess, it helps develop an understanding of mechanics and pre cursers involved with certain processes.

[Aean(:]

Originally Posted by Delraich

My 6 year old son is pretty good at maths, but since watching SC games he has become really good at quick addition and subtraction, even with fairly big numbers. Because he has a great incentive to work out who will win a fight, he needs to do quick sums of how many units each player has (the next trick i want to teach him is to count in multiples of 8 because of how the rows work) to guess who will win before the fight is over. He also looks at the vespene gas and minerals, esp when it says "not enough minerals, etc." and starts working out how many more is needed, which is think is pretty impressive for a youngster. He also looks for pattern recognition, so building a zealot and putting it in the gap against zerg and proudly says what is going to happen next on the replays. He even watched some pro level game where it was something vs. mech terran and he kept arguing with screen saying: kill the factory and then he won't be able to make more tanks! So i guess, it helps develop an understanding of mechanics and pre cursers involved with certain processes.

6 year old doing all taht!!?!?/ i cant even do that -_- imagine him in 10years.

[fur]

Originally Posted by Delraich

My 6 year old son is pretty good at maths, but since watching SC games he has become really good at quick addition and subtraction, even with fairly big numbers. Because he has a great incentive to work out who will win a fight, he needs to do quick sums of how many units each player has (the next trick i want to teach him is to count in multiples of 8 because of how the rows work) to guess who will win before the fight is over. He also looks at the vespene gas and minerals, esp when it says "not enough minerals, etc." and starts working out how many more is needed, which is think is pretty impressive for a youngster. He also looks for pattern recognition, so building a zealot and putting it in the gap against zerg and proudly says what is going to happen next on the replays. He even watched some pro level game where it was something vs. mech terran and he kept arguing with screen saying: kill the factory and then he won't be able to make more tanks! So i guess, it helps develop an understanding of mechanics and pre cursers involved with certain processes.

Future Bonjwa!

[deL]

To drink more electrolytes. Always hydrate.

[Wawa]

Here's a class at Berkeley that revolves around Starcraft and it's applications in real life...

You Tube

You Tube

[HDPhoenix]

Gaming is and always will be for entertainment. The question is, which is more educational and constructive? Passively watching comedy or drama TV vs actively playing a strategic game?

[thedirtydub]

everything you apply to gaming can directly be applied to life itself. to look at it another way, HOW one try's to understand and play the game can be a very large indication of WHO they are as a person and how they will handle situations. there is not difference between the digital and the physical world. And, in both, it is that individual's thought process, or lack there of, that dictates the type of outcome. for those that are competitive and enjoy playing competitively, it stimulates the critical analysis and problem solving aspects of one mind. many people that are ocd will especially find games such as these relaxing, as hectic as it may be, as it allows the individual to concentrate on 1 specific topic while still processing multiple situations and outcomes at any given time. This is much easier to handle than 5 topics with 10 different situations. Not everyone thinks alike, nor do they comprehend and come to the same outcome, even though though there is in reality 1 answer to each problem. BUT what we all do have in common is a genuine thirst for knowledge and wanting to teach someone else the things that we have learned. This goes way back to when we were little kids running around showing people off our so called skills. Remember "look what i can do" or "hey mommy, watch this". we still act the same way, only our approach in presenting these things have changes over the years.

to put is simply, games such as these teach one to think ahead and see the 360 degree scope of a situation. not just visually, but by identifying, analyzing, and then coming to a logical and rational decision for how to constructively handle and solve a problem. The issue is most people don't realize that is what they are doing, even though they may be GREAT at it.

if you like SCII you most likely enjoy the stressful task of problem solving and critical analysis.

[Cordance]

The most important thing I have learn from starcraft is how to lose in a competitive environment learn from it and improve.

[Canx]

Starcraft taught me that everything is determined by me. If I lose the game, I will try to find out the reason why I lost, and improve on it. In that sense, this thinking can also be applied IRL. If I can't achieve something, I will find out where the mistakes are and improve on them next time.

[MirandaKerr]

I think a major thing that actually crosses over into real life from starcraft is the training. I find that i can apply the methods i used to to become a better starcraft player to just about any other skill in life. Whenever i want to learn something new i tend to start watching how "the best" do something, start reading articles, watching tutorials, taking things step by step starting with the basics to improve my skills instead of just doing whatever, then when i'm more skilled i can become critical of "the best" thinking about whether this is the best way THAT I continue such as taking a pro's build order but tweaking it to your own play style. Also being critical of yourself, analysing myself to find where i can improve. Basically its given me structure to learning.

[ke_ivan]

I think that there are some principles that you can take away from sc2. If you watch Day9 (who's finishing his Masters dissertation in mathematics at USC) he explains the logic behind things like organisation, management, timing, efficiency and goal setting. If applied to RL scenarios, build orders can be seen as managing subjects in a time efficient manner to fit an end goal (which is what strategy is). So if we were to put it in the terms of studying, we could say that our 'build order' could a correlation between studying different subjects to reach x goals (like getting an A in all subjects). This forces the student to explore the notion of timing (when to do what) to finally reach his goal. The concept of positioning is also explored (where I am now to where I want to be later). All decision makers end up making decisions based on these fundamentals.

I believe that there is a certain correlation between the types of people who play RTS games and those who don't. Basically, I think RTS gamers tend to be more logical, see end goals with more clarity, and have the patience to execute that goal. I know a lot of key decision makers (directors and the like) who almost exclusively play RTS games because of the management aspects of the game. But its just a hypothesis.

[Mukade]

Starcraft taught me the only true way to love a woman.

[Cordance]

Originally Posted by Mukade

Starcraft taught me the only true way to love a woman.

Trumpets ?

[Mukade]

Originally Posted by Cordance

Trumpets ?

Actually lol-ed at this :P

[johnnyli]

The biggest thing i've acquired from sc2 would probably be to making quick and insightful decisions.

[TAsCarLet]

how to stay a virgin