What have games taught you?

[duke o' york]

I mean in terms of real facts - not that Darwin required railroads to make his discoveries, or that constantly jumping up and down will mean that you'll win the showdown at the OK Corral.

I can name all the major towns of the Persian Empire merely from playing Civ in its various incarnations, so what have games taught you? I don't want to know if you have detailed knowledge of the Wookiee ancestry or the layout of Middle Earth - they need to be real facts about the real world.

[Felch]

I first learned about phalanxes from Civ 1. In fact Civ was one of the key factors in getting me into being a history nerd.

Before playing SimCity I had no idea what zoning was. It's not totally realistic in the game, but it taught me why houses are built away from industry and such.

[Garth Vader]

I read a lot of the Civlopedia info from Civ 1. I got a good amount of history from that, which lead to an interest in the subject.

Between Civ and other empire/war games, I got quite a lot of history and geography.

[Quillan]

Games have taught me that there are far too many people in positions of authority who have a stick the size of a broom handle shoved so far up their asses that it's surprising they can even breathe, and these people spend far too much of their time and my tax money trying to decide for me what I should be able to read, see, play, or think. That's a real fact in the real world.

[lord of the mark]

CK - I learned not only who the hell the d'hautevilles were, but why they were so damned cool. The same about several other 11th century dynasties, though none I can name off the top of my head The basic drivers of medieval history I already knew, but reading about them isnt quite the same as actually trying to manage them.

EU2 - well the facts I learned were more obscure then for CK, as I know the period better. But still plenty from the fate of Trebizond, to the situation of all those non Ottoman turkish dynasties, etc.

Victoria - lots of kewl stuff about Belgium. Ive posted on that before.

SMG (Sid meiers gettysburg, not that platform game) Just WHY its so important to avoid a whole in your line, to be able to go from column to line quickly, etc, etc, etc.

Age of Sail - more about naval warfare circa 1800 than I ever imagined knowing.

Deus ex - about the Wan Chai market (yes I googled it, and learned about it shutting down - also some other stuff about Hong Kong via serendipity)

[DrSpike]

Not to shoot exploding barrels at close range.

Also, lots of anicent city names through Civ.

[FrostyBoy]

Lots. I've probably learned more via playing games than my entire life spent at school.

[DarkCloud]

Railroad Tycoon II- Learned the names and histories of major industrialists, railroadmen, and inventors such as Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Europa Universalis- Can now recognize old baronies and political divisions such as the Hanseatic League, Brandenberg, the Palatinate, etc.

Age of Rifles- Learned about the Boer war. (!)

Sim City- Should be required reading for Left-Leaning Socialists. Raise taxes on industry and you ultimately hurt the residential zones. It took much playing for me to realize that you can't squeeze the productive classes.

[El_Cid]

Nice thread Duke

It's a subject close to my heart, and one of the reasons for my slow disconect with modern gaming i suspect.

I'm not of the die-hard 'games as art/edutainment' camp, but i can understand where that is coming from and to me modern gaming has(mostly) given up on it's 'culture' and just gone for the money and cheap thrills(like the movie industry(mostly) did - and why i rarely go to the movies these days).

Thats why i love Civ games(and tbs) so much as they give you pleanty to think about and the time to think well. I just find that something a good(deep/complex/non console ) computer game can do so well.

Cheap thrills/adrenalin rushes etc i get more from playing competative sports, probably why FPS games/action games didnt have that much of an impact on me?

Real world examples i guess would be hand-to-eye coordination, maybe not on as pure a physical level as playing a real game of tennis, but in combining the mind thought process to the actions i'd say computer games have made me more dexterous(mind and body) to the extent i'm a good all-round sportsman.

Management skills - helped lots with resource allocations and team coordination.

Familiraity with technology - just playing games and upgrading your system to keep pace gets you over that 'technophobia' many non-gamers have about their PC's.

[hexagonian]

I tend to focus on broadstrokes rather than details, and this is where games served as a gate. Games may not be historically realistic, but they can useful in sparking interest. I read a lot more history now because of the games I played.

In a general sense, games serve as a simplistic, but effective reminder that history is an infinite series of small cause-and-effect events that build to something monumental. And if anything, games also reinforce the idea that there are never any 'dull' years of history where nothing happens. I never gave early 15th century history a second thought until I got EU2. Playing that game in 1419, I can get a taste of standing on the cusp of something monumental...of the doors of the world opening up right before your eyes.

And it gives a person a means to repeat, or better yet, change history.

I'm currently reading through a tabletop reference book called 'Battles', which gives an overview of conflicts throughout history. It inspired me to play some EU2 just to simulate the events I was reading about.

[DaShi]

To not believe the hype!

[duke o' york]

So far I'm delighted that no-one has posted various stats for assault rifles or fighter jets, although I did learn a lot about the geography of kewl Belgium from playing Knights of the Sky. A truly magical game, and one that brought home the bizarre life of a WWI fighter pilot, to the extent that I ended up doing a school project on the subject (for an excellent mark, I might add).

Now I familiarise myself with the geography of kewl Belgium by popping over to visit my girlfriend in Brussels whenever I can afford it, and taking trains across the country with her. All this without bombing or photographing German tourists!

[Dauphin]

My knowledge of race tracks, particularly Formula One circuit layouts, is derived entirely from computer games.

A fair bit of WWI history was learnt from playing HistoryLine 1914-1918, but it was about the same time I was learning it in (in less detail) at school.

[DrSpike]

That first one is a really good one. It also applies to golf courses for me.

[lord of the mark]

POTM was reading over my shoulder and reminded me there is a chapter of Huckleberry Finn (they just read that in high school) called the Duke and the Dauphin. She found the juxtaposition here quite amusing. The Duke of Bridgewater (Bilgewater) though, not York.

Though of course York County and Dauphin County adjoin, I recall. In Pennsylvania.

I have not posted weapons stats, as its been long since I played a grognard kind of wargame.