snowlock

San

I have to disagree with you and agree with the article:

This whole topic bring in the question of nature vs nurture. Which affects us more? While I agree that some people are naturally better at certain things, no study has been able to prove consistently that intelligence is anymore than 50% inheritable. The rest of it comes from nurture, or how you're raised. IF intelligence isn't completely determined by our genes then I don't think our video game playing abilities are either.

NeoAkira

zonetrooper5

In any case, this can be tested in a way. If you have children that were not exposed to video games until they were 8 or 9 being just as good as those that played at 5 would do something to help substantiate this idea. I also mean at that age. Barring the harder grammatical ideas, a child at 5 can be and often are phonologically and grammatically correct. Thus, holding to this principal, children "acquiring" game "knowledge" would thus be equally good at the base levels needed to play video games. Video games are not however absolutely neccessary to human beings so comparing these two acquisitions is hard to do without further research.

Vinin

shadow_judge

You CAN teach an old dog new tricks... but it's gonna take him a while to learn them.

So, really, this phenomenon isn't just limited to games and languages. It's every new thing we learn. With abstract things like games, however, it's easier to see the evidence of this effect on a wider sample of people.

Suck up all the knowledge you can, before your brain gets old and slow!

Insomnia Bob

I'm in my mid twenties. Myself and my friends grew up playing platformers. From the moderately difficult like Mario to the insanely difficult ones like Ninja Gaiden or Ghouls and Ghosts.

Now platforming is not so dominant as it was, a lot of our people just getting into gaming play a lot of FPSs. Also, rhythm games like Guitar Hero/Rock Band are very popular in this age group.

Now, I'm "okay" at FPSs and rhythm games. But there are a ton of kids out there who are better then I'll ever be. The kid who's been playing Halo since he was five. The kid who kills expert level songs in first grade.

But give those kids an NES and ask them to play some Super Mario Bros and while they're "skilled" they're not dominant. Half of them are going to stop playing the game saying it's "lame" because they don't understand the genre. Very few of them (the true gaming "savantes") are going to excel like an old pro like my friends and I would because it's not their genre.

knulpm

These days i still pick up a game and just have a look at the controls and thats it i just start playing. no real practice involved. Actually i hate tutorial levels. I hate having to look up and down at the beginning of halo because i know i don't need my axis inverted.

I need a game to just throw me in the deep end because i already know how to swim.

The only thing i'm not good at anymore is fighters. Simply because i don't like them anymore and i don't care for having to learn thousands of combo's. As a kid i used to like fighters because they were fun and i used to just mash the buttons until i would find something that worked for me.

Have you ever played a fighter against a kid? Ever notice what they're doing? Exactly what i used to do: mashing buttons until they find something that works for them.

Oh i'm not saying that playing games from a young age doesn't make you a better gamer. Because that part is 100% true. I would't be this good at adapting to new games if it wasn't for my parents buying me and my brother a nes when i was 2.

Cchrist

My dad can kick my ass at Halo. Besides Duke Nukem 3D on the PC, Halo on the Xbox was the first 3d shooter my dad had ever played in his life, and he fell in love with it. Then proceeded to go through easy, then medium, then hard, then legendary campaigns. In that order, one after another.

He grew up with a Commodore 64. I can *beat* him at Commodore 64 games, even though I never had one as a kid (was lucky enough to have parents that divorced and got me a gameboy and NES in a 'who loves their son more' battle. No C64 for this kid).

I can beat him at other games usually. But thats because I play a lot.

I think all of us have innate inner skills that lend better to some games than others. And for some people, it just takes that 'special game' to bring it out of you.

Plus constant practice practice practice.

Komrade_Kayce

No. There's a physical part of our brain dedicated to language processing, and it is trained best in the earlier ages of our life. Playing a video game is closer to riding a bike or cooking - you can learn it quite easily at any point in your life and you get better at it with practice.

Master Chefs are good at what they do because they practiced, not because they learned how to cook when they were babies. The same can be said for the Master Chiefs among us.

imikedaman

But I'm suckage with the wiimote. Because of the very different control scheme. As I don't play as much as I did back in the days, I don't get the habit and skill with wii games.

Elrinth

dowingba

TOCATL

Gam3r

I suck at FPS because they bore me to tears.

battra92

Pezdispenser

If kids are generally better at games, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that kids usually have a lot more free time on their hands than the average adult, and can spend more time playing/practicing.

atarashii_123

exactly, i'm not proud to say a 9 year old kicked my ass in gears of war, but it happened hehe.

Orionsaint

peAr nectAr

On the other hand, I own so damn many games that there's a genuine reluctance on my part to take the time necessary to master a title, but merely beat it a few times.

Nightshift Nurse: Mile High Colonic

Horoku

ZinkO: Balls of the Patriots

I'd even say that's why most people are gamers today: if they were in their teens or were children when the first systems came out, they have a hand for the gaming controls and what not.

Lainface

On most games where we are at an even level (usually after buying) I find that some types of games they are better at but other types I'm better at. The games they are better at are usually what they call ADD games where mashing and mass screen confusion rule. Games that require some strategy and mind games I rule at.

angry_gamer

Jinto

Xerxes 8933A

Orionsaint

I think it might have more to do with the type of games you start on and your level of determination at beating them. A kid who learns on Ikaruga and beats it without continuing is always going to whip the ass of the player who starts on GTA: Vice City and uses cheats to get through. See if you have the patience and skill to beating Global Defense on Master System to see what I mean.

floppylobster

This man has it, its the rewiring that happens at the ages he specified that can give kids a better headstart at games. However thats all it does, the brain continiously rewires itself it just does so at a much slower pace later in life, so while it might be hard you could still obtain the same skill level.

The same goes for language, kids learn language easier but adults can too if they try. However with adults its different because we're trained at a young age to recognizes, is it phonemes?, but its the sounds that make up a word and if you don't get trained then to hear it the brain has forever lost the ability to acquire that sound, its why foreigners have accents.

Morberis

So I say it's easier for you to learn how to handle the basics in a game but you can't really become really good until later when your brain is more developed and you have better hand-eye coordination.

Spiderbait

As for younger, a few years ago, I was at my at-the-time girlfriend's house and her little brother was playing Kingdom Hearts. He was like 8 or so I guess, but he wasn't doing very well and I wanted to pick up the controller and show him how. I think about situations like that now and think that learning early doesn't necessarily apply to everyone, just like learning late doesn't.

Shalashaska

Boolean

Onionkun

Despacio

muu

Someone really should do a study.

Musai

cavingman

cybereality

There is a reason why there is such a thing as the "terrible twos." The human brain is like a massive breadboard with millions of wires making connections with various parts. Around the age of two, the brain essentially reorganizes things. Connections start breaking and reconnecting in other ways. Usually the end result is a more organized and efficient brain and can better carry out tasks. This explains the big difference between a five year old and a three year old, and also may be the reason why children (in America at least) don't start school until the age of five. Usually by then, the connections have settled down and the brain, freshly rewired, is ready for new programming. The same thing happens again when children are between the ages of about 11 and 15, which is why middle school kids can be so erratic and can sometimes act like 2 year olds. (Above the age of 15, the children are essentially rewired for adulthood and that's why teenagers think they know everything.)

Here's my point to this. If a kid is playing video games with great frequency while this rewiring process is occurring, I have no doubt that some of the rewiring incorporates some of the skills necessary for playing video games. And if the developing brain does incorporate those skills, they probably become more innate and allow for such things as "beginners luck." Their brains are wired for this stuff.

But I don't think that's all of the story. There's a saying that says that once you learn to ride a bike, you never forget. That may be true. I rode my bike incessantly when I was young, then didn't have a bike for years. I got one again about three years ago and, yep, sure enough, I could still ride a bike. But, I can't ride without hands anymore and probably couldn't stand on the seat like I used to. I think the reason is practice. I played games when I was younger. From the 2600 up. But I don't play them as much now as I did then. And I think that I was probably better then than I am now. If I were to go back in time and challenge myself to a game, I think that, unless the game were Jeopardy!, I would probably lose. And the sole reason is practice. I haven't kept up my form. People beat me in multiplayer games all the time and seem surprised. "You have all these games, you must be good." Nope. Apparently not. I point to the dusty guitar in the corner and say, "Just because I own a guitar doesn't mean I'm Jimi Hendrix."

Eltigro

cherrybomb

Cpt_Bongwater

I think that's because there's a disconnect between the way I view video games as operating and the way I view sports as operating. In a video game there is really never any 'rules' as such, just what's possible and what isn't, as opposed to sports which are run on abstract codes/agreements. And so when these two principles collide I just have no idea what's going on. Like when I kick the ball out of bounds in FIFA I'm just like, "Well if it's illegal why did you let me do it?" Like in most video games I spend most of my time looking for a way to exploit those laws of what's possible and what isn't for my advantage, try that in FIFA08 and you just get your arse carded.

But if I'd grown up playing sports games I'm pretty sure I would have gotten my head around these mechanics, as opposed to now, where I'm too set in my ways to leave room for them.

GregoriusH

elliottsa

GUNDAM-RX-78-2

Still, there's no question that becoming well-versed in gaming at a younger age helps a lot. You start honing your skills in general and when it comes to genres like FPS, your aim. This in turn allows you to concentrate more on things like strategy and tactics as you get older, since you have perfected the basics and don't really need to worry about them.

Zeliard

However, as a kid I pretty much only had a NES, and I guess you can say it helped with my problem solving skills? I mean some of the hardest games (that i still haven't beat) I have ever owned/played were on the NES.

Cuban__B

Bowser-Gaiden

Xeros606

eternalplayer2345

There are no developmental advantages as far as skill. The kid had played Smash, and as a result, has more experience with the game than his brother. However, Brandon, who plays CoD4 often, easily bested his kid brother at that game, citing his brother's inexperience with the entire genre of dual-analog first-person shooters.

Experience helps, but it takes more than that to win consistently in a competitive game. Someone with two months of competitive Smash experience can easily defeat someone who has been playing casually for years.

Poisonous Taoist

Eltigro

Doesn't begin to degrade in a significant manner is what I meant.

Gex

Gex

Gex

Or am I misunderstanding that completely?

Polywhirl

Thermopylae

HarrimusPrimal

tshack

Samos42

Sylent

I wasn't allowed to have consoles as a kid, and while I still fail epically at any FPS, I'm far better than average at certain games like Smash Bros. having only started playing them less than two years ago.

Personally, I think it's because kids have more downtime to practice. :)

TalKeaton

---

I know my friends kid brother goddamn does he learn fast in a virtual environment. But whats interesting is actions and reasoning that he uses in game he doesnt seem to use in the real world where his mind appears to be less developed. Not as an insult, but it just seems that for some odd reason his reasoning and motor skills just adapt better in a virtual world.

Has anyone else had a similar experience for themself or anyone else they know?

I find it highly interesting, kinda now want to see if there is a scientific term for such people. Would make an interesting topic for future discussion if there is an article on it.

Witzbold

Hand_O_Death

Polywhirl

Hand Eye coordination definitely improves as well as "patience".

wriXeL

TheRedBayonet

IntelSilver

Zeliard

Ahsayuni

Iceking5

My hand eye coordination is darn good cos of games. I also wish to point out I was an expert Guitar Hero player before I picked up the guitar and I'm doing pretty good at it.

Communist_Gamer