Applying Gaming Skills to Real Life Situations – Part 1
Sometimes it doesn’t matter what genre you play, when you’ve played it or who you’ve socialized with; it’s a fair assumption that you’ve heard the following incredible insight: Why don’t you get off that game and do something constructive?
It always felt like you were being singled out, didn’t it? Was if fair? Maybe not.
After all, video games are and interactive medium. It’s probably a safe bet that your friend or family member had their own (and probably more useless) quirk or hobby. Surely the time you’ve spent on them has made you skilled at something productive?
In an attempt to prove that it’s possible that your hours of ‘training’ can be applied to real-life situations, i present to you the first article of ‘Applying Gaming Skills to Real Life Situations’!
Case Study 1: Confidence and Control
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So you’ve slapped a helmet on your virtual head and cruised around a pixelated raceway a few times? Any sceptic will tell you that you’ve wasted potentially constructive time; that you’ve accomplished nothing… but are they wrong?
A recent experiment performed by the world-famous Top Gear crew has had some interesting results.
Greger Huttu was no ordinary geek; after all, he did win the iRacing online tournament to net himself a sensible prize of $10,000. Upon hearing about his feat, the boys at Top Gear took it upon themselves to perform a test: How well would his skillset in the gaming world translate onto a real race track?
“The telemetry confirms it. His braking points are spot on. He’s firm and precise on the throttle. And in the fastest corner, he’s entering at 100mph compared to an experienced driver’s 110 – a sign of absolute confidence and natural feel for grip. Remember, this is a guy who has never sat in a racing car in his life – he’s only referencing thousands of virtual laps.” [Source]
Those fireflies aren't gonna catch themselves.
The official article (although slightly abridged) can be found on the Top Gear site at this link.
We aren’t talking about a small feat here. Most regular people would brown their trousers if you hurtled them around a corner hugging a racetrack at 100mph (approximately 160kph), but does he even seem phased to you? Apparently the greatest concern he had on his debut day in the driver’s seat was a noteworthy case of motion sickness.
I’m sure there are many concerned people out there who are considering protesting that this is a case of desensitization, but allow me to calm you with the friendly reminder that the mental process associated with it is healthy and natural. How do we know this?
“Dreaming is our most creative conscious state, one in which the chaotic, spontaneous recombination of cognitive elements produces novel configurations of information: new ideas.” -J. Allan Hobson
“…a possible function of a dream to be weaving new material into the memory system in a way that both reduces emotional arousal and is adaptive in helping us cope with further trauma or stressful events.” -Ernest Hoffman
While dreams are subject to a fair amount of speculation and theory, i don’t think there’s anybody who can honestly claim that those seemingly random occurrences in sleep-state have never altered their perception. Brand me biased if you will, but i’m just stating my opinion.
Thanks for reading the first installment of this new series. That’s all for today, TTYL!
As a final note, i would like to express my thanks to everybody. Thankyou for welcoming me back so gracefully. Your words of encouragement were greatly appreciated.
Applying Gaming Skills to Real Life Situations – Part 1