Facts of Life that Video Games teach us?

[Phoenix]

I know this is more a thread that should be in Games section, but it's a good debate topic that I was reading today. MSN do a few random articles and this one interested me, it was about 12 facts of life that games do teach us in a way. Here's what they listed and details

1. Time heals all wounds

In their own way, games want to reassure us that time is the greatest healer of all.

So say the countless first-person shooters in which all injuries can be mended by crouching quietly in a corner and waiting a few seconds before charging back into battle.

Since the health bar went out of fashion, mighty shooters such as Call of Duty 4 have turned to regenerative health systems. Time heals all wounds. Literally.

2. Entrepreneurship

In these troubled economic times, classic games have something to teach us about money.

Mario was forever bopping precious gold coins out of floating blocks. When Link was strapped for cash, he’d smash ceramic pots and cut tall grass to reveal hidden Rupees.

In the absence of floating blocks and smashable pots, we’ll have to take this as a symbolic lesson: with effort and diligence, money can be found in pretty unlikely places. Or possibly down the back of the sofa?

3. Never give up

If there’s a game to teach us to hang on in there, even when victory seems out of reach, it’s Mario Kart.

You might be stuck in last place mere seconds from the end of the race, desperately trying to overtake Wario, then bam! You pick up a Starman or a Bullet Bill and you’re blasting into the lead.

Equally, the iconic Nintendo racer is saying: don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched. Sure, you’re in first place and the finish line is in sight. But you never know when a dreaded Blue Shell is going to zoom over and smash the complacency out of you.

4. There's no I in team

Certain multiplayer games not only reward you for working as a team but punish you for trying to lone wolf your way through a level.

Take zombie shooter Left 4 Dead, for instance. You might have a full bar of health and ammo to spare, but leave your fellow survivors behind to strike out on your own and soon the AI Director will have a Hunter pounce on you. Then where will you be? Incapacitated and alone, that’s where.

5. Car security

Occasionally, we pick up tips not from our game’s hero but from the long-suffering non-player characters around him. Take Grand Theft Auto IV.

The ease with which auto-thieving Niko Bellic hauls Liberty City residents out of their cars at traffic lights tells us one thing: lock your doors when driving.

6. First aid

If the Resident Evil series is to be believed, herbs have the power to heal all kinds of major injuries. Ground up and mixed together they are particularly potent against zombie maulings.

We think the moral here is something about putting our trust in herbal medicine and traditional remedies, but we’d apply this lesson with caution. Plenty of other games stick to proper med kits.

7. Pack spare batteries

Many a first-person shooter has hammered home the lesson: torches are unreliable. They will cut out at the worst possible moment.

While science can equip Gordon Freeman with a fabulously advanced Gravity Gun in Half-Life 2, it can’t make a dependable power supply for his suit’s flashlight.

Even Silent Hill 2’s mostly trusty torch will pick a choice moment to leave you stranded in the dark. So we’ve learned to pack spare batteries (and steer clear of sinister, abandoned towns).

8. Don't trust technology

We’ve all had bad days with technology – days on which we’d swear our computers were out to get us.

Games such as System Shock and Portal, where the machines (SHODAN and GLaDOS respectively) really are trying to kill you, make those paranoid suspicions real.

The lesson? When you give total control to a computer, it’s only a matter of time before it pulls a Skynet on you and you’re running for your life.

9. Practise makes perfect

It’s a gamer lesson that can be liberally applied to the non-gaming world: practice makes perfect, particularly with tricky jobs or games.

Work hard at a skill (say, playing Ninja Gaiden) and regularly repeat a task (say, hacking down enemies), and soon you’ll be an unstoppable expert. Just like in real life.

10. Chemical safety

Should you ever find yourself in a firefight, don’t take cover near barrels that are red or marked as flammable, especially if you are a henchman. That is all.

11. Get help

In games, as in life, you get stuck from time to time. You come up against a problem – a puzzle or an enemy, maybe – that you just can’t crack.

At such a time, you go online and find a walkthrough (or a cheat). Problem solved.

The moral of the story: there’s no shame in looking for help in the right places, from people who’ve been there and done that. Life walkthrough, anyone?

12. Your princess is in another castle

This gaming trope originated in Super Mario Bros, in Mario’s tenacious searching for the kidnapped Princess Toadstool.

We like to think of it as a hopeful metaphor for single gamers looking for love: you might have to stomp a lot of Goombas and search a lot of castles, but in the end you’ll find that special someone.

Now I think some of these lil ideals and facts are actually pretty good, especially things like never give up or practise makes perfect because you always strive to be the perfect game player, and life itself can be a game, just depends on how motivated you are to play it really.

But what do you think? Do you think games do provide this facts of life or are we just about playing fun and forgetting the rest after turning off the console?

 

[IrishCanadian25]

1. Bitches don't listen. Playing Dragon Warrior, Princess Gwaelin asked you two questions - 1) dost thou love me, and 2) wilt thou take me with you? Well, I answered no both times. I had just met her, why the hell would I already love her? What had she done for my life? I rescued that bitch for one reason - I did it all for the nookie! After slaying the Dragonlord, she wants me to take her along. After I carried her fat ass through the swamp. Do you know what happens when you tell her no? She says "But thou must!" And then she asks you again. "Bitch I already told you no!" was not an option. You had to love and marry this chick. Obnoxious. Taught me no matter what I say, bitches never listen.

2. When you don't know what to do... Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, START!

3. Motivation. When I don't feel like doing anything, much like a Nintendo Cartridge, a good, solid blow will usually work...

 

[Loveless]

Genetic Engineering Isn't A Good Idea
Especially when you're using alien genes on a pregnant woman. Infact it may lead to the child losing his mind, deciding he's part of the alien race and trying to destroy the planet.

 

[Mr. Steve]

Resourcefulness: When shit hits the fan and you're out of ammo, improvise. Shown in Halo. You ran out of bullets. Grab a fucking plasma and proceed to go to town!

First Aid Training: You can literally learn this from America's Army. They show steps of how to notice if someone's in shock, how to dress a wound, how to administer CPR, etc. A guy that played AA actually used that information to help two duded that were involed in a car crash! And who said that games can't be educative.

Administration: Go play Sim City 4, and then tell me you made a metropolis without losing a shitload of cash.

Music Skills: Rock Band's drumming is somewhat close to the real thing, save it's made of plastic. And take it from me, it helps to bang the crap out of those things.

Never a good idea to run and gun: Hitman, MGS have shown the following: Stealth is the new Run and Gun! Why bang a door down when you can get in through an air duct, throw a grenade below you and blow the fuckers to hell.

 

[TheOneBigWill]

Reset really DOES work in Real Life: A friend of mine has been married twice now, and divorced twice now. He's learned that its better to have loved and lost, then to have continued trying to make a failing marriage with a money hungry ****e of a Wife work out.

 

[Gerald Brisco]

Genetically engineering superhuman weapons with free will and without a killswitch is probably a bad idea.