Positive benefits of videogames

Sick of hearing all the negative stories of videogames in the mainstream press.

Videogames have literally improved my life:

I was born partially sighted and many tasks are beyond my abilities. However Videogames has allowed me to play games with friends on the same level as them via multiplayer (which is impossible for most sports) and single player has allowed me to have experiences beyond my capabilities (even simple stuff like driving a car - now I know it's not anything like driving a real car but it gives me the fantasy of it).

Games have also improved my reactions, decision making and pattern recognition immensely which for a partially sighted person you rely on a huge amount

Without games my life would be a much more sedate and lonely place

Anyone else got positive stories regarding videogames?

For the majority of my adult life I have been gainfully employed thanks to people being interested in video games. Thanks, video games!

They're fun.

@rorie: that would be a dream come true! Must be so satisfying! I build web applications for banks. Dull as f*ck

Games got me through a pretty rough period of my life. I probably would have went a little crazy without the escape. Or more so then I did.

Video games keep people we like employed. That's about it.

Video games taught me no matter how bad a person I think I may be from time to time; the guy yelling profanities, death threats and racial slurs at me across the internet is far worse a person.

But seriously: Video games taught be basic math in elementary school, problem solving and few million random facts about anything and everything. Also it taught me I can't play the guitar or sing... and how to safely empty a loaded weapon without injuring myself or anyone around me. The 20+ years I've been playing video games have been for naught!

@thesoutherndandy: I can totally relate to that!

They allowed for a person like Ryan Davis to be known and loved by many. People like that shouldn't go unnoticed in the world, and thanks to games and the internet he didn't go unnoticed.

For me personally, nothing in particular. Just selfish enjoyment really.

Yay video games!

@yummylee: http://youtu.be/mS2IamWpjkE

Not unlike @rorie, doing a bunch of Japanese translation work over the years related to games has helped land me some pretty neat freelance gigs. Even got to help conduct an interview a while back with some of the developers behind one of my favorite SNES games! I enjoy any sort of translation work that comes my way, but it's extra special and fulfilling when it's games and it also helps keep the lights on, so games and I are on pretty great terms, too!

@pepsiman: Must be fascinating to have that kind of insight into the japanese development scene