Poll: Gaming: Intellectually Engaging or Mindless Entertainment?

[Tears of Blood]

It doesn't make me think enough and it feels like it's dumbing down my brain. It feels like I'm not thinking at all.

Okay, I guess that makes sense.

It really does depend on the game.
With a game like Halo or Gears of War, you're looking at "Mindless Entertainment", if you're into that sort of thing.

With a game like Portal or Silent Hill 2 or Dragon Age: Origins, you're looking at "Intellectually Engaging".

A game like Professor Layton is definitely something that'll make your brain hurt on the right puzzle (or the ones with multiple answers whe it only accepts one)

A game like Gears Of War isn't asking for much more than KILL!!1! Duck!

Both are good though.

I disagree. I think even games like Gears of War and such are certainly not as engaging as other games, but they have a little.

Your still putting actions into a controller based on what you see on screen. You're allowing your brain to work. Furthermore, strategy and tactics can come into play, especially on single-player endeavors or clan-based online ones. CoD4 is a good example. Everytime I tired to play online, I got my ass handed to me because the other team was almost always a clan that coordinated their efforts.

 

[TheSeventhLoneWolf]

Dang, there should be multiple tickboxes. Both.

 

[Tears of Blood]

Dang, there should be multiple tickboxes. Both.

That would be nice, wouldn't it?

But, elborate, if you would.

 

[Lemon Of Life]

Puzzles piss me off. They make me feel stupid. I'm not stupid

But I love Portal, even if I had to look for help on some of the puzzles.

 

[Lord Mountbatten Reborn]

If I don't want to be taxed, I'll play some mindless "blow-shit-up" stuff.

However, gaming got me into history, and politics, so yes, it can be intellectually engaging.

Incidentally (here's a fun anecdote of mine), when a little kid finds you and a friend perusing amusing pictures of Hitler (as you do), then proceeds to say "I know everything about Hitler", then is stumped by your first question (a simple one as well), you should revel in the knowledge that video games are the influence that enabled you to defeat a child in a battle of knowledge.

And apparently Operation Sealion went ahead as planned according to this kid.

I henceforth, from that point onward, dubbed him "Stupid Hitler Kid".

Then again, I wouldn't consider the area I live in to be full of "intellectually enabled" people.

 

[TheSeventhLoneWolf]

Dang, there should be multiple tickboxes. Both.

That would be nice, wouldn't it?

But, elborate, if you would.

Should've done to start with really, but i'm doing a sketch of a sculpture by andy goldsworthy for my crazy art teacher.

I find games that boost your interlect are the ones that sneak little interesting facts in here and there in a subtle manner so the player doesn't feel like they're 'Learning.' (Alot of prople wouldn't play a game to learn.) Such as Age of empires, a fun little Rts about the course of history, aswell as rise of nations. There was alot of interesting facts in that about wars and the new world. If you're new to something you're going to learn something. If you play an Fps, you'll learn how a gun should be held to a certain extent, as well as the ammo capacity and range. You can learn from games, you learn alot of things without even knowing you've learnt it.

Mindless games are good because they can help you unload. borderlands seems pretty mindless to me, but i love it so. All you do is fire at things and get better guns to fire at other things. Some games are mindless, yes. But they're also fun. I'd rather play a fun game to a boring one.

 

[geldonyetich]

Movies: Intellectually Engaging or Mindless Entertainment?
Books: Intellectually Engaging or Mindless Entertainment?

Same answer: it depends on the spirit in which the work was conceived.

That said, I would say that the potential for engagement in an interactive work is a bit higher than a non-interactive, passive, work.

 

[Weaver]

I find games now are starting to become less intellectual. I mean the old X-Com games were amazingly complicated and they ran in DOS. If you haven't played them I assure you that they're STILL complicated by today's standards. You really had to think and plan, it was like a game of chess.

The thing is, not everyone likes "chess" and that's fine, I'm not saying you have to. However, it seems MORE people dislike it and what used to be some nerds in a garage is now a mega corporation bent on the almighty dollar, and thus don't seem to put out many games which require as much mental taxation.

Of course, take this with a grain of salt. I love a good s'mup or FPS as much as the next person, but I'm also quite fond of straight up puzzle games. If I just want to unwind I'm going to go for some mindless fun, if I'm bored and want to be challenged or stimulated I'm going to go with a puzzle/RTS game. Or Henry Hatsworth for the DS? Did anyone play that game? I LOVED it.

 

[TailsRodrigez]

I think I already know the answer I'm going to get here generally, but I just want to start up a discussion. Do we gamers have a hobby which develops our intellect? Do we, perhaps, learn things or at least engage our minds enough to say we aren't "rotting our brains?"

A lot of non-gamers, especially older ones, think of our hobby as unintelligent. That we sit slack-jawed and stupid in front of our TVs and PCs while we play them, but I think that's a load of crap. Games engange your mind, they force you to pay attention and are like a sort of mental gymnastics, just like mathematics and science. Perhaps they aren't quite on the level of more acdemical endeavors, but...

Furthermore, most people will say that reading makes you smarter. While that's probably true, you can have a game that has books in it. Oblivion is a good example. Lots of games require reading.

So, what do you think?

nothing is completely mindless, we need our minds to use the controller.

 

[Abedeus]

Of course it depends on the game.

Phoenix Wright games? 95% brain, 5% luck.

Bioware RPG? 60-75% brain, 25-35% combat expertise (read: skill).

TF2? 50% brain, 50% skill (reflex, memory, teamwork).

Borderlands? 25-35% brain, 75-65% skill (again, reflex, aim, teamwork when online).

Prototype? 5% brain, 95% mindless fun. And buttonmashing.

Ninja Gaiden? 100% brain, 100% skill, 200% game for unholy demons from beyond the Void.

 

[hazabaza1]

Both.
Cases in point: Borderlands, compared to Mass Effect.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Depends on the game, of course, but generally more intellectual.

Of course, I'm a biased source who can find Dynasty Warriors intellectually engaging, so I'm probably not the one to ask.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

90% of games are intellectually engaging. Even button mashers require some amount of thought.

 

[funguy2121]

Ditto to Furbert. If it was purely mindless entertainment, it would be a fad that would eventually pass, like wrestling...oh wait...never mind.

Since gaming is a social thing now, it's an entirely different phenomenon from when I was a kid. My mother always thought gaming was anti-social. I remember when I couldn't get my sister's boyfriend and his best buddy to stop playing Mario Kart; I guess that showed her! Ha!

Gaming is all about interactivity, which is why its puzzles, much like its storylines, are never as deep as something you'd find in a (well written) movie, or in real life. I wouldn't say gaming is quite intellectual, not yet. Just don't tell that to the RPG crowd.

 

[Mr Scott]

For a recent example: AC2 was intellectual in a condescending way. Expecting you did not know that... Leonardo da Vinci was an engineer as well as a painter, espresso was invented in Italy, and that swords are cool.

 

[ThatsBitch3n]

It highly depends on what game you are playing. Games like Portal require some thought while others require little, only to remember where shoot is on the controller.

 

[Citrus]

It depends on the game.

An RTS is obviously going to be more intellectually-engaging than a hack-n-slash, but there are tactics involved in each game, no matter how slight they are or how ridiculous the game is.

 

[atol]

Most everything can be considered "intellectually engaging", it all depends on what one takes of it. So, I don't really understand the question. Are you asking if games are supposed to be intellectually engaging? Most of them, sure. I'd say if you want extremes, look at Postal vs For The Glory. Yet, once you figure out For the Glory it can turn into mindless entertainment, and Postal can be fairly intellectually engaging if you care to look at it on that level.

I'd say both at the same time.

 

[Tekyro]

Shooters online are mindless.

RPGs nad RTSs require thinking. Just clicknig fast won't work with them.

Same with spelling, it seems...

 

[rokkolpo]

a very definite both.