Is Age of Empires Beneficial for Cognitive Development?
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I have been curious lately about the potential effects of playing Age of Empires II on my brain.
Could the multitasking and micromanaging required to play the game be useful in other aspects of life?
Is it a good way to relax, or could it help sharpen my cognitive skills?
What do you think?
Maybe.
At first we should compare with other games.
Compared with candy crush, sure, yes.
Compared with minecraft redstone engineering, no.
Compared with FPS games?
Hmm…
in some skills?
I believe some skills are benefited with aoe2.
Like, understanding composite gains with villagers, macro strategic thinking -what my opponent will do?- when creating units, decision making when choosing to upgrade or create units.
However, most of those fall when you free-play age of empires (not going for the meta).
I don’t think memorizing build orders or dodging mango shots are very beneficial for your brain.
One feature of the game I think is the most beneficial: scenario editor.
One of the reasons I had an easy time learning how to code is because I used to, when I was 7-9 years old, create scenarios to show to my friends.
Learning how to setup a good trigger, condition and effect in aoe was one of the basis for me to learn programming.
My main concern is Arena.
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I think its bad for my health, one time I said I will sleep once I win a game, well it is 4am and Im still playing 11
I’d say yes it’s beneficial to play (but not for everyone), when I play I fully escape from reality, I haven’t played a game and thought about anything except the game, it’s a great outlet.
Plus the game fills my inner need to kill innocent civilians and to destroy towns in exchange for points.
It also teaches strategy and adaptation.
Well you cannot multitask.
Only about 2% of people can actually do it and it’s a drain on them.
What we are good at is switching from one task to another.
That is what you’re learning to do here.
Switching from one task to another task.
Beats huffing gasoline
No.
Not at all.
Especially for a person like me who felt bad at every loss and indifferent at a every victory.
It‘s effects reflect how you approach life.
If you have a healthy life balance, it’s a positive, if you are destructively obsessive, it will also be destructive.
For most of us I think it gives a sense of control that’s missing in life.
Everything you do rather than watching sky is good for your brain.
And of course AoE2 is helpful and good for your brain.
I think spending time in the scenario editor figuring out complex tricks with triggers can be a good exercise to help with basic math or programming skills.
Same for map or AI scripting.
No, because I suck and don’t micro or use hotkeys
I definitely got better at piano after getting better at aoe2
I played TF2 competitively and I honestly believe having to track so many numbers going on at once e.g.
health, ammo, buff, enemy numbers, Uber advantage / disadvantage etc… as well as being able to pump out hot keys at such a fast pace during tense moments in aoe2 has helped with dealing with intense pressure and stress during some of my jobs.
It’s the ability to manage all the bullshit whilst having a clear head and not become overwhelmed.
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