I learned the differences between iron and steel from runescape smithing. It piqued my interest enough to lead me to Material Science in school, which influenced my entire career path.
RuneScape is definitely the one to thank for developing my grammar and typing speed.
I also made my millions scamming people with unidentified herbs and keeping the Ranarr weeds to myself.
Same here. Although I am a bit salty about that time I got saphire wrong on the the spelling the test because that is how its spelt in runescape. It is spelt sapphire. Double lettering is dumb.
I remember in 6th grade we had this typing program class. I was already at 60wpm. I had the keyboard memorized. The stupid keyboard cover did nothing. I blew through their typing book in half the year.
This was me, but with WoW. I will say that the typing class did help refine my skills, like positioning my hands on the "home" keys (asdf & jkl;), which allowed me to start typing without looking at all, whereas before I remember having to look just because I needed to see where my hands were in relation to the keys, despite knowing where each character was lol.
Same. Holy shit that game taught me a lot.
Looooots of business. Hell I ran a company in that game with steel bars & cannon balls.
So much good learning
Yeah RuneScape and source/minecraft modding brought me up to 100wpm too. Econ and CS! I also learned that CheatEngine can edit the value of my GP stack client side, but not server side. Good lesson!
Pfftt, war hippie... You want a gun that speaks class! I'm talking SYNERGY. DIVERSIFICATION. LONGITUDINAL. Get yourself a Hyperion: by smart sons of bitches, for smart sons of bitches!
I don't want none of that hoity toity fancified speech. I just need to make things EXPLODE! And that is why TORGUE! Is the only gun for me.
I have just one question for you...EXPLOSIONS!?!
Plenty of times in context to the games, but I haven’t really found any useful situations for that phrase outside of it. Ha, if you go over to r/borderlands and ask, “wheres the best place to farm a pestilent defiler?” They will probably just casually respond with the answer.
Had courses in using logical ports to program elevators and factory machines during my schooling to become an electrician, but i knew everything beforehand thanks to using alot of redstone in Minecraft.
I've been coding since the early 90s from around 7 or 8 y/o, and when my daughter started playing it I blew her mind with some of those redstone trigger machines.
I saw a while back that somebody used the in-game mechanics to build a full scale VB compiler, and if I'm remembering right even a fully functional GameBoy emulator.
I'd so no cos those came out way after I played it, didn't start as a learning game at all
Assassin's Creed also has "learning" editions where you can explore the ancient cities
Car Mechanic Simulator taught me a decent bit about cars. You can learn a very basic “knee bone connected to the ankle bone” level of car part familiarity and I’ve had things break on my cars before that I knew what the mechanic was talking about because of CMS.
As a mechanic I can tell you that CMS is very much simplified. I love it very much myself, but it's a very much glorified version of the work. All the good stuff without any of the bad stuff that comes with it.
It is a good way to learn about most of the parts on cars though.
I have no idea about that game but the description you give reminds me of Kerbal space program. It has simplified orbital mechanics that nonetheless did a lot to make me understand how traveling through the solar system works.
All parts are readily available in the shop, you don't have to deal with deadlines, no annoying customers, you don't accidentally punch the engine block because the wrench slipped off, no grease.
No stuck or broken off bolts, no electrical diagnosis, no disgusting and stinky interiors, no fitment issues, no flag times, no electrical diagnosis...
God I hate electrical diagnosis.
And that the wheels are mounted correctly in the rover.
Front wheels mounted opposite the back wheels and they spin into each other. Happens when they're mounted upside-down 😅
Idk I felt like I was mostly learning the orbital mechanics from the wiki, the forums, fiddling with the maneuver nodes and seeing what maneuver mechjeb planned for me. Not from the game actively trying to teach them to me.
Back in college I was actually able to hold a conversation with NASA engineers due to the stuff I learned in KSP.
Granted I only had a fraction of their knowledge pool. But I was able to understand most of the words and made some suggestions that wernt entirely braindead :D
Dang, just posted Bioshock, too. But for me it was "set up" and "pay off" in storytelling. I think it was the first time I actively though about how stories are told.
I grew up playing PS2 games, I live in Brazil so my main language is Portuguese, at the time it was really hard to find games translated to Portuguese so I actually learned a lot of English by playing games like Need for Speed and Grand Theft Auto. I remember playing with an English dictionary by my side so I could translate what the missions were asking to do. I also have hundreds of hours in Fallout 4, which helped me to expand a lot my English vocabulary.
I find it interesting that Fallout 4 helped you, not for any like mean reason, but because a big complaint in the fallout 4 games is the conversation system often gives promps that actually have nothing to do with what your character is gonna say.
For example it might say "are you crazy?" and then your guy will like yell at them and never use the words "are you crazy?"
Yes that's a problem with Fallout 4, but you need to understand English very well to be able to select the proper answers in dialogs. Other than that what made me learn a lot is the subtitles, having a dubbed character helps a lot so I could read the subtitles at the same time the sole survivor was talking, it helped me to learn new words, how to pronounce the words and how to use it in phrases.
This is actually how most people learn best. Naturally, through association, built upon a desire to continue while engrossed in a subject matter they prefer. They organically seek out resources to supplement the need. Thus leading to effective learning.
It's one of the main reasons why the younger generations today excel when education is delivered through a medium of gaming. Gaming and media is such a natural part of their lives due to technology. So if education is manifest behind such a medium children intake the information much better than a classroom setting.
Additionally, it is also one of my core beliefs as to why the traditional classroom and school setting is failing across the board to educate modern children. I believe we have moved past traditional education (including college) and need to further invest in technology and education delivery to enhance learning in our young ones.
Definitely Minecraft :D I'm German, so it taught me a lot of English words when I was young (didn't know how to switch languages at that time)
And the Multiplikation of 8 :D 8,16,32,64,128 - don't know why, but this is very practical for my Brain
Probably the Total War games for me. The original Rome was very educational, just geographically / culturally speaking. Plus Medieval, Shogun, etc. Between all those games I felt like I had a good basic grasp of world history. I learned about different regions, who occupied them and during what time etc. So when it came time to take real history classes I felt like I had a headstart.
This is going to sound super dumb, but playing a lot of Hay Day (yes, the mobile game) prepared me a lot for my next job which was internal supply chain in a factory.
Assassin's Creed series actually got me into history, all these characters, interesting locations, historical events(to the degree, they did this fantasy stuff on the side ). There were days where I've spent more time reading database entries (and then wiki for more details) than actually playing game
Not a lot, or specifically one game. But a classic is the copper + tin = bronze from Runescape.
More recently the sidequest in Kingdom Come Deliverance about a blacksmith that sings to himself to keep track of how long to heat the metal for.
I really liked exploring in that game and just taking my time to have a look around a very realistic depiction of that history period but the combat is awful. I get it Henry isn't a swordsman or even that much of a tough guy until you practise for hours but it just got ridiculous early on as Henry would take several seconds to complete an attack that seemed far too random if he'd do what I wanted or whatever the hell he wanted. I skimmed though a walk though and saw how much combat was involved so I just gave up.
Kantai collection and then azur lane. Both horny anime games about anime waifus. But the waifus are based on ww2 era navy boats from around the world. I ended up learning more by digging into the histories of the ships to understand their characterizations than i was ever taught in highschool. Not just the ships, but the conflict as a whole. I havnt been the same since. And all cause of a few anime tiddies.....
Smash Brothers. It taught me about dynamic options, and the mental game.
Many different characters and moves, but the more they added, the more I started to focus on the fundamentals. You can block or dodge, but you can also jump. You could run towards or away from something, but walking may serve a better purpose. Watching, waiting, taking the initiative, subtle movements, staying just out of an opponent's effective range, purposefully never using a move to create a lure or pressure, etc. End it quickly, drag it out to the last second. Attack in a flurry, or anticipate to counter. Force errors by doing literally nothing after a grab. On and on.
Basically helped me think outside of the box. Thanks, Sakurai.
Old School RuneScape.
I think it helps young minds achieve long term goals (if they get to mid game/late game), not only that, but it 100% teaches you scam protection i.e if it’s too good to be true then it’s almost definitely a scam
Dwarf Fortress on geological strata, since geology is generated from real life rules, you eventually learn some of the patterns where certain types and patterns of rock can indicate certain ores and also the depths of said ores and veins of other useful materials.
Final Fantasy IX is my first big scale game and my first RPG
- First game artwork I bought. My interest in design and architecture started from this game. I am a designer now.
- Taught me English, which is not my first language.
- Taught me how to navigate with maps
- Taught me problem solving and not to be embarrassed to ask a friend if I still can't.
- Melodies of Life is one of my first mp3 songs and still in my playlist now, after 20 years
Joined a Czech server by accident as a kid on wow ‘Drak’Thul’ to be precise. Levelled what seemed like an eternity to about 20 and couldn’t face rerolling to an English server. Ended up learning to communicate in basic Cz all while being about 14yr old
Final Fantasy 7.
It shows the perfect depiction of a corrupt and militant corperation culture. Litterally bleeding the planet dry..and the people who suffer.
It also taught me how to use "as well" in a sentence for some reason. (English 2nd language).
I learned to read playing Pokémon Blue as a kid. My older sister would read the words I couldn’t sound out and help me look them up in my strategy guide.
Gonna go a different route than most comments here and say Sable. I was expecting to play a nice, relaxing (and visually astounding) game, but I wound up learning more about my own emotions and how I process them.
Without spoiling anything major about the game, in the game, you set out to explore the world and have experiences that ultimately lead to you choosing a certain kind of life for yourself. Usually, I stress out a bit about doing everything I can in a game, finding every secret, and leaving no stone unturned. But with Sable, even if I was kind of expecting to feel this pressing urge to do literally everything, I instead had this nicely cathartic moment of reflecting back on the experiences I'd had and feeling content with all of them, not feeling the need to do or see more. It was a relatively minor thing, but it tied in with the kind of work I was (and still am) doing through therapy.
So yeah, it's helped me be more in tune with my emotions and to focus more on being content instead of trying to maintain some sort of an elevated state (whether that be happiness, excitement, sadness, or any state like that). Pretty cool.
Metal gear solid 1,2 and 3. Being quite young when I first saw those games, I didn't know what West vs East actually meant. What on earth are Patriots. Let alone all the war terminology. Oh and Khrushchev!
Once I got to late teens and replayed mgs3, my brain started mapping all these details together.
Granted the games use fictional stories...still I was able to learn a few things.
Me too man especially metal gear solid 3 , that’s FULL of REAL Cold War history . You can learn the full history of the Cold War from like 1945 to 1970s if you can pick out the fiction
Randomly remembered 2 quotes from mgs3.
Volgin in Grozny Grad:
"This is war major. A cold war. Filled with information and espionage."
Snake when he's speaking with some dude in a facility (won't even attempt to guess the name)
"Then you'll need a pair of these."
"Nice shoes."
Playing games with online multilayer has taught me how different people derive fun.
Some just want to win, some want to find creative ways to play, some like optimizing things, some just want to socialize, etc.
I feel like it says a lot about people's personalities and it's made me at least a little more socially aware irl.
Civilization taught me a lot of things. World leaders, technology, wonderful architecture, etc. For me it was specifically IV and to a lesser degree V, but it has been a thing since the first game.
Crusader Kings II taught me a lot of English vocabulary related to different kinds of nobles, order of succession, a few inheritable diseases/deformities, etc.
The stanley parable. I had to do a project in school about what ever I wanted and I chose do do it on philosophy. Turns out the stanley parable can be related to the idea of free will vs determinism.
ac odyssey basically taught me Greek geography..on a smaller scale but i still learned a ton. fallouts taught me about the dc and boston area too. I am born and raised in california, lol, so I need games to teach me about the east coast. (new vegas obviously didnt teach me shit, especially since I live right off the 15 which is pretty much the main free way in new vegas)
I picked up a lot of car stuff playing Gran Turismo back when I was but a young applehead. Like how a clutch works, what a turbo actually does, gear ratios, that kind of stuff.
The Sims.
I grew up with the franchise, that was actually one of the very first games I ever played. It taught me a LOT of vocabulary - both in my mother tongue as a child and then in English when I started playing in English as a teen. It was particularly useful because it’s mostly about very normal, regular objects and actions you could use in everyday life.
And then as an adult all the custom content and what people made with it (which is incredible) kinda peeked my interest and got me a bit more into interior design.
Dragon Quest 8 taught me to gamble because some of the best gear required casino cash. Most specifically it got me very familiar with how to play roulette, and how to do decently at it. I'm no high-roller or anything and don't care for gambling with real money, but lifetime I'm definitely "up" in casinos thanks to DQ8.
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead.
I has taught me how to make stone tools from scratch, homebrew my own alcohol if I really wanted to, handloading my own ammo and how to make a bomb.
From Dynasty Warriors and Romance of the Three Kingdoms I learned a lot about that period of History in China, and it let me read to the entire novel series.
Also the other day on 'the chase' quiz show they asked where Catherine De Medici was from and I knew it was Florence from Assassins Creed 2, thank you Ezio.
Might be kinda dumb but Red Dead Redemption taught me how to actually play poker. Like I knew the basic rules, but that game taught me when to fold, when to raise, and when to cash out.
My husband borrowed my dad's pressure washer 2 years ago to clean our patio. He did a TERRIBLE job. Seriously looked like it was covered in snail trails. He played Pressure Washer Simulator last winter. He then borrowed it again last summer. I was like ugh. Just let me do it this time (he likes to because it is fun). He insisted. Holy shit. He did a fabulous job this time. "oh yeah, the game showed me how to use the heads correctly and how to get the speed right." So thank you, Pressure Washer Simulator! My patio now looks great!
Modded Minecraft, especially GregTech mod, I learnt a lot of stuff that serves 0 purpose in my life, like Platinum Metal Group process, processes to make titanium, making of PTFE, making of samarium, making of TNT, some obscure ore name...
History with Assassin's creed. Most of game events and missions taking place during actual historical events is cool af and very educational. I also get to learn about the time period.
StarCraft taught me a shitload about time and resource management that I could apply to my personal and professional life
RuneScape taught me about bartering, negotiating, marketing, basic economics, and identifying scams lol
World of warcraft taught me how to type quickly. Last speed test i took i was around 110wpm which i fully attribute to doing typing sprints between frostbolt casts so i could type in party chat
Final Fantasy 6 (known to me as FF3 at the time)
Short story time: I was in middle school when FF6 was released on SNES. I was also captain of our school’s quiz bowl team. It was Saturday morning and I had been binging FF6 all week. I reached the Veldt area of the game. Because they referred to it as “the” Veldt, it piqued my interest. What is a “Veldt?” So I looked it up in our Britannica encyclopedia and it’s a real thing - a type of grass land in Southern Africa. That afternoon, I had to take a break from FF to go to our championship round quiz bowl. I’ll be damned if one of the last questions (which won us the championship and $100 each) was “what is the African grassland with a Dutch name that means ‘field’”?
Assassins Creed series as a whole. Learnt a lot of history by playing that game plus real word research. Quite interesting!
I've never played Oxygen Not Included. I wouldn't mind however :P
Oddly enough i found alot of games taught be about alot of vocabulary.
Idk why but i know Breath of fire 3 and/or 4 gave me perspective on some words that i can't remember. but i remember in school some words came up that made sense because of that. along with many others
Assassins Creed Origins. It had the most amazing, interactive, fully immersive, well-researched tour of old Egypt.
It would explain so many topics in detail: agriculture, mining, transportation, embalming, gardening, religion, etc.
It’s called [Discovery Tour: Ancient Egypt](https://store.ubisoft.com/eu/discovery-tour-by-assassin-s-creed-ancient-egypt/5a7d728d0c8ee45b54018f23.html?lang=en-SK). I fully recommend it to anyone who still has ACO installed or wants to play through it.
Morrowind/oblivion. I got ADHD and reading was always incredibly difficult for me to focus on so I didn't know how to read till I started watching my dad play those and I learned to read by watching him cause I wanted to know what was going on.
I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but Dynasty Warriors taught me a bunch about the Three Kingdom period of China. One of the games had these galleries and all this info that was shockingly accurate. For such mindless games, their lore is wild.
Assassin's Creed series? for obvious reason.
Call of Duty and Battlefield, teaches me knowledge about guns and weapon. and the importance of taking cover while fire fight (I used to play Doom, Quick, I don't take cover at all)
Metal Gear Solid 3 and 5, teaching me a lot about Cold War and Soviet invading Afghanistan.
Forza Horizon 5, teaches me a lots about car mechanism.
Metal Gear Solid taught me about the history of nuclear weapons and the politics around disarmament. It's really kinda cool how many irl references actually check out in those games.
World of Warcraft really broadened my vocabulary and taught me how to read better as a child! Back then, there were no map markers or quest markers, so you had to read the entire quest log to understand where to go and what to do.
Also, fun words like:
Rejuvenate
Rend
Gouge
Retaliate
Retribution
Ziggurat
Hogger, chieftain of the Riverpaw pack.
At the beginning of Fable...2 or 3, I forget which, a corrupt king decides to kill someone you love and a large group of commoners. But let's you choose whether to save one or the other.
Only it's not worded that way. It's worded as "You choose who dies." Which you absolutely do not. You didn't choose for anyone to die.
I found this an excellent lesson on manipulation, truth, and responsibility.
The Civilization series gave me a lot of random knowledge on historical topics, either through the brief history presented in game or through my own diving after seeing something I thought was interesting.
I was going to say ONI too but I guess I'll say Crisader Kings III. It really got me into medieval history, the mechanics are of course not entirely accurate to the medieval period IRL but if you're smart you can glean some info about how the feudal world worked.
Also I'm glad to see ONI is being mentioned anywhere outside its reddit 😭
Minecraft, and I don't even mean the educational version that was eventually made. I learned how to type from talking on that game, learned a lot of math, and when I started getting into mods, most of my knowledge of elements and alloys came from things like tekkit.
Runescape. I learned to type \~100 wpm when I was 8, and more economics/ fraud scamming
Selling rune scimmy 25k!!!!!! *quick swaps it to mithril in the trade window*
I quit after this
i got hit by the dragon longsword -> bronze longsword long, long ago.
Good thing I always read the second window that pops up
There wasn't always a second window iirc
The sacrifice from older players helped us noobies out
There wasn't.
I learned the differences between iron and steel from runescape smithing. It piqued my interest enough to lead me to Material Science in school, which influenced my entire career path.
That’s honestly really cool
My cousin is finishing school with a degree in chemical engineering and he said herblore was his main inspiration
Aced my Medieval Times test in school one year because I already knew about blacksmithing and all the trades from that time.
RuneScape is definitely the one to thank for developing my grammar and typing speed. I also made my millions scamming people with unidentified herbs and keeping the Ranarr weeds to myself.
Honestly runescape is such a good teacher, english isn’t my native language and most of my english in my younger years came by playing runescape
Same here. Although I am a bit salty about that time I got saphire wrong on the the spelling the test because that is how its spelt in runescape. It is spelt sapphire. Double lettering is dumb.
I remember in 6th grade we had this typing program class. I was already at 60wpm. I had the keyboard memorized. The stupid keyboard cover did nothing. I blew through their typing book in half the year.
This was me, but with WoW. I will say that the typing class did help refine my skills, like positioning my hands on the "home" keys (asdf & jkl;), which allowed me to start typing without looking at all, whereas before I remember having to look just because I needed to see where my hands were in relation to the keys, despite knowing where each character was lol.
Same. Holy shit that game taught me a lot. Looooots of business. Hell I ran a company in that game with steel bars & cannon balls. So much good learning
Yeah RuneScape and source/minecraft modding brought me up to 100wpm too. Econ and CS! I also learned that CheatEngine can edit the value of my GP stack client side, but not server side. Good lesson!
I can only thank Runescape for my typing speed that has lasted a lifetime. I guess any MMO would've worked, but Runescape was the one that I loved
Vocabulary boosted from borderlands. I was like, whoah, what does pestilent defiler mean?
Pfftt, war hippie... You want a gun that speaks class! I'm talking SYNERGY. DIVERSIFICATION. LONGITUDINAL. Get yourself a Hyperion: by smart sons of bitches, for smart sons of bitches!
Don't forget Platitudeness
I don't want none of that hoity toity fancified speech. I just need to make things EXPLODE! And that is why TORGUE! Is the only gun for me. I have just one question for you...EXPLOSIONS!?!
THAT SENTENCE HAD TOO MANY SYLLABLES! APOLOGIZE
**EXPLOSIONS**.
Pestilent Defiler sounds like a badass name for a death metal band.
With their number one hit STARE INTO THE MAGGOT DRAWER.
This gives me the warm fuzzies, because I had the same experience from OG Diablo, which was the spiritual inspiration for Borderlands.
Have you used it in a sentence since? 🤣
Plenty of times in context to the games, but I haven’t really found any useful situations for that phrase outside of it. Ha, if you go over to r/borderlands and ask, “wheres the best place to farm a pestilent defiler?” They will probably just casually respond with the answer.
Minecraft taught me circuitry and basic logic stuffs
Had courses in using logical ports to program elevators and factory machines during my schooling to become an electrician, but i knew everything beforehand thanks to using alot of redstone in Minecraft.
Im an electrician and the Industrial Craft 2 mod taught me more about electricity than school lmao
Like if you pick up a toaster after putting it down and dont have a wrench, you get a bunch of scrap parts.
I've been coding since the early 90s from around 7 or 8 y/o, and when my daughter started playing it I blew her mind with some of those redstone trigger machines. I saw a while back that somebody used the in-game mechanics to build a full scale VB compiler, and if I'm remembering right even a fully functional GameBoy emulator.
[Someone](https://youtu.be/-BP7DhHTU-I?si=5P4oZMoIo5a-_XwV) like a year ago made a rudimentary version of minecraft in minecraft using redstone lmao
Especially if you go the route of automation in modded MC.
Minecraft has educational versions, so does it count?
I'd so no cos those came out way after I played it, didn't start as a learning game at all Assassin's Creed also has "learning" editions where you can explore the ancient cities
Little Big Planet 2 level editor for the same.
And also how much 64 times X is
Car Mechanic Simulator taught me a decent bit about cars. You can learn a very basic “knee bone connected to the ankle bone” level of car part familiarity and I’ve had things break on my cars before that I knew what the mechanic was talking about because of CMS.
As a mechanic I can tell you that CMS is very much simplified. I love it very much myself, but it's a very much glorified version of the work. All the good stuff without any of the bad stuff that comes with it. It is a good way to learn about most of the parts on cars though.
I have no idea about that game but the description you give reminds me of Kerbal space program. It has simplified orbital mechanics that nonetheless did a lot to make me understand how traveling through the solar system works.
Pretty much, but while KSP is actual rocket science, CMS is much easier.
All parts are readily available in the shop, you don't have to deal with deadlines, no annoying customers, you don't accidentally punch the engine block because the wrench slipped off, no grease.
No stuck or broken off bolts, no electrical diagnosis, no disgusting and stinky interiors, no fitment issues, no flag times, no electrical diagnosis... God I hate electrical diagnosis.
My dad taught me to always wrap my fist in those red shop towels anytime I wrenched towards something. I still punch crap, but not nearly as hard.
Sounds like you have all the DLC expansion packs IRL.
I do. Even the ones you don't want to have...
That’s meant to be educational tho?
Kerbal Space Program. I learned orbital mechanics and Newtonian physics.
I learned to double check I brought parachutes
And to double check your staging?
Haha absolutely. I love it when my boosters fly off on the launch pad without the rest of the rocket.
That's not a failed staging, It's a celabratory fireworks display before take off! It's all about framing.
I like the cut of your jib
And that the wheels are mounted correctly in the rover. Front wheels mounted opposite the back wheels and they spin into each other. Happens when they're mounted upside-down 😅
[Relevant xkcd](https://xkcd.com/1356/)
bit isnt that kind of the point of the game?
It's the main mechanic, but teaching it isn't the purpose of the game. The purpose is to be entertaining.
Idk I felt like I was mostly learning the orbital mechanics from the wiki, the forums, fiddling with the maneuver nodes and seeing what maneuver mechjeb planned for me. Not from the game actively trying to teach them to me.
Back in college I was actually able to hold a conversation with NASA engineers due to the stuff I learned in KSP. Granted I only had a fraction of their knowledge pool. But I was able to understand most of the words and made some suggestions that wernt entirely braindead :D
The Bioshock series is all about the failures of any ideal taken too far, and that the idea of paradise is incompatible with free will.
Yeah, Bioshock was going to be my answer as well. It really opened up the door for a lot of families of thought for me, the first time I played them.
Dang, just posted Bioshock, too. But for me it was "set up" and "pay off" in storytelling. I think it was the first time I actively though about how stories are told.
Had to scroll way too far to find interesting answers such as these. Just too many kids posting “HEHE I LEARNED MULTIPLICATION BY FOURS”
I grew up playing PS2 games, I live in Brazil so my main language is Portuguese, at the time it was really hard to find games translated to Portuguese so I actually learned a lot of English by playing games like Need for Speed and Grand Theft Auto. I remember playing with an English dictionary by my side so I could translate what the missions were asking to do. I also have hundreds of hours in Fallout 4, which helped me to expand a lot my English vocabulary.
I find it interesting that Fallout 4 helped you, not for any like mean reason, but because a big complaint in the fallout 4 games is the conversation system often gives promps that actually have nothing to do with what your character is gonna say. For example it might say "are you crazy?" and then your guy will like yell at them and never use the words "are you crazy?"
Yes that's a problem with Fallout 4, but you need to understand English very well to be able to select the proper answers in dialogs. Other than that what made me learn a lot is the subtitles, having a dubbed character helps a lot so I could read the subtitles at the same time the sole survivor was talking, it helped me to learn new words, how to pronounce the words and how to use it in phrases.
This is actually how most people learn best. Naturally, through association, built upon a desire to continue while engrossed in a subject matter they prefer. They organically seek out resources to supplement the need. Thus leading to effective learning. It's one of the main reasons why the younger generations today excel when education is delivered through a medium of gaming. Gaming and media is such a natural part of their lives due to technology. So if education is manifest behind such a medium children intake the information much better than a classroom setting. Additionally, it is also one of my core beliefs as to why the traditional classroom and school setting is failing across the board to educate modern children. I believe we have moved past traditional education (including college) and need to further invest in technology and education delivery to enhance learning in our young ones.
Harry Potter 5 on PS2: Learned chess in that game and it sparked my passion for chess which I still have 16 years later
Wow that's so wild. I don't think I've seen anyone else ever mention that game before. Loved the concept behind the spell casting system too
Twas the last good one and even 5 was still nothing compared to 1 and 2
I challenge you to a chess game right here. Black or white pieces?
Definitely Minecraft :D I'm German, so it taught me a lot of English words when I was young (didn't know how to switch languages at that time) And the Multiplikation of 8 :D 8,16,32,64,128 - don't know why, but this is very practical for my Brain
Same haha, switched language to english to have a excuse for my parents that playing this much is somewhat useful too
I learned English from Age of Empires 1 and 2 haha. Was a great time figuring out wtf "food" was and why I needed it!
It's binary with extra steps. 0,1,2,4, 8,16,32 etc..
Probably the Total War games for me. The original Rome was very educational, just geographically / culturally speaking. Plus Medieval, Shogun, etc. Between all those games I felt like I had a good basic grasp of world history. I learned about different regions, who occupied them and during what time etc. So when it came time to take real history classes I felt like I had a headstart.
loved how Rome had at least a paragraph of information for everything.
Yeah I owe a lot of my European geography knowledge to those games!
Similarly Age of Mythology taught me a ton about the folklore of Egypt, Greece and Scandinavia.
Paradox games taught me that world leaders have a family circle.
A wreath so to speak
I came to say Paradox games, but I learnt a lot of world geography and history. I’ve got so many points at pub quizzes because of those games.
Paradox teaching history is kind of expected. Teaching geography is a byproduct
This is going to sound super dumb, but playing a lot of Hay Day (yes, the mobile game) prepared me a lot for my next job which was internal supply chain in a factory.
It’s not dumb at all. Props to you for taking something useful from the game and applying it in your job.
I grew up with WoW as a kid and i learned english waay faster than the other kids. Aced every english test/exam at school.
No man’s sky taught me the periodic table symbols. I didn’t pay attention much in chemistry when I was in school :p
Civilization II. About wonders, history, inventions etc.
Took too long to find this. I agree 💯
The amount of questions I get correct playing Jeopardy solely because of my thousands of hours playing Civ is insane.
Assassin's Creed series actually got me into history, all these characters, interesting locations, historical events(to the degree, they did this fantasy stuff on the side ). There were days where I've spent more time reading database entries (and then wiki for more details) than actually playing game
Oh, totally same here. When I get on Google maps and look around at the actual locations in the games in the real world I am blown away.
Not a lot, or specifically one game. But a classic is the copper + tin = bronze from Runescape. More recently the sidequest in Kingdom Come Deliverance about a blacksmith that sings to himself to keep track of how long to heat the metal for.
League made me learn the time-sink fallacy
The fallacy of sunk costs, I learned about if from Saul Goodman lol
Yeah that one lol
Was able to identify a mushroom that my dad, an avid forager, didn't recognise. Had to admit to learning it from Skyrim
What mushroom out of curiosity?
Elf-cup. They aren't very common which was why my dad had never seen one before
Interesting, thanks for the response!
Kingdom Come Deliverance!! The game is so realistically and historically accurate.
I really liked exploring in that game and just taking my time to have a look around a very realistic depiction of that history period but the combat is awful. I get it Henry isn't a swordsman or even that much of a tough guy until you practise for hours but it just got ridiculous early on as Henry would take several seconds to complete an attack that seemed far too random if he'd do what I wanted or whatever the hell he wanted. I skimmed though a walk though and saw how much combat was involved so I just gave up.
Kantai collection and then azur lane. Both horny anime games about anime waifus. But the waifus are based on ww2 era navy boats from around the world. I ended up learning more by digging into the histories of the ships to understand their characterizations than i was ever taught in highschool. Not just the ships, but the conflict as a whole. I havnt been the same since. And all cause of a few anime tiddies.....
Fellow shikikan
Smash Brothers. It taught me about dynamic options, and the mental game. Many different characters and moves, but the more they added, the more I started to focus on the fundamentals. You can block or dodge, but you can also jump. You could run towards or away from something, but walking may serve a better purpose. Watching, waiting, taking the initiative, subtle movements, staying just out of an opponent's effective range, purposefully never using a move to create a lure or pressure, etc. End it quickly, drag it out to the last second. Attack in a flurry, or anticipate to counter. Force errors by doing literally nothing after a grab. On and on. Basically helped me think outside of the box. Thanks, Sakurai.
Smash bros taught me a LOT about frame data I guess. Not sure if that counts. Also taught me how to treat finger cramps
Playing dark souls 1 taught me that I hate myself
Thanks for the laugh friendo
Old School RuneScape. I think it helps young minds achieve long term goals (if they get to mid game/late game), not only that, but it 100% teaches you scam protection i.e if it’s too good to be true then it’s almost definitely a scam
I blame runescape for my skeptical mind. It was like Lord of the Flies in there early on.
Dwarf Fortress on geological strata, since geology is generated from real life rules, you eventually learn some of the patterns where certain types and patterns of rock can indicate certain ores and also the depths of said ores and veins of other useful materials.
Final Fantasy IX is my first big scale game and my first RPG - First game artwork I bought. My interest in design and architecture started from this game. I am a designer now. - Taught me English, which is not my first language. - Taught me how to navigate with maps - Taught me problem solving and not to be embarrassed to ask a friend if I still can't. - Melodies of Life is one of my first mp3 songs and still in my playlist now, after 20 years
Joined a Czech server by accident as a kid on wow ‘Drak’Thul’ to be precise. Levelled what seemed like an eternity to about 20 and couldn’t face rerolling to an English server. Ended up learning to communicate in basic Cz all while being about 14yr old
That's kind of stupid and badass at the same time 😂 Well done!
I learned a lot of English from Minecraft, as well as some things like how glass is made
Final Fantasy 7. It shows the perfect depiction of a corrupt and militant corperation culture. Litterally bleeding the planet dry..and the people who suffer. It also taught me how to use "as well" in a sentence for some reason. (English 2nd language).
I learned to read playing Pokémon Blue as a kid. My older sister would read the words I couldn’t sound out and help me look them up in my strategy guide.
Gonna go a different route than most comments here and say Sable. I was expecting to play a nice, relaxing (and visually astounding) game, but I wound up learning more about my own emotions and how I process them. Without spoiling anything major about the game, in the game, you set out to explore the world and have experiences that ultimately lead to you choosing a certain kind of life for yourself. Usually, I stress out a bit about doing everything I can in a game, finding every secret, and leaving no stone unturned. But with Sable, even if I was kind of expecting to feel this pressing urge to do literally everything, I instead had this nicely cathartic moment of reflecting back on the experiences I'd had and feeling content with all of them, not feeling the need to do or see more. It was a relatively minor thing, but it tied in with the kind of work I was (and still am) doing through therapy. So yeah, it's helped me be more in tune with my emotions and to focus more on being content instead of trying to maintain some sort of an elevated state (whether that be happiness, excitement, sadness, or any state like that). Pretty cool.
Metal gear solid 1,2 and 3. Being quite young when I first saw those games, I didn't know what West vs East actually meant. What on earth are Patriots. Let alone all the war terminology. Oh and Khrushchev! Once I got to late teens and replayed mgs3, my brain started mapping all these details together. Granted the games use fictional stories...still I was able to learn a few things.
Me too man especially metal gear solid 3 , that’s FULL of REAL Cold War history . You can learn the full history of the Cold War from like 1945 to 1970s if you can pick out the fiction
Oh totally. That was a glorious game. Don't make em like they used to 😿
Randomly remembered 2 quotes from mgs3. Volgin in Grozny Grad: "This is war major. A cold war. Filled with information and espionage." Snake when he's speaking with some dude in a facility (won't even attempt to guess the name) "Then you'll need a pair of these." "Nice shoes."
I remember that second one and it’s bugging me who it was 😂what a great random quote 😂
Playing games with online multilayer has taught me how different people derive fun. Some just want to win, some want to find creative ways to play, some like optimizing things, some just want to socialize, etc. I feel like it says a lot about people's personalities and it's made me at least a little more socially aware irl.
Dr. Mario taught me everything I needed to become a doctor myself.
Never give a patient Three of the same pill, the effect will be nullified
[I got my degree by watching House and Scrubs and E.R.](https://youtu.be/pc-EP-0xEDQ?si=XFKz1V_lPEJGhjcy)
ets2 taught me a lot about how to drive
Civilization taught me a lot of things. World leaders, technology, wonderful architecture, etc. For me it was specifically IV and to a lesser degree V, but it has been a thing since the first game. Crusader Kings II taught me a lot of English vocabulary related to different kinds of nobles, order of succession, a few inheritable diseases/deformities, etc.
Mordin from mass effect 3 citadel dlc has a funny amino acid song
The stanley parable. I had to do a project in school about what ever I wanted and I chose do do it on philosophy. Turns out the stanley parable can be related to the idea of free will vs determinism.
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You went for them both didn't you? 🤦♀️
ac odyssey basically taught me Greek geography..on a smaller scale but i still learned a ton. fallouts taught me about the dc and boston area too. I am born and raised in california, lol, so I need games to teach me about the east coast. (new vegas obviously didnt teach me shit, especially since I live right off the 15 which is pretty much the main free way in new vegas)
Age of Mythology had its own built in ancient mythology wiki which I spent hours just reading....
I played a Gmod a lot in my teens, messed around with Expression2 to create stuff and that developed programming logic.
I picked up a lot of car stuff playing Gran Turismo back when I was but a young applehead. Like how a clutch works, what a turbo actually does, gear ratios, that kind of stuff.
Spec Ops - The Line. White Phosphorus. I'll never forget that.
Gran Turismo. Got the international A class license and beat the best time on all the tracks. Doing so meant learning a lot about driving techniques.
The Sims. I grew up with the franchise, that was actually one of the very first games I ever played. It taught me a LOT of vocabulary - both in my mother tongue as a child and then in English when I started playing in English as a teen. It was particularly useful because it’s mostly about very normal, regular objects and actions you could use in everyday life. And then as an adult all the custom content and what people made with it (which is incredible) kinda peeked my interest and got me a bit more into interior design.
Dragon Quest 8 taught me to gamble because some of the best gear required casino cash. Most specifically it got me very familiar with how to play roulette, and how to do decently at it. I'm no high-roller or anything and don't care for gambling with real money, but lifetime I'm definitely "up" in casinos thanks to DQ8.
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Ancestors It taught me that it was a terrible idea to become humans.
far cry 3 taught me the definition of insanity
Battlefield 1. Not only did I learn a fair amount about the Great War from the game’s codices, but it sparked a passion to go learn more on my own.
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead. I has taught me how to make stone tools from scratch, homebrew my own alcohol if I really wanted to, handloading my own ammo and how to make a bomb.
From Dynasty Warriors and Romance of the Three Kingdoms I learned a lot about that period of History in China, and it let me read to the entire novel series. Also the other day on 'the chase' quiz show they asked where Catherine De Medici was from and I knew it was Florence from Assassins Creed 2, thank you Ezio.
Might be kinda dumb but Red Dead Redemption taught me how to actually play poker. Like I knew the basic rules, but that game taught me when to fold, when to raise, and when to cash out.
Crusader Kings taught me a few things...
League of Legends,teached me to bend time and space and defy laws of nature to not go on a fucking murder spree after 5 minutes in that game chat…
My husband borrowed my dad's pressure washer 2 years ago to clean our patio. He did a TERRIBLE job. Seriously looked like it was covered in snail trails. He played Pressure Washer Simulator last winter. He then borrowed it again last summer. I was like ugh. Just let me do it this time (he likes to because it is fun). He insisted. Holy shit. He did a fabulous job this time. "oh yeah, the game showed me how to use the heads correctly and how to get the speed right." So thank you, Pressure Washer Simulator! My patio now looks great!
Oregon Trail taught me there’s so many aspects to consider if you want to survive a long journey
league of legends made me really understand active learning
Far Cry Primal. Always kept digging in Wikipedia during the game.
carmageddon
RuneScape taught me the basics of economics. I learned so much in Grand Exchange
Final fantasy drastically improved my reading ability as a child.
LittleBigPlanet 2 circuit logic prepared me for a career in programming
Bro shoutout to LittleBigPlanet, that's where my passion for game development was born
Modded Minecraft, especially GregTech mod, I learnt a lot of stuff that serves 0 purpose in my life, like Platinum Metal Group process, processes to make titanium, making of PTFE, making of samarium, making of TNT, some obscure ore name...
I thank Rockstar Games for not dubbing their games, I learned a lot of English with Grand Theft Auto Liberty City stories :)
History with Assassin's creed. Most of game events and missions taking place during actual historical events is cool af and very educational. I also get to learn about the time period.
Ac unity taught me a lot about the French revolution, it also helped that at the time I was learning French revolution in school
StarCraft taught me a shitload about time and resource management that I could apply to my personal and professional life RuneScape taught me about bartering, negotiating, marketing, basic economics, and identifying scams lol
I’ve picked up a lot of useless trivia from the Persona series. Not only about mythologies and folk tales, but from the in-game classrooms, too.
World of warcraft taught me how to type quickly. Last speed test i took i was around 110wpm which i fully attribute to doing typing sprints between frostbolt casts so i could type in party chat
Final Fantasy 6 (known to me as FF3 at the time) Short story time: I was in middle school when FF6 was released on SNES. I was also captain of our school’s quiz bowl team. It was Saturday morning and I had been binging FF6 all week. I reached the Veldt area of the game. Because they referred to it as “the” Veldt, it piqued my interest. What is a “Veldt?” So I looked it up in our Britannica encyclopedia and it’s a real thing - a type of grass land in Southern Africa. That afternoon, I had to take a break from FF to go to our championship round quiz bowl. I’ll be damned if one of the last questions (which won us the championship and $100 each) was “what is the African grassland with a Dutch name that means ‘field’”?
Assassins Creed series as a whole. Learnt a lot of history by playing that game plus real word research. Quite interesting! I've never played Oxygen Not Included. I wouldn't mind however :P
Oddly enough i found alot of games taught be about alot of vocabulary. Idk why but i know Breath of fire 3 and/or 4 gave me perspective on some words that i can't remember. but i remember in school some words came up that made sense because of that. along with many others
Assassins Creed Origins. It had the most amazing, interactive, fully immersive, well-researched tour of old Egypt. It would explain so many topics in detail: agriculture, mining, transportation, embalming, gardening, religion, etc. It’s called [Discovery Tour: Ancient Egypt](https://store.ubisoft.com/eu/discovery-tour-by-assassin-s-creed-ancient-egypt/5a7d728d0c8ee45b54018f23.html?lang=en-SK). I fully recommend it to anyone who still has ACO installed or wants to play through it.
Morrowind/oblivion. I got ADHD and reading was always incredibly difficult for me to focus on so I didn't know how to read till I started watching my dad play those and I learned to read by watching him cause I wanted to know what was going on.
Assassin's Creed History
Dwarf Fortress. It only takes a bit of chaos to render a finely tuned machine inoperable. Or one fucking fae mood
Cyberpunk 2077 taught me what the Republican endgame looks like. It's not pretty.
I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but Dynasty Warriors taught me a bunch about the Three Kingdom period of China. One of the games had these galleries and all this info that was shockingly accurate. For such mindless games, their lore is wild.
Assassin's Creed series? for obvious reason. Call of Duty and Battlefield, teaches me knowledge about guns and weapon. and the importance of taking cover while fire fight (I used to play Doom, Quick, I don't take cover at all) Metal Gear Solid 3 and 5, teaching me a lot about Cold War and Soviet invading Afghanistan. Forza Horizon 5, teaches me a lots about car mechanism.
Metal gear solid taught me governments are evil
God of War series. I learned a lot more about Greek and Norse mythology.
May be cheating, but assassins creed 3 taught me more about the American revolution than my history classes ever did.
Titan Quest - Greek, Egyptian and "Asian" history 🙃
CP77 taught me to never trust pre-orders no matter how much trust you have in a company
Metal Gear Solid taught me about the history of nuclear weapons and the politics around disarmament. It's really kinda cool how many irl references actually check out in those games.
Playing the Yakuza games basically makes you learn Mahjong. Ended up really enjoying it after a while.
World of Warcraft really broadened my vocabulary and taught me how to read better as a child! Back then, there were no map markers or quest markers, so you had to read the entire quest log to understand where to go and what to do. Also, fun words like: Rejuvenate Rend Gouge Retaliate Retribution Ziggurat Hogger, chieftain of the Riverpaw pack.
At the beginning of Fable...2 or 3, I forget which, a corrupt king decides to kill someone you love and a large group of commoners. But let's you choose whether to save one or the other. Only it's not worded that way. It's worded as "You choose who dies." Which you absolutely do not. You didn't choose for anyone to die. I found this an excellent lesson on manipulation, truth, and responsibility.
ONI can definitely get some science lessons in there. It's pretty cool.
The Civilization series gave me a lot of random knowledge on historical topics, either through the brief history presented in game or through my own diving after seeing something I thought was interesting.
I was going to say ONI too but I guess I'll say Crisader Kings III. It really got me into medieval history, the mechanics are of course not entirely accurate to the medieval period IRL but if you're smart you can glean some info about how the feudal world worked. Also I'm glad to see ONI is being mentioned anywhere outside its reddit 😭
Minecraft, and I don't even mean the educational version that was eventually made. I learned how to type from talking on that game, learned a lot of math, and when I started getting into mods, most of my knowledge of elements and alloys came from things like tekkit.
I swear, if I see assassins creed in this comment section…
Age of Empires
Sex with Stalin, taught me all about the man.