DERI007

Gamers have a better-evolved sense of spatial awareness, are better abstract thinkers, and show advantages in forward thinking/planning. Now, this doesn't apply to all gamers or all genres of games they play, but it's a scientifically studied and well-supported phenomenon. The strongest connections among those three skills (in gamers) have been found with strategy games - both turn-based and real-time strategy - and simulations (such as flight sims, racing sims, and space combat sims), as well as FPS games. This includes abilities like mental rotation (imagining how objects look when turned), spatial visualization, navigation in 3D environments, visuospatial attention, and tracking multiple objects in space. These skills are stimulated and improved over time through sims and - no surprise - FPS games. The abstract and forward-thinking skills were most heavily linked to games like Civilization or SimCity, but also to RTS games like Command & Conquer or Age of Empires, and with complex RPG/open-world titles (including MMORPGs) showing the clearest links. So, there you have it. When I was young, the older generation would say that gaming is bad for your eyes. But hey - did they know it was good for other things?