Clive Thompson has written an article in Wired talking about how good the FPS genre of gaming is. I think he’s hit the nail on the head. Also good are some of the comments below the article, especially the one about split-second strategy.
As much as gaming increases youe hand-eye co-ordination, I think fast gaming, like FPS, gives your problem-solving parts of brain a workout.
And it’s not just twitch gaming, but more the strategy shooters, where you move, in-game, as a squad. You have to size up a confrontation, decide how best to use cover, concealment, distractions, explosives and weapons to achieve the objective. Full Spectrum Warrior is a great example of this, where you direct the squad to lay down cover fire so you can move to a new location, then cover them in return.
Multiplayer gaming with these types of games adds a new, unpredictable element. Again, you need to work as a team to realise your objective, anticipate the enemy, think 2 moves ahead, and when that all goes south, figure out how the hell to fix it without being killed.
Article here.
