Practice makes perfect - Gamer Story, Full story at http://www.physorg.com/news4476.html

http://www.physorg.com/news4476.html

I'm curious if the study differentiated between Gamers who played different types of games. The article only mentioned them as a lump group: Gamers.

As an ex-Gamer (I logged between 10-20 hours...I guess I'm an expert!) I'd argue there would be a wide difference in reflex levels over time between a gamer addicted to RTS (Real Time Strategy) games, and FPS (First Person Shooter) games.

Those are just two categories of games I pulled off the top of my head. RTS generally have a lower "twitch" factor than FPS games.

Even among the games listed in the description next to the initial picture (Mortal Combat, Grand Theft Auto, or Halo) I'd say there is a difference amount of reflex required.

Maybe because I was a gamer I'm just being nit-picky though. Stories like this interest me.

*Edit: Oh the typos you catch when you re-read your posts...*

Im sure they would be getting a higher difference in times if they were comparing FPS gamers who play against one another, even then I would argue if they were at there peak considering most of us who do are fueled by andrenaline and large sums of energy drinks.

Also I dont think this person knew what they were talking about when they said expert gamers log 10-20 hours that is more along the lines of the hardcore, Experts are the ones who log entire days of it then go out and make a living off it wining large sums of cash at tournaments.

Logging 10-20 hours per week is believable, if the person in question has already achieved the best he can be then he only has to keep his "skills" in shape. During the "training" part hard-core gamers usually log 30-50 hours per week. At least i did when i was hooked
Different games develop different skills. If you played a lot of strategy games (turn based or real time) then your logic skills might have improved. FPS games would increase your reaction time and role playing games (rpg) memory. It all depends on the person whos playing.
This is just my opinion, i havent found any texts linking certain games to certain abilities. We could use some more of these studies

10-20 hours a weeks seems a little low to be a gamer imo, personally i play close to, if not 10 hours a day, and i have friends that literally play 10-20 hours a day. logging at least 50 hours a week. also curious what kind of effects these people (like my self) and going to see aginst there eyes in the future.

The study/article does not mention audio cues and stimulus as well.

It should, as gaming--since the early 90's or so, has given spatial and attention-related cues via sound. (Even two channel sound.] Half of the cues we get/give in games are with sound placement. Whether in FPS environs or just a good platformer—you know when your enemies are behind and to the right.

[Side note… Going to science museums with my son and bunches of friends, I find that my reaction times are easily 30 percent higher than those of non-gamers.

Also, living in the L.A. corridor, I give thanks for my eye-hand/eye-foot, visual stimuli reactions in traffic. I recently avoided a massive accident—and my rider, a former magazine editor and now a Games TV guy—made the comment that he loved riding with gamers “as it has saved my life at least three times.” Odd that.]

How old are you? I'd be surprised to hear you say you're an adult. The percentage of gamers who are adults is pretty large, and continues to grow.

Being an adult who works a full-time job, it's tough to find 3 hours per weekday to game, let alone 10 or 20. An adult who's in a relationship would probably have trouble finding much more than 20 hours per week, including weekends. Out of a relationship, maybe 30. I think 20-30 hours per week is a reasonable qualification for "gamerhood". In fact, I think that might even be a little high for a minimum range. It requires a daily commitment, and large blocks of time on weekends. Going beyond 30 hours per week probably requires throwing out alternative forms of entertainment such as TV, movies, or physical activity, even for a single person. Allowing these to constitute more than a very small chunk of your time would start to pull away from available gaming time, so it's either that or give up sleep.

I'm aware that there are many gamers who do make the sacrifices I talked about above. Surely you do, if you spend 10 hours a day gaming. And your friends who do upwards of 15... I can't imagine they're supporting themselves, or even making meals for themselves. But this is not a requirement, in my opinion. Arguably it depends on your definition of "gamer". To follow the trend of other such labels, the activity need not be the exclusive form form of entertainment in your life for the label to apply. Sports fans amuse themselves without sports, golfers don't only play golf in their free time, avid readers don't necessarily spend the majority of every evening with their face in a book. Rather, I'd suggest that such time investments would qualify one to be "hard-code", "extreme", or "fanatic".

I'm 19, sure I am not supporting a family, but i'm working 2 part time jobs and game or party in my off time. Dont mean to be really cocky about this suject, just most of the gamers i know are around my age and so i'm looking at a broder range of playtime to compair "hard core" to "casual".