Video games can act as a substitute for IQ tests

Those who enjoyed Orson Scott Card’s science-fiction classic Ender’s Game may remember how the governments in Card’s futuristic world used computer simulation games to train the best and brightest children to beat an alien invasion.

While video games have not yet become of planet-saving import, researchers at the University of York have found that there is indeed a correlation between intelligence and being good at action strategy video games.

The researchers studied players who were proficient in popular multiplayer online battle arena games (MOBAs) and multiplayer first-person shooter games. MOBA, like the games of Card’s world, organize players into opposing teams that strategize against each other. First-person shooters, on the other hand, allow players to experience the game from the perspective of a particular character, whose actions they can control.

The MOBAs League of Legends and Dota 2 and first-person shooters Destiny and Battlefield 3 were chosen for study.

It was found that just as skill with older strategy games like chess is correlated with a high IQ, those who played League of Legends with finesse also performed well in traditional pen-and-paper tests of intelligence. Perhaps this should not be a surprise.

“[MOBA games] are complex, socially-interactive and intellectually demanding,” Athanasios Kokkinakis, a PhD student at York, said, according to ScienceDaily.

University of York Professor Alex Wade spoke to ScienceDaily about the additional benefits of these games.

“MOBAs rely more on memory and the ability to make strategic decisions taking into account multiple factors,” Wade said.

Performing well in games with such features would naturally correlate with higher intelligence.

http://www.jhunewsletter.com/2017/11/30/video-games-can-act-as-a-substitute-for-iq-tests/

Either I’m thick as I’m crap at video games , or it’s the height of idiocy to suggest that you are probably not intelligent if you’re no good at video games.

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I suck at video games and still enjoy them.

That unrelated note aside, I think they’re trying to satisfy some kind of confirmation bias.

I love video games, but I’m not the best at them. Currently I’m hooked on Fallout 4.

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I dont think it works this way… specifically with call of duty… that ones more reflex and map memorization…

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The only game I sucked at was Dota. I think I got banned because I was so bad. Never put any effort into learning the game though.

I didn’t raid much in Wow. That requires social skills and talking to people over voice chat.

I sometimes get called a hacker because I was so good at FPS.

Anyways, I think there is a correlation but I don’t think they’ll substitute IQ tests yet.

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