What real life subjects has gaming inspired you to learn?

[Zloth]

Playing World War 2 flight sims back in the dawn of gaming inspired me to read up on WW2 bombers, especially the B-17 Fortress, though also including several others. (Like the Mosquito, a WW2 bomber made mostly of wood, and bombs designed to skip on water like a flat rock.)

In Valkyria Chronicles 4, your submarine gets trapped in between some icebergs (?) and the Evil Baddies Empire attack by dropping bombs with parachutes on them. Crazy concept! What a silly game! But yeah, actually that really is a real-life thing. If the baddies were to drop the bombs normally, they would hit the icebergs instead of the target unless they were willing to use dive bombing.

We liked using spetums in AD&D. All we knew about them was that they did good damage and you could say "I swing the spetum at'm!" for laughs. Naturally, once the internet came around, I had to look up what they were. (Answer: one of the many "sharp and/or heavy hunk of metal on the end of a big stick" variations.)

(Topic is a spin-off from @ipman's "Positive aspects of gaming" thread)

 

[Colif]

and bombs designed to skip on water like a flat rock.)

They were designed to spin backwards so that when they hit a dam they would go to base before exploding... i knew what it looked like before I clicked link.

Parachute bombs were used in ww2 by Japanese to attack US mainland as well. Some of the ideas thought up during times of conflict may not make a lot of sense.

But I didn't learn that from games... Dad had a lot of books on subject.

I can't think of anything that has a game has inspired me to learn about.

 

[ipman]

Playing some games like Moto GP, or Dirt, or Steep have given me a real appreciation of what those competitors do.
I am a biker and watched Moto GP, but playing the game means I have to learn the circuits, get to try all the bike set ups out on the circuits. Same with Dirt. I then go and watch real riders or rally drivers for tips and insights.

Steep just gives me an insight into that world. I then watched the half pipe and other Olympic events with a much better understanding of what they are doing and how hard it is. Again watch vids of snowboarders explaining their techniques. And that feeds back into the game.

I do a lot of Motor cycle riding virtually; GTAV, Legion(I used to m/bike courier on those streets), Moto GP and Ride4, before the summer so that my reaction times are at a peak to deal with real motorists.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Playing Globle has inspired me to work on learning world geography. I have the Americas and Europe down. Next up is Africa when I get time. I'm kind of overwhelmed by it, though, but I haven't had time to invest in it yet. But looking it over, I feel like Africa is going to be the hardest for me to get down. I looked at Asia and Oceania, and Africa seems like it's going to kick my butt the most of all.

 

[Zloth]

I have the Americas and Europe down. Next up is Africa when I get time.

That's mighty good right there - central America, northern South America, and the Caribbean have a lot of nations!

But you do have two other continents down pat: Australian and Antarctica.

What is this game, though?

 

[Brian Boru]

What is this game, though?

It's one of the browser games we're playing in the Strategy forum:

Globle

(If a mod wants to move this, I'm fine with that) But have you guys seen the Globle game? It's similar to Worldle, but a lot better in my opinion. https://globle-game.com/ 🌎 May 6, 2022 🌍 🔥 1 | Avg. Guesses: 14 ⬜🟧🟨🟨🟥🟥🟥🟧 🟥🟨🟥🟧🟥🟩 = 14 #globle

forums.pcgamer.com

 

[Brian Boru]

Globle has inspired me to work on learning world geography

I'm definitely filling in a lot of gaps via the WorLdle browser game we're also playing in the Strategy forum, especially the South Pacific islands—they're worse than Africa!

Civ made me learn a lot about lesser-known civilizations and leaders, as well as lesser-known Great People.

So yeah, history and geography would be the main two general subject areas gaming has helped me with.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

That's mighty good right there - central America, northern South America, and the Caribbean have a lot of nations!

But you do have two other continents down pat: Australian and Antarctica.

What is this game, though?

I now have Africa down, so all I have left are Asia and Oceania. I see Brian answered your question about the game.

I'm definitely filling in a lot of gaps via the WorLdle browser game we're also playing in the Strategy forum, especially the South Pacific islands—they're worse than Africa!

Don't tell me that! So what you're talking about would be part of Asia, or Oceania, or both? I think the way I'm splitting it up will make it easier. Asia has all of the Philippines and Indonesia, but then Papua New Guinea on down is part of Oceania. Since the islands are split like that, I think it will be easier to learn them.

 

[Brian Boru]

part of Asia, or Oceania

Oh Oceania for sure. There are a lot of 'em in the South Pacific—and not all are independent countries!

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Oh Oceania for sure. There are a lot of 'em in the South Pacific—and not all are independent countries!

Well, I'm not going that in depth with things, at least not right now. I'm only learning the ones that are independent countries. I'm not learning the names and locations of every territory, or anything. Maybe later...

 

[Zloth]

I'm not learning the names and locations of every territory, or anything. Maybe later...

What about Mare Nubium? Grimaldi? Mare Cognitum?

 

[WoodenSaucer]

What about Mare Nubium? Grimaldi? Mare Cognitum?

Haha. Definitely not learning the geography of the moon yet!

 

[Pifanjr]

I can't think of any specific examples of things I started researching because of games. I did learn a lot of stuff from games themselves though.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Well, folks. I just mastered the nations of Oceania. So now I know where all the countries in the world are. I was able to do this whole world game without any mistakes.

Countries of the World Map Quiz | World Geography Games

Maybe after I let this simmer for a while, I'll start in on the world capitals.

 

[Frindis]

Survival games like Dayz and also different youtube channels have made me appreciate the wilderness a bit more, so much that I have invested in a lot of equipment like survival knives (recently bought), tarp, The Jarven fjellduken (really cool!), hammock, Garmin GSMAP 66s, etc for surviving outside. Tomorrow I'm going on a smaller trip using the Garmin GPS for the first time. I'll be slowly exploring more and more as I get more used to both the GPS and of course navigating properly using a map/compass. I live in an area with a lot of snow for many months, so I need to learn a lot about warning signs for avalanches when I want to go more off-trail. Avalanches are a killer here in Norway and something to respect, not to mention combinations of strong wind and snow/rain if you do not prepare properly for a longer trip. So yeah, baby steps and trying not to do anything too stupid.

 

[Brian Boru]

this whole world game without any mistakes

You're kidding, how many countries did you play?

Took me 31 attempts to get 23 of 'em!

 

[ZedClampet]

game development
car repair
ships of the pirate age
farming

 

[Pifanjr]

game development

Gaming in general did inspire me to become a software developer, but it wasn't any one game in particular that did that.

Also I noticed the OP mentioned AD&D. I have looked up a lot of random stuff for my D&D campaigns. Mostly stuff about living in the middle ages and some physics and mathematics.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

You're kidding, how many countries did you play?

Took me 31 attempts to get 23 of 'em!

All 197 countries in the world. I now know where every one is. I can even play a different game where they give you a map and you have to type them all out. I can tell you where they all are, but I'm not good at their shapes, like you are, though.

 

[Sarafan]

Operation Flashpoint (ARMA: Cold War Assault) inspired me to learn a little about military hardware. Big advantage of the game is that the hardware in OF is based on real life hardware. I don't know whether they had a license to use it or not (and whether a license was needed in this case), but nothing can beat the look of four M1A1 Abrams in full speed... I just had to know more!

 

[MrShadow]

it was all my favourite games that got me into developing one myself,all though this is now my second one (from memory) however on a slightly different take.it was a well known DJ called pete tong and a godawful riff based music software game on the playstation called music 2000 that got me into developing music back in 2001 i used a full software based studio kit similar to full cubase, i made progressive house and trance, i had two great mates who i had met threw pete tongs old chatroom and all 3 of us were DJs as well,we usded to send each other our own WIP tracks and make them together remotely-im in manchester, one of my buds was in cali and another bud was very down south here.
unstable lifelong epilepsy sadly destroyed my memory and i dont have a clue what im doing anymore,lost all my studio knowledge.

games can influence your passions massively,we never hear of this side-only the bad from tabloid media (and the people who tend to follow what games say to do usualy have something going on like a lot of trauma plus lacking mental capacity anywsay)-ill always say go with it and learn as much as you can as you never know what may happen in the future.

 

[miqasam]

Playing some games like Moto GP, or Dirt, or Steep have given me a real appreciation of what those competitors do.
I am a biker and watched Moto GP, but playing the game means I have to learn the circuits, get to try all the bike set ups out on the circuits. Same with Dirt. I then go and watch real riders or rally drivers for tips and insights.

Steep just gives me an insight into that world. I then watched the half pipe and other Olympic events with a much better understanding of what they are doing and how hard it is. Again watch vids of snowboarders explaining their techniques. And that feeds back into the game.

I do a lot of Motor cycle riding virtually; GTAV, Legion(I used to m/bike courier on those streets), Moto GP and Ride4, before the summer so that my reaction times are at a peak to deal with real motorists.

Know that's something known as true motivation

 

[HenrykForkbeard]

Gaming in general did inspire me to become a software developer, but it wasn't any one game in particular that did that.

Also I noticed the OP mentioned AD&D. I have looked up a lot of random stuff for my D&D campaigns. Mostly stuff about living in the middle ages and some physics and mathematics.

Software Developer hey? This is something that's recently came up as something I've considered to get into. I don't particularly have any career skills per say and wondered what it would be like..

I feel a bit weird in the sense, I've never played a game and came away wanting to have some experience of it in reality. The development aspect is purely from enjoying computers hardware & software based, rather than a game push me to that route.

I occasionally think what would it be really like to live in Skyrim or whatever world of the game I'm playing in. What parts of these world's would suck and be great? Don't fancy an arrow to knee often...

 

[Pifanjr]

Software Developer hey? This is something that's recently came up as something I've considered to get into. I don't particularly have any career skills per say and wondered what it would be like..

That very much depends on where you're working and what kind of developer you are.

 

[Brian Boru]

Software Developer hey? This is something that's recently came up as something I've considered to get into. I don't particularly have any career skills per say and wondered what it would be like

One of the best paying jobs in USA without a degree, probably the same in EU.

Do you like installing mods which require fiddling under the hood? If you do, then go make a web page with HTML & CSS. If you fancy that, add some JavaScript to it.

Still interested? Software dev might be for you