Source: videogamesblogger.com

Think videogames serve no point in life? These true “videogames saved my life” stories argue otherwise.

“Grand Theft Auto saved me from a potentially serious accident”

Blogger Dan Johnson-Weinberger recounted how a nearly fatal automotive mishap convinced him that Grand Theft Auto was “the best drivers education course in the world.” Having played Grand Theft Auto III “quite a bit” Johnson-Weinberger learned that the quickest way to stop a vehicle in the game was to hit the brake and pull the emergency brake. And it was that knowledge that ultimately saved his real life from a very “potentially serious accident”.

Here is the story in Johnson-Weinberger’s own words: “So one day I’m driving back from Springfield (before I found the only civilized way to travel on Amtrak) in a winter storm. I’m driving up an entrance ramp too quickly and I start to spin out, skidding sideways up the ramp and in danger of rolling off the ramp. The foot brakes are useless, as I’m fishtailing wildly. Instinctively I reach for the emergency brake and pull it, cutting my fishtail radius in half instantly and I come to a calm stop, perpendicular to the ramp. Hours of playing Grand Theft Auto had trained me to pull the emergency brake when I lose control of the car.”

To read Dan Johnson-Weinberger’s account in its full context, visit his blog, Progressive Advocacy.

“I feigned death, just like in level 30 in World of Warcraft”

Did you hear the story about the 12 year old Norwegian boy who saved his sister by shouting at an attacking moose and then feigning death (”just like in level 30 in World of Warcraft“) to avoid being mauled by said moose? He survived to tell the tale to online Norwegian news site Nettavisen.

Here’s a story you may have heard: Videogames can even save lives on the operating table. As reported by an article in the New York Times, a study carried out in 2004 concluded that “surgeons who played video games for at least three hours a week were 27 percent faster and made 37 percent fewer mistakes than surgeons who did not play video games”. The co-author of the report, Manhattan based Dr Rosser Jr, has ninja-like skills in laparoscopic surgery (a technique that relies on an ultrasmall video camera to help him manipulate long, slender instruments inserted into patients through small incisions) and likes to “warm up” before operating with a few stages of Super Monkey Ball.

“The driving skills I learned in Gran Turismo paid off big time”

A contributor going by the online handle of DJuxtaposition submitted his own tale of ‘How Videogames Saved My Life’ to community site Everything2, where he recounts how the driving skills he learned while playing Gran Turismo helped to save his life when a collision with a grasshopper (yes, the insect) sent his vehicle off the road.

“I was driving along at a fair clip and I noticed a grasshopper on my windshield. This wasn’t uncommon, but while I was using my wipers to try to swipe at it and convince it to go about its business, I drove off the road… whoops. I was going down an incline into a big ditch type thing, and my rear wheels slipped out from under me. My car was sliding to the point where it was perpendicular to the road. A barbed wire fence and a tree were coming dangerously close to wrecking me for good. I eased on the brakes and turned into, then out of the slide. I came to a stop parallel to the road, looked up to see if any cars were coming, and then got back on the road and proceeded.

“I don’t exactly remember the details, but I do remember thinking, as I was bringing my unruly vehicle under control, ‘Hey, this is like that time in Gran Turismo where I was coming off the ramp and I slid into the grass. Cool.’ And I don’t want to sound cocky or anything, but the guy in the passenger seat swears I did it all with one hand.”

“Had I not played that Sega rally racing game there’s a good chance we would have been killed”

Ex-presenter of GameSpot’s video shows, Rich Gallup, praised the life-saving lessons taught to him by an unidentified Sega rally arcade racer in an edition of the site’s regular random blog, GameSpotting. The one-time host of On The Spot and Button Mashing wrote about a series of events (including something about a man sticking a straw into his own ear) that rescued him from “easily the scariest” moment of his life.

“I noticed the stopped cars too late, and instincts took over. The minivan in front of us swerved to the left to avoid a pileup and we spun to the right, then to the left, then to the right, then to the left, then one last time to the right, and came to a rest in the breakdown lane… I can say without hesitation that if that rally racing game hadn’t taught me how to properly control a skidding car, something terrible might have happened, and for that I am thankful.”

“A videogame that’s helping kids deal with - and even beat - cancer”

Re-Mission is a videogame created by non-profit organization HopeLab to help cancer sufferers understand more about their illness, treatment and recuperation. According to cancer survivor Dan Neumann, playing the game was “a key component that helped him conquer his leukaemia”.

“Kids can play games while nurses take care of their wounds”

In 2005, Mark Griffiths, a professor of gambling studies, authored an article in the British Medical Journal stating how gaming could be a useful tool in health care, particularly in pain management. Griffiths suggests that playing games “can distract the player from the sensation of pain, a strategy that has been reported and evaluated among pediatric patients”.

Here is a video showing exactly what they mean, occupying a young burn victim with a snowball-based virtual reality game. Which allows him to cope with his treatment much more comfortably:

“This demonstrates the value of these systems beyond playing games - this is something that could change the World”

Sony announced back in February that over one million PS3 users had registered for the Folding@home program to help scientists improve their understanding of such diseases as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and cancer.

It works by harnessing the combined power of computers and consoles all over the world to perform complex simulations that would take individual machines years to complete. Watch the video below which will explain exactly how Folding@home works.

If you’ve got a PC you can download the Folding@home software, while networked PS3 users simply have to click on the Folding@home icon under Network on the XMB to get involved.

“There’s a section of the game that teaches you to control bleeding and treat shock… and I used it”

At the end of last year, avid gamer Paxton Galvanek became a real life hero when he used medical skills he learned in America’s Army to assist at the scene of a road traffic accident. Galvanek was first on the scene and quickly assessed the situation. The driver of the crashed vehicle had severed some fingers and - thanks to the virtual training he had received in America’s Army - Galvanek knew exactly what to do and jumped into action as you can see in this news video.

If you want to experience America’s Army the game yourself then you can download America’s Army for free.

“I noticed my drug habits decreased as Dance Dance Revolution helped me deal with my anger issues”

In a winning entry for a Global Kids essay competition, the writer describes how playing videogames steered his life in a positive direction. “Before I started playing games I was a heavy drug addict. I spent all my money from my job on marijuana.” Thankfully he turned his life around by focusing on videogames instead. “Since I started playing Dance Dance Revolution, Counter-Strike, and Second Life I have been clean and off drugs, which is why I still game to this day.”

Do you readers have any interesting stories about how video games have impacted your life in a positive manner. Or even a “videogames saved my life” story of your own? Please share them by posting a comment.