Minecraft Brain Training

Recently I've been pondering on all the pro's of gaming. Last Monday I posted about how Minecraft is educational. Check it out here. This lead me to realise that Minecraft is also great for adults as well to exercise our brain. Using our brain to conquer puzzles, test our memory, solve problems and be creative keeps our minds strong in these areas.

You could go ahead and do brain training exercises... *yawn* Personally I find this a chore... Or you could simply play Minecraft. Here's how Minecraft keeps our brain strong!

1. Minecraft tests our memory 

There are so many recipes to remember to build tools and supplies in Minecraft, while you can go ahead and look them all up, that gets overly tedious, so it's much easier to just remember the ones you need to make often such as your tools which break over time and food.

 

2. Minecraft helps you with your directional sense

Personally, I need help with this, direction is not my fortè. Minecraft requires you to go exploring, having a strong sense of direction is a huge plus because not only do you need to find your way back out of a cave or back home but you may also need to do it in the dark. This also once again, tests our memory.

 

3. Minecraft requires you to solve problems and gives you multiple ways to do this

For example you have a hunger bar and need to make sure that it doesn't drop all the way down or your character will die. You can kill wild animals for food but you must also cook the meat, you can grow wheat to make bread and even bake a cake. Just like crafting tools and items, some food requires a few items to create.

You also must survive the monsters which appear at night, your best bet is to create shelter and perhaps build a bed to sleep through the night. You also need to equip yourself with weapons such as swords and/or a bow and arrows.

The monsters become harder as you gain experience and level up. To better your chances of staying alive you can create armor and better both your weapons and armor with stronger materials and enchants.

 




While you can simply survive and build your dream home and even a whole city, you can also take on the adventure of slaying the Ender Dragon; the end game boss. This brings up a whole new list of problems to solve which I'll leave for you to discover.

4. Minecraft is a creative game

You start in the vast wilderness, with different types of landscapes; such as desert, jungle, forest and snow plains. It's entirely up to you what you will do. You could build your dream home, build a city or pretty landscapes, build gardens, build a giant statue of your favourite character, build a roller coaster, build a train system, have an animal farm, explore the world or strive to slay the Ender Dragon; the lists of what you can do are endless. 

Being creative while having to also think logically connects and strengthens both sides of your brain. It's just as important to exercise the creative and subjective side of your brain as it is to exercise your logical and objective side. While our society tends to favour logic and rational thinking, our culture is beginning to realise our right side allows us to be imaginative, create and problem solve through thinking outside the box and transcending ideas altogether.

5. Minecraft is a puzzle game

 Minecraft requires problem solving skills such as logic and remembering patterns. You may remember SighFye's post about him making a binary clock in Minecraft, take a look here. You can also find and solve puzzles that people have created, such as The Puzzles of Hydro Map.

And if you're up for more of a challenge, you could create your own puzzle. 

6. Minecraft helps develop your math skills

Along with remembering patterns to create items, you also need to use math when you want to create multiple items at once in recipes or when you're building. You'll be using math from addition and subtraction to algebra.

7. You can test your current skills in programming or learn how to code

You can build customized features into Minecraft by coding modifications into the game. Minecraft provides a fun platform to learn how to program, even 8 year old's are learning how to code with Minecraft.

The survival aspect along with the freedom to be creative and do what you want makes Minecraft the perfect brain training game!

Have fun strengthening your head muscle but don't forget to exercise your other muscles too ;)

Bellistik

A Spark From An Old Flame

SighFye here...

It's been a while since I could play any big scale games so I have started playing smaller games I come across. Recently, you may have read I bought a bundle from bundlestars which had a few games in it. You can read that post here.

So the first game I played was Fortix 2.

This game is a more modern version of a game I played when I was a kid called Frenzy.This game was from when I was about 7. A REALLY long time ago.

Frenzy

The object of the game was to take control of the areas by drawing a line from one part of the border to the other. If you make it you take control of that area. There are things bouncing around and if they touch you or your line, well you lose a life.

Fortix takes this to the next level. The idea is to take control of towers and bases. There are cannons and dragons flying around. This version of it has a much harder aim than its ancestor. There are walls to block you, keys to open doors, different types of dragons and an ogre. I enjoyed the game a lot and found it challenging. But my question is, did I enjoy it as it was a remake of an old flame? Would I have enjoyed it if I stumbled across it? That is something you guys are going to have to answer for me. The only issue I had was the game was a little short, well a lot short.

For $1.99 on steam, I would recommend this game to you for sure. Give it a whirl and see what you think. Post your comment below.

The next game I've been playing is Vector. I will post my thoughts on it when I have had a decent enough play.

And remember, if you like what you are reading here, don't forget to follow and recommend the blog.

SighFye

A Mathematic Advantage

Hello again, SighFye here.

I had a thought today about an old game show that had a 3 door competition at the end of it. The contestant was presented with 3 doors. Behind 1 of these doors is a prize. They get the constant to select a door. When the constant has selected they open one of the doors the contestant did not choose and show no prize behind that door. The contestant is then asked whether they wish to stick to the door they selected or switch to the other door. After that, if the contestant selected the correct door, they win, if not, they lose.

There is however a way have a higher chance of winning. Choosing to switch to the other door with increase your chances of winning. But how can that be? Each door has 1/3 chance of winning. Surely this doesn't change. Technically it doesn't no, but let me explain.

This is the true percentage. There is a 66.7% chance of loosing, on your first selection. Say you select Door 1, the host will not open Door 3 as its the winning door. So he opens Door 2. The choice now are...

 

You can take Door 2 out as this one has been opened. So we have...

   
To choose Door 1 or 2 is 66.7% loss. Door 2 is not available so Door 1 is 66.7% loss. Meaning you have a greater chance of winning if you switch to Door 3.

So now I can hear you saying, what if you choose Door 3. Then you will loose. But look at this mathematically. There are three selections at the start, so there are only 3 scenarios.

Scenario 1:
You select Door 1, they open Door 2 and you switch to Door 3 and win!
Scenario 2:
You select Door 2, they open Door 1 and you switch to Door 3 and win!
Scenario 3:
You select Door 3, they open either Door 1 or Door 2, you switch to the other door and lose.

So playing the switch you have a 2/3 chance of winning. Odd are good in my eyes.

Let now look at sticking scenarios. You still only have 3.
Scenario 1:
You select Door 1, they open Door 2 and you stick to Door 1 and loose.
Scenario 2:
You select Door 2, they open Door 1 and you stick to Door 2 and loose.
Scenario 3:
You select Door 3, they open either Door 1 or Door 2, you stick to Door 3 and win.

So playing at sticking, you have 1/3 chance of winning.

So there you have it. How to increase your chances of winning in the three door game. Try it out for yourself here. http://www.theproblemsite.com/games/monty_hall_game.asp#gameTop

Happy Gaming Geeks.

SighFye