Mom was wrong.

Will any video game do?

• The PTSD research was the most specific: they called out Tetris by name.

• The creativity connection was seen regardless of game type.

• The reaction time and multitasking studies specified "action games."

• The nightmare study didn't specify in the abstract but given that it was studying "threat rehearsal" I think it's safe to say they're referencing action games.

• The cognitive flexibility study was even more specific: first person shooter games. That means games like CALL OF DUTY which have this perspective:

So although Angry Birds can help with creativity it really is action games that help with reaction time and multitasking.

I'm also convinced that action games prepare young people or military careers.

I'm surprised there aren't more military-sponsored titles.

I must be a genius!

@adam

The military has. Americas Army was a FPS game for the military as training. The game was pretty popular a few years ago. It featured training tests about vehicle identification to injury assessment. The later installments couldnt keep up with the call of duty's. They feel like the military designed them.

Full Spectrum Warrior was another game originally designed as training. This was more for squad commands and orders rather than how to shoot a bad guy. I actually really liked this game. It even had the military version unlockable which was much tougher and had civilians that if shot was insta-fail.

Anyway that's what I know about the military and games. A couple other hyper-real army games are ARMA and Operation Flashpoint. I think Flashpoint was also funded by the military at on point. And I know ARMA 2 has killer realistic zombie mod that is not to be fucked with.