I’m coming out… I’m a Gamer.

You can find Starcraft being taught at UC Berkeley.  This study shows that playing real-time strategy (RTS) games improved “cognitive flexibility” in those who played it.

I’m not ashamed of being a gamer any more… but only because I’ve made it to the top of my Starcraft ][ silver league bracket:

A good game can teach one to optimize for every single possibility, to close every possible gap, to maximize every resource and to utilize all surpluses, to minimize any waste. You’ll still get whopped from time to time, which is important because it’s the losses that teach you much more than the wins, if and only if you really analyze why you lost, and come up with corrections to prevent that means of losing later. Things start to work better for you in the long run. These are lessons that can be applied to real life. I believe that some games, when properly applied, can actually sharpen the mind.

Better living through Starcraft!