[Discussion] Game Based Learning and your Stories about Learning in Games

All Games are learning. You might think the things you learn in games have no relevance for the stuff you need to know in life or even in Education. But I strongly disagree.
In the near future, we will use proper commercial games, the games we play and love within educational settings to teach children and adults and use the wisdom of the community to learn and grow within learning settings, no matter if it is at school or in vocational training.
I start this thread to collect stories from the awesome GWJ community that say something meaningful, interesting or outright funny about your personal learning experiences in games and how you might apply what you learned there in life.
I am very much looking forward to hearing your comments and stories.
Thank you in advance,

Thomas from Austria,
Gamer and Game Based Educator

Moved to Games and Platforms.

I have many memories of playing Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing and my typing speed today is a direct result of that (that and adventure games like the first couple of King's Quest and Police Quest games which had a text parser).
A lot of games requires orientation as well, figuring out where you were and what was around you and where you wanted to go. A lot of these old adventure games taught me to draw maps, and how to use them (Mordack's labyrinth in King's Quest 5 had a neat twist toit, you had to turn the map to match the change in perspective).

Think that's about it for me now.

We had a related thread a little while ago - maybe there are some stories of interest to you there as well.

Games that have made you want to learn more about a subject

My vocabulary, in large part, is due to the amount of RPGs I played as a child. Breath of Fire II, Super Mario RPG, and The Legend of Dragoon (among many others) are basically just visual novels with combat mechanics in between. Not to say I didn't read a ton of books as a kid as well, but I played way more games.

I was just having a conversation with a friend last night about how a lot of us gamers take for granted our ability to pick up a controller, and, instinctively, start manipulating objects in an environment. If other members of my family, or my boyfriend, pick up a controller it becomes abundantly clear how much that this is an actual skill.

I get genuine joy out of being as efficient as humanly possible with tasks, and I firmly believe that this trait was nurtured, in large part, due to playing WoW (min/maxing) and other games where speed/efficiency is rewarded.

I'm a player that will stay on a boss/puzzle until it is finished no matter how much difficulty I'm having. I don't like leaving things unfinished, and I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment of "beating" a problem. Helps a lot in my line of work.

Probably the most important thing I learned from video games is the qualities it takes to be a leader. I was a guild leader in WoW for years in a competitive guild. The interpersonal, conflict management/mediation, and organizational skills I learned from that experience are invaluable. I started my current position a year and a half ago, and I've been approached by several supervisors to start applying for promotion already. This isn't something that would have happened if I didn't play WoW for 10 years.

Video games are a major part of what shaped me into who I am today.