Do you believe that video games can make people learn things faster and better?

Video games help you to learn logic patterns. To actually see them in motion instead of just reading about them.
This in turn helps a player see patterns in life around them and allows them to adjust to new information more easily than non-players.

I think one thing has become apparent since the advent of video games and that is this new crop of musician is showing incredibly fast and exacting digital dexterity which has been attributed to early and constant neurological and fine hand muscle development on the game console. Move over Segovia and Rachmaninoff, tell Tchaikovsky the news.

Yes, it’s better than a book in some ways.

- Games are more interactive than books. When you read a book you only follow what it says, but when you play games you control the characters yourself. You can make decisions and see where they leads you.
– Games require less effort than books. You have to read, remember and visualize with a book. You don’t have to do as much in a game.
– You are easier to empathize with a character and a situation in a game than in a book because you can see their appearance, their actions, their feelings… like they are a real person. You have to imagine everything with a book.

But I don’t think games can replace books. Games and books have their own strength.

Some things, yes. Other things, no. THings that have spatial relationships, probably are enhanced by games.

Concepts such as love, compassion, and creative thought, not so much. Gaming is largely reactionary, not creative in the sense of inventive.

Certainly.

I had a chemistry game in which you memorize the periodical table and get a higher score with the more you succeed. It was fun.

Pattern recognition, problem solving, hand-eye coordination, teamwork…yeah. some things are easier to learn in illustrated, interactive ways than from a book.

Learn things faster and better… some things yes. There’s a lot of research being done into incorporating gaming into learning environments. The gaming might also be a precursor to the real thing. Say like a flight simulator. So you practice moves or resolve problems in a safe, cheap version before moving to the real thing.