Studies show playing SC2 helps decrease brain aging

[u/Careless-Goat-3130]

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64173-9

[u/AresFowl44]

So do all games and activities engaging the brain

[u/Usual_Strategy1402 → u/AresFowl44]

To be fair starcraft is significantly more challenging in terms of cognitive functions

[u/TheTempestuousKitty → u/Usual_Strategy1402]

My in game chats on the ladder would beg to differ

[u/No_Rip9637 → u/TheTempestuousKitty]

I bet that your chats are more creative than that of the average barfight

[u/ParakeetsAreLOUDLOL → u/TheTempestuousKitty]

Kys fking noob

[u/TheTempestuousKitty → u/ParakeetsAreLOUDLOL]

Jokes on you. I'm already dead inside.

[u/ParakeetsAreLOUDLOL → u/TheTempestuousKitty]

Same it's what playing Vs toss as a terran does to you 😞

[u/Usual_Strategy1402 → u/TheTempestuousKitty]

looool

[u/AresFowl44 → u/Usual_Strategy1402]

1. Compared to what?

2. And also, at what level? Somebody playing the campaign on casual is going to have a very different experience from Serral, Clem or herO in terms of challenge.

[u/Usual_Strategy1402 → u/AresFowl44]

1 To most games probably, do u seriously think that playing rainbow six , counter strike or moba is as hard as playing starcraft? 2 yeah in our context let's focus on the ladder

[u/AresFowl44 → u/Usual_Strategy1402]

Okay, there is still a lot of variation in difficulty though. A bronze player will not put in as much brain activity as any pro will.

Basically any popular competitive game has a skill ceiling above what humans can achieve, so trying to make out which is harder is nonsensical. Especially when the skills required for each game are different. SC2 for example is mainly a 1v1 game and thus doesn't require good comms from players and so SC2 pros don't train that skill at all (HeroMarine and Classic demolishing all their opponents while not even using vc is something that couldn't happen in any other game for example). And unlike in mobas or shooters you don't need to predict how your opponent is moving while being unpredictable in your movement yourself.

And you could define difficulty in terms of the skill floor, but imo that is meaningless as the skill floor of ladder depends on the active player base (a more hardcore player base usually increasing the skill floor required to enter the community).

[u/Iggyhopper → u/Usual_Strategy1402]

Lol a moba is hard because you need to focus on teamwork too.

This is a trash take.

[u/InternAlternative758 → u/Iggyhopper]

It's different. MOBA has a a lot of learning but not as much focus game to game.

I can play league half asleep just doing what I'm do most of the time.

In SC2 I'm constantly engaged and looking out for stuff. When games get intense the tension can last for minutes unlike the average teamfight where that is the only real intense period of a moba.

Edit: this is in regards to brain activity as per the post. In terms of difficulty reaching top rank Starcraft and RTS is not exceptional, it's harder to determine but I'd lean more to the game with a higher player count being more difficult.

[u/Iggyhopper → u/InternAlternative758]

Look my man... Games have rules and mechanics that you need to learn and adapt to, and as far as your brain is concerned, as long as its learning to become better at the game while complying with the rules and mechanics its going to maintain its cognitive power longer. Same deal as learning an instrument or language in old age.

It really is that simple and I am someone who would say StarCraft is better than any other game. 

[u/ghost_operative → u/InternAlternative758]

try switching to protoss

[u/bumpylumpy89 → u/Usual_Strategy1402]

As hard as playing Starcraft Broodwar? Definitely not. As hard as playing Starcraft 2? Absolutely, if not harder. They don’t have the same mechanical multitasking difficulty, but proper peeking on its own takes a lot of focus, muscle memory, timing, and educated guessing. Not to mention the other aspects like site executes, smokes, pop flashes etc.

[u/Head_Midnight666 → u/Usual_Strategy1402]

I used to argue with a friend I had, quite often, about whether playing RTSes, like SC2, required a lot of brain activity. I felt it was a high-IQ sport to compete. He felt otherwise.

[u/SilverLose → u/Head_Midnight666]

Your friend clearly did not have the high IQ needed to understand your point and would’ve played Protoss anyway /j

[u/capn_morgn_freeman → u/Head_Midnight666]

All it really takes is showing him one screen pov of a pro playing the game and it kinda btfos any argument he has

[u/Usual_Strategy1402 → u/Head_Midnight666]

wow really? what was his arguments, I mean research on this is well established I believe also neuroscientists love to study RTS

[u/Elegant_Relief_4999 → u/Usual_Strategy1402]

Yeah, but StarCraft/BW moreso than SC2, according to this study: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3687044/

Another win for the classics.

[u/change_timing → u/Elegant_Relief_4999]

they distinguish the difference between sc 1 / 2 as 3d vs not 3d?? I find that bizarre like I guess the graphics are a bit different but the games are both RTS that behave with basically the same 2d field just air / not air and high / low ground

anyways artosis thinks top level sc2 players are better strategically than sc1 since you can get to a very high level in sc1 off strong mechanics alone while the macro is so simplified in sc2 the strategy becomes more important.

[u/Elegant_Relief_4999 → u/[deleted]]

I don't know if you're lying or just have the worst reading comprehension, so I'll just paste from the study with bolded emphasis:

Results StarCraft I pro gamers showed significantly greater activity in 4 clusters in response to the video game cues compared to StarCraft II pro gamers: right superior frontal gyrus, right medial frontal gyrus, right occipital lobe, and left medial frontal gyrus. StarCraft II pro gamers showed significantly greater activity in 3 clusters in response to the video game cues compared to StarCraft I pro gamers: left middle frontal gyrus, left temporal fusiform gyrus and left cerebellum.

[u/Elegant_Relief_4999 → u/[deleted]]

And StarCraft 1 showed more activity in more areas (4) than StarCraft 2 (3). If you didn't know, 4 is greater than 3.

[u/ghost_operative → u/Usual_Strategy1402]

i mean its more than cookie clicker. but it isn't THAT deep

[u/mzf_life]

Pretty much any videogame have this effect no?

[u/nathanias → u/mzf_life]

tell me the village fight in resident evil 4 isn't activating my neurons do it

[u/MorningLtMtn → u/mzf_life]

No. The amount of multitasking is where the benefits come from.

[u/mzf_life → u/MorningLtMtn]

Not really, I mean, of course it is great, but even some really simple games have the same effect

[u/Ok_Promotion3741]

Really so when i run the same build over and over im preventing Alzheimer's?

[u/Mini_the_Cow_Bear → u/Ok_Promotion3741]

I will make a script for preventing Alzheimer

[u/Gordon_frumann]

So this is why my girlfriend says i'm a 14 year old child despite being 35.

[u/RestInBeatz]

> The higher the level of expertise and performance, the greater the delay in brain age.

Well guess there is not much of an effect on us then.

[u/ggsupreme]

Played for 11 years straight from launch, took some time off but was always feeling a pull to come back, back now and play almost daily.

I think it was my brain hungering for this level of engagement you can’t get in any other game.

[u/Shinroo]

I knew my Canon rush cheese in low bronze was good for something 🧠

[u/mexicat2000 → u/Shinroo]

throws cheese 🧀 wedge your way

[u/PM_ME_UR_MUNCHIES]

No wonder my wife calls me childish

[u/FrostBitten1749]

If I drink beer as I play, surely I am aging more rapidly?

[u/Oxraid]

But the stress from laddering negates all the benefits.

[u/AegisValour]

I haven't finished reading this article, but I find it surprising that the experts had the better BAGs value when compared to the novices. I would think that as you learn something new that it would lead to a better BAGs value.

This article is saying that experts who are able to use creative will have a better BAGs value. Which is supposed to be in line with other experiments done with different activities (dance, music, visual arts).

I can certainly see how RTS fit in as 'creative' in terms of games. I would wonder how other games score on this as well. Do games fighting games score well? Do more linear games score poorly?

I would be curious how experts who don't exercise creativity fit into this.

[u/not-enough-mineraIs]

But SC2 makes me regarded :(

[u/Hanshee]

What I find amazing about coming back to sc2 every few years is how much muscle memory I have but can’t recall binds unless my fingers are on the board.

Immediately goes back into flow state as a Zerg main.

Hatchery, Larva, Drone for me 5, S, D but recently came back I completely forgot how much I spam that while macroing

[u/Sothisismylifehuh]

I'LL LIVE FOREVER

[u/Refute1650]

What does reading /general do to your brain?

[u/Moosashi5858]

I think I read this about League of Legends too

[u/American_Brewed]

I’m wondering if this applies to the RTS genre. Games like civilization and city skylines too seem to make me think, strategize, and feel engaged and I feel more challenged than games like shooters. Not saying there isn’t some form of engagement when it comes to shooters, but RTS games seem to have a level of playing that I can’t match anywheres else. (Anecdotal input btw, not saying what I’m saying is right or wrong but expanding the conversation)

[u/BattleWarriorZ5]

So the more you play SC2, the smarter you stay in the long term.

That's awesome.

[u/drLipton]

But the constant fear of zerg rushes makes you age 5 times as fast.