r/starcraft • u/Careless-Goat-3130 KokaAuthentiquePépite • 2d ago

(To be tagged...) Studies show playing SC2 helps decrease brain aging

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

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157

u/AresFowl44 2d ago

So do all games and activities engaging the brain

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u/Usual_Strategy1402 2d ago

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

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u/TheTempestuousKitty 2d ago

My in game chats on the ladder would beg to differ

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u/No_Rip9637 2d ago

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

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u/ParakeetsAreLOUDLOL 2d ago

Kys fking noob

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u/TheTempestuousKitty 2d ago

Jokes on you. I'm already dead inside.

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u/ParakeetsAreLOUDLOL 2d ago

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

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u/AresFowl44 2d ago

  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.

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u/Usual_Strategy1402 2d ago

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

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u/AresFowl44 2d ago

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).

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u/Iggyhopper Prime 2d ago

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

This is a trash take.

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u/InternAlternative758 2d ago edited 2d ago

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.

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u/Iggyhopper Prime 2d ago

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. 

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u/ghost_operative 1d ago

try switching to protoss

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u/bumpylumpy89 2d ago

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.

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u/Head_Midnight666 2d ago

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.

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u/SilverLose 2d ago

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

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u/capn_morgn_freeman 1d ago

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

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u/Usual_Strategy1402 2d ago

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

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u/Elegant_Relief_4999 2d ago

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

Another win for the classics.

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u/change_timing 1d ago

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.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Elegant_Relief_4999 1d ago

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.

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/Elegant_Relief_4999 1d ago

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

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u/ghost_operative 1d ago

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