Study; Playing games with many GUI cues may shrink your brain

Yes, gamers are literally losing mass in their brain if they are playing games that see the player relying on GUI cues. In contrast, games like Mario where players are often required to figure things out on their own can potentially see an increase in brain mass.

For budding game developers, this might add fuel to the discussion on just how much help the game designer should give the player and whether it’s really a bad thing to risk seeing players struggling at times to figure things out. Some think the lack of cues may make things unfair or overly frustrating, but I don’t think anyone has seriously taken into account the impact it has on brain health.

What do the designers and players here alike think?

How can they be sure that playing videogames relying on gui cues affects everybody the same?

If GUI stops players from engaging the game and thinking, then brain shrinkage is definitely going to happen.

Make good GUIs that encourage player’s brain activity. No more GUIs to just make players lazy.

That and no more making games which feel more like an interactive movie than something nice and challenging (with the help of decreasing difficulties, reducing mechanics to simple quick-time events, auto-aiming, very long cutscenes, ect…).

Perhaps it’s time for major AAA titles to bring back difficulty levels, so people who want a challenge with a maximum level of thought required can have it.