Can you be smart but bad at riddles?
As an avid gamer and content writer focused on the gaming scene, I get asked on my streams often if being a strong video game player means you can easily solve tricky riddles or brain teasers. My answer? An emphatic no – I‘ve seen even brilliant strategy experts stumped by simple verbal problems. Let‘s dig into why mastering complex gameplay doesn‘t guarantee you‘ll ace a logic puzzle.
Gamer Smart vs Riddle Smart
When it comes to intelligence as gamers, we tend to skew more towards visual-spatial skills, quick analytic thinking, and dynamic problem-solving. For example, pulling off a 50-hit combo in a fighting game requires processing visual cues at lightning speed. But unpacking a twisty word puzzle activates different parts of the brain, like language centers and verbal working memory.
I have a buddy Luca who can build mind-blowing cities in Minecraft but couldn‘t solve a basic riddle to literally save his life. My own nemesis is the Sunday New York Times crossword – I get fatigued translating clues into answers, while acing timed Sudoku puzzles. Point is – various mental capabilities don‘t always go hand in hand.
Gamer Achilles Heels
In my experience running a gaming discord channel, players that dominate in certain genres hit roadblocks with others. Here are some common blindspots:
- FPS experts struggle with deepest strategy games
- Creative world-builders lag at linguistic puzzles
- Lightning calculators mess up reading social cues in RPGs
So a single skill set like reaction times can‘t cover all types of games. By extension, raw horsepower doesn‘t guarantee riddle skills either.
Cognitive Factors for Riddle Solvers
Deductive reasoning, verbal fluency, flexible thinking, and concentration are bedrock abilities for unraveling riddles. Unfortunately, common conditions we gamers experience like ADHD, anxiety, and mood issues can specially impair these. Let me break it down:
ADHD Brains: Fast Yet scattered
My ADHD gives me some real gaming superpowers – insane impulse control for split-second decisions, hyperfocus when adrenaline kicks in, and refractory period to bounce back after losses. But word puzzles? Those are torture.
Here are my obstacles:
- Working memory deficit: Can‘t hold riddle details in head
- Impulsivity: Blurt out wrong answers without thinking through
- Distractability: Easy to lose the narrative thread
So while raw processing velocity is lightning-quick, poor cognitive control hampers translating that power for lingo-heavy challenges.
Mental Flexibility Matters
Games reward and even exploit our tendency towards narrow focus – that‘s the gamer tunnel vision. But riddles live in the gray areas. My stream friend Halina, a chess champ, mastered the decisive thinking and calculated risk-taking needed at high levels of competitive play. Yet open-ended verbal problems that could have multiple solutions frazzle her.
The mental gear shifting just isn‘t there compared to laser strategic instincts. So for particular personality types, applying flexibility outside a defined rule system feels impossible, almost paralyzing.
Practice Makes Perfect?
Now that we see raw smarts or gaming excellence isn‘t enough for riddle mastery, is it game over? Not so fast! Using the same growth mindset we bring to high difficulty video game campaigns, our riddle game can level up too with deliberate practice.
Games that Build Skills
Some great apps that blend gaming elements with brain training include Elevate, Lumosity, and Peak. Within these, be sure to double down on modules focused on problem-solving, mental agility, language, and processing speed.
Or for screen-free options, grab an old-school book of verbal puzzles from the library across varying difficulty ratings. I suggest starting on the easier end before unleashing ultra-hard stumpers!
Expert Riddler Techniques
From seasoned puzzle champions, here are some pro-tips I‘m trying to adopt:
- Read very slowly and take notes
- Purposely look for trick words that might misdirect
- Verbalize my thought process out loud
- Allow short breaks to reset fuzzy thinking
These may feel unnatural at first, but can optimize limited mental resources we have to apply.
Growth Mindset Is Vital
Ultimately, the patience and tenacity so critical in gitting gud at tough video game campaigns apply equally to strengthening our riddle game. Setbacks are part of the process – as long as we persist, skills will catch up! So next time you rage quit after failing to solve a tricky brain teaser, remember the adventurer‘s mantra: I will defeat this puzzle, or die trying!
The Grind is Real!
As a final tip – find friends, either IRL or in gaming communities, to tackle these mental challenges together. Social motivation really helps grind through the inevitable failures until you start seeing wins. My riddle buddy Talia and I have a standing virtual hangout to run through practice puzzles as a team. Maybe someday I‘ll finally stump her!
So in closing friends, while raw intellect doesn‘t make riddle mastery a given, a growth mindset plus deliberate training over time can help us gain terrain against these verbal adversaries! After all, if we gamers can clear NG+7 Soul Level 1 no-hit Dark Souls runs, what‘s a little word puzzle?
