Five Ways That Games Make You Think
Method 4: Anything Goes
If there's one genre that recently got a serious boost, it would be the 'sandbox' games that allow their users to fill in the blanks with the building blocks the features hand out. This can take many forms, from surviving the harsh landscapes to creating an entire universe. These titles can be paramount as a teaching tool for personal development, unlocking not just the creative parts of the brain, but also those fit for management, planning and so on. An enticing world left open to whim can end up in extremely surprising and interesting ways. It only needs imagination.
Minecraft
There is no better example possible than the mother of all creators: Minecraft. Entire new games have spawned from it, entire worlds have been erected and dedicated to the recreation of fan-favorite items; literally all of it stems from the blocks the game's given. From the most humble of structures to elaborate contraptions, anything is possible in this world with just a dash of danger brought on by its hostile inhabitants. As projects become more ambitious, it's entirely plausible to come up with material far beyond what you first thought you were capable of. It all comes to you, one block at a time.
All games act the same... they give you a set of rules and have you decode some patterns and used it to beat the game...
the real factors of how the video games encourage mental exercise is the learning curve.
Study shows that video games only stimulate the brain during the learning curve phase and eventually the stimulation dies down after the game pattern has been decoded then it becomes mechanical... "like riding a bike"
this translate to the idea that the more complex the game rule is the more it is stimulating to the brain.
FPS, in terms of gameplay mechanics, have a low learning curve same with movie games like Ryse.
However FPS in a multiplayer arena involves external factors like human psychology and often times real world battle tactics that also requires mastery separate from the game itself...
but since FPS game rules are easily learned and often rehashed of older titles, human behavior involves in FPS gameplay are very limited and often very predictable