Gamer's Advantage?

True confession - I've never played video games, role playing or otherwise, except for Frogger which after a half hour of hearing splat I gave up on. But I did find the newest discussion in the sci-fi arena about these games quite interesting.

This one by Paul Weimer over at SF Signal seems to have set it off. http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2011/04/roll-perception-plus-awareness-an-introduction/

Yesterday I read Paul Kemp's essay on how he became a writer due to his gaming http://paulskemp.com/blog/how-i-got-started-as-a-writer-in-brief/

And this morning I read Deborah Ross' essay which tends to blast the idea that roll playing helps writers. http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/2011/04/26/why-you-wont-catch-me-at-the-dice/

As near I can tell in the comments of Ms. Ross' post is that male writers seem to embrace the gaming curve in their writing while the female writers tend to dismiss it. But like I said, I've never done the gaming thing so I have no clue, just found the discussion interesting and thought you might as well. What I do know is that when I'm writing, the story usually evolves much smoother if I can actually put myself in the character's shoes and allow them tell the story.

Any thoughts from our gamers out there? Have they helped or hindered your writing? Just curious from a writer's perspective.