Fun and Games

If you are reading this post, you have probably played a video game at some point in your life. Maybe it was one of those simple ball-paddle block-buster kind of deals, or maybe it was something a little more involved, with adventure, puzzles, mystery, experience points, strategy, exploration, gunning, or some kind of tasteful blend.

There are some folks who detest the presence of video games in our homes, the needless hours wasted away on an imaginary character, and the desensification of violence that some games bring. These same people generally fail to question the appeal of games: what are the kids getting from games that they aren't getting from their schools?

A stroll in the safari can answer some fundamental questions, but with a limited budget, you can go to the park and watch the puppy dogs. Young fraternal animals will wrestle and bite each other, making an instant transition to and from mutual licking and grooming. Playing games is part of our quintessence, and can't be denied by Jack Thompson or Bible-thumpers.

Having been a client of the American education system within the last decade, I can make some comparative observations. There are hardly any games in school! There is a culture which views games as a means to have fun, relax. God forbid you learn anything from a game. Games are used as a means to reward the class, rather than actually teach them something.

The only game that we really played consistently in my hometown school was called "Escape from Indiana." If you score enough points through rote memorization, you get an earlier letter of the alphabet attached to your character profile. If you get through the levels without making too many mistakes, then the out-of-state colleges will consider you for admission. Assuming your progenitors successfully played the game called "Make Money and Resist Consumer Temptation", you get to see a great ending sequence that involves hills and oceans and cities. Fail, and you are stuck in a corn field and never get to play again.

Needless to say, this game isn't a lot of fun. So, the pendulum of human desire swings the other way, and we can play games at home that are lots of fun, but don't teach you anything. To remedy the situation, we have to change the way we think about games. I envision a future in which there are whole academic departments devoted to the design of educational gaming, a worthwhile investment, given how fundamentally important the education system is to our economy and way of life.