Education Everywhere: How Video Games Can Teach You
So it's worked for me. But I'm not the only one. People tend to draw people like them, and I've certainly managed to find friends who feel the same way about gaming. These people are very similar to me, and come from all over the world: Australia, Ireland, England, and America are where some of the people I consider myself friends with live.
Here's what I think most people don't realize about video gaming. It's a challenge, a challenge that forces you to piece together information and then utilize it to your advantage in order to succeed. I believe that all games do this - Monopoly, Checkers, Chess, soccer - but I think video games tend to be the most complex but approachable for the average person. Video games teach you, as a player, by presenting you with situations, problems, and experiences and forcing you to involve yourself in finding the answer in order to win.
Video games also teach you to cope with failure, and how to be unattached to your own analysis. Failure in video games means you did something wrong most of the time. Perhaps you didn't drink a healing potion when your attacks kept missing, so you would stay alive. Perhaps you didn't make sufficient use of cover to avoid getting shot. Perhaps you were too aggressive in attacking and left yourself open to counter attack. Video games present situations, and they do so in a way where there are tangible variables. Being a good video gamer means failing, and then figuring out what it was that you did that caused you to fail. It means not just analyzing a given situation, but being able to analyze your analysis and see where it didn't match up with the realities of the situation.
I think that is solid educational value. I think the pressures of video games - often real time, with multiple right ways to succeed and multiple wrong ways, with an instant abundance of information to process and handle - can help your brain excel at becoming critical, open to failure, and ambitious for success.
I am aware that when I play games, I do it with a considerable amount of thinking. I dislike failure, particularly failing at something I enjoy. It's not an uncommon personality trait, but it's not one every person has. I know that there are people who play video games who don't think at all while playing them, but nevertheless play for hours at a time. Allow me to make it clear - I am not advocating that you allow your son or daughter to play video games all day, every day. I believe there are other ways to educate yourself that are worth while and entertaining too.
But I ask this: when you see your child playing video games, would you talk with them about it? Ask them what they feel they get out of it. Ask them what it is they do when they play. I feel that many parents are dismissive that any growing or action at all is happening in video games, that it's an entertaining time waster, like television. Be open. If your child has an affinity for video gaming and shows that they read in the games they play, test different things out, have ideas about how they can play a game and win it but aren't sure if it's better than this other idea they had, then you may have a child who is getting educated by gaming. It's not some unrealistic, far out possibility.
I am excited to see what feedback arises from this post and willing to respond to posted or emailed conversations. This is a subject of personal interest for me. I usually play World of Warcraft (henceforth called WoW) for 2-5 hours a day. Sometimes I think back and think I made a mistake doing so. Mostly, though, I don't, and I have my own standards for when I've played too much. Like when I wanted to play for another hour or two, but instead decided to write this for all of you and then go to sleep so I could be fresh for school.
Education is everywhere.
Posted in DemEd in Real Life on Dec 03, 2009 - 02:42 AM
Something that I've always considered a crucial part of my self-education was video gaming. I've learned so very much from it. I've learned stuff that's pretty mundane - typing skills, quick reading and writing skills, learning how to use words in a context where people couldn't see my body language or tone of voice. And yet, I've also learned some pretty advanced skills that have served me in every other area of my life. I've learned how to analyze disparate facts and learn what I could do based off of that information. I've learned how to cope with failure and rebuttal. I've learned how to keep very calm under intense pressure. I've learned how to study language and speaking to learn more about a person I'm talking with. These are things that help me every day of my life, and that I actively grow inside and outside of gaming.So it's worked for me. But I'm not the only one. People tend to draw people like them, and I've certainly managed to find friends who feel the same way about gaming. These people are very similar to me, and come from all over the world: Australia, Ireland, England, and America are where some of the people I consider myself friends with live.
Here's what I think most people don't realize about video gaming. It's a challenge, a challenge that forces you to piece together information and then utilize it to your advantage in order to succeed. I believe that all games do this - Monopoly, Checkers, Chess, soccer - but I think video games tend to be the most complex but approachable for the average person. Video games teach you, as a player, by presenting you with situations, problems, and experiences and forcing you to involve yourself in finding the answer in order to win.
Video games also teach you to cope with failure, and how to be unattached to your own analysis. Failure in video games means you did something wrong most of the time. Perhaps you didn't drink a healing potion when your attacks kept missing, so you would stay alive. Perhaps you didn't make sufficient use of cover to avoid getting shot. Perhaps you were too aggressive in attacking and left yourself open to counter attack. Video games present situations, and they do so in a way where there are tangible variables. Being a good video gamer means failing, and then figuring out what it was that you did that caused you to fail. It means not just analyzing a given situation, but being able to analyze your analysis and see where it didn't match up with the realities of the situation.
I think that is solid educational value. I think the pressures of video games - often real time, with multiple right ways to succeed and multiple wrong ways, with an instant abundance of information to process and handle - can help your brain excel at becoming critical, open to failure, and ambitious for success.
I am aware that when I play games, I do it with a considerable amount of thinking. I dislike failure, particularly failing at something I enjoy. It's not an uncommon personality trait, but it's not one every person has. I know that there are people who play video games who don't think at all while playing them, but nevertheless play for hours at a time. Allow me to make it clear - I am not advocating that you allow your son or daughter to play video games all day, every day. I believe there are other ways to educate yourself that are worth while and entertaining too.
But I ask this: when you see your child playing video games, would you talk with them about it? Ask them what they feel they get out of it. Ask them what it is they do when they play. I feel that many parents are dismissive that any growing or action at all is happening in video games, that it's an entertaining time waster, like television. Be open. If your child has an affinity for video gaming and shows that they read in the games they play, test different things out, have ideas about how they can play a game and win it but aren't sure if it's better than this other idea they had, then you may have a child who is getting educated by gaming. It's not some unrealistic, far out possibility.
I am excited to see what feedback arises from this post and willing to respond to posted or emailed conversations. This is a subject of personal interest for me. I usually play World of Warcraft (henceforth called WoW) for 2-5 hours a day. Sometimes I think back and think I made a mistake doing so. Mostly, though, I don't, and I have my own standards for when I've played too much. Like when I wanted to play for another hour or two, but instead decided to write this for all of you and then go to sleep so I could be fresh for school.
Education is everywhere.
Tags for this entry:
video games,
challenge,
play,
problem solving,
critical thinking and analysis,
games,
skill-building
comments
Convincing post on the educational value of video games, showing how those skills translate to the real world besides being just entertaining. I used to be a big Nintendo player (8-bit original NES, woot woot), and I do think that the games helped build my problem-solving skills and figure out a way around challenges and obstacles.
There are some games that are specifically designed to build confidence and skills in young people, like this one. It helps young women navigate scary and risky situations.
A couple of my friends were the gamer types, whose parents probably told them to unglue themselves from the screen, but now they write and design video games for a living at Electronic Arts.
on Dec 04, 2009 - 12:15 PM