Firstly, I should go ahead and say that I have held some unsavory ideas about gaming; whether it be internet or through a gaming station which is viewed on the television screen. I had an ex-husband who never wanted to be around people or do anything in his free time except to play video games, or "escape" into television or movies. I have also had other friends and those close to me become so involved in the "gaming" world that they neglected reality.
As an educated, somewhat-intelligent person, I realize this is a huge bias, and I have worked really hard trying to overcome it, especially since I began my career in a world that needs to embrace technology, without bias. I also have a very good friend whose boyfriend is an avid gamer, and occasionally they try to convince me to play with them...
I really did enjoy reading both of these articles, by Gee and Hinton. Both agree that gaming is more than just "fun" or "kids' stuff" and is successful because it allows players to be creative, innovative, and have a virtual world much like the real world. Gee made some great points about how schools have it all wrong in giving someone "one chance" to get it right or fail and repeat the entire class again, and that learning without context is pretty useless. In the gaming world, players work at their own pace, and gradually build skill with increasing levels of difficulty, but the penalty for getting something wrong is learning why and what you did wrong, and repeating that specific step or series of steps.
In summation, when you're playing the games, there are consequences to each and every action you (the player) make. Seems pretty self-explanatory to me, however, we can observe this is NOT a commonly held belief in American society today.
For example, global warming, big business, oil, and a "fast-food society." Know what I mean? Without spouting liberal jargon, it stands to reason that the more emissions WE use, the less healthy that is four the air WE breathe. 2 + 2 =4. And 4 is bad, in this case anyway. The more we practice IN CONTEXT, the better we learn and are prepared to face more difficult challenges.
Hell, if games can help even some people become better learners, creators, etc. I give my full support for using games and gaming concepts in more traditional learning enviornments; but I know that not all gamers are concerned with the benefits of gaming. Some people just escape into the virtual world. Is there anything wrong with that? I don't know, I'm not an ethicist. But it's not very hard to pick a "gamer" out of a crowd, as stereotypical as that sounds. I guess it's all about perception. I read an article in Rolling Stone awhile ago about this school for gamers, and it's really competitive and hardcore. These people go to work for the gaming industry and make big bucks AND they decide what games go on the market. I could honestly care less about this, but it's such a huge industry- to ignore it would be unintelligent.
Does it matter if I care? I don't think so. I may not like it or be "into it" but I certainly understand it, and I see how relevant the concepts are to other parts of life. So maybe I will go home and play Monopoly and my avatar will be the "top hat"...
As an educated, somewhat-intelligent person, I realize this is a huge bias, and I have worked really hard trying to overcome it, especially since I began my career in a world that needs to embrace technology, without bias. I also have a very good friend whose boyfriend is an avid gamer, and occasionally they try to convince me to play with them...
I really did enjoy reading both of these articles, by Gee and Hinton. Both agree that gaming is more than just "fun" or "kids' stuff" and is successful because it allows players to be creative, innovative, and have a virtual world much like the real world. Gee made some great points about how schools have it all wrong in giving someone "one chance" to get it right or fail and repeat the entire class again, and that learning without context is pretty useless. In the gaming world, players work at their own pace, and gradually build skill with increasing levels of difficulty, but the penalty for getting something wrong is learning why and what you did wrong, and repeating that specific step or series of steps.
In summation, when you're playing the games, there are consequences to each and every action you (the player) make. Seems pretty self-explanatory to me, however, we can observe this is NOT a commonly held belief in American society today.
For example, global warming, big business, oil, and a "fast-food society." Know what I mean? Without spouting liberal jargon, it stands to reason that the more emissions WE use, the less healthy that is four the air WE breathe. 2 + 2 =4. And 4 is bad, in this case anyway. The more we practice IN CONTEXT, the better we learn and are prepared to face more difficult challenges.
Hell, if games can help even some people become better learners, creators, etc. I give my full support for using games and gaming concepts in more traditional learning enviornments; but I know that not all gamers are concerned with the benefits of gaming. Some people just escape into the virtual world. Is there anything wrong with that? I don't know, I'm not an ethicist. But it's not very hard to pick a "gamer" out of a crowd, as stereotypical as that sounds. I guess it's all about perception. I read an article in Rolling Stone awhile ago about this school for gamers, and it's really competitive and hardcore. These people go to work for the gaming industry and make big bucks AND they decide what games go on the market. I could honestly care less about this, but it's such a huge industry- to ignore it would be unintelligent.
Does it matter if I care? I don't think so. I may not like it or be "into it" but I certainly understand it, and I see how relevant the concepts are to other parts of life. So maybe I will go home and play Monopoly and my avatar will be the "top hat"...
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