Creative Games sans Violence?

jolyon_jnr asks: "I'm looking for games to use in an unusual educational setting: a school within a Juvenile Detention Centre. I don't set policy, so the 'no violence' is a fixed criteria. I want to engage students' creativity and problem solving skills, without using 'boring educational software'. I've thought of Lemmings and The Incredible Machine. What other suggestions can you offer? Please bear in mind that most students have very low literacy levels, but will learn if motivated sufficiently."

hmmm

[TechnoVooDooDaddy]

any of the Sim-lines (SimCity, SimRollercoaster, SimGolf, etc..)

Lemmings is "no-violence"?

[kaisyain]

I guess you forget the part where they all explode. If that counts as "no-violence" you should have very little problem finding games.

Or you could try any of the many puzzle games out there: Tetris, Bust-A-Move, etc. There are plenty of adventure games that don't feature violence, as well.

Some Examples

[MarcoAtWork]

Sim City 3000 (or 2000 if your hardware is not powerful enough)

Rollercoaster Tycoon (my wife's favorite)

Railroad Tycoon II

carmen sandiego

[bigpat]

I liked Where in the world is carmen sandiego... put them on the other side of the law.

http://www.learningcompany.com/SubCategory.asp?C ID =244

Retro games

[MSBob]

Retro games should fit the criteria you specify. I don't know about their educational value but most will certainly meet the "non-violence" criteria. The ones that come to my mind include: Tetris, Manic Miner, Pirates, Boulder Dash etc. Often times they are more exciting that todays offerings and are pretty cost effective to purchase.

For a modern collection of PG rated titles try most things published by Nintendo. Actually Mario 64 was an excellent game in itself and a pretty challenging one too.

Hope this helps.

Text adventures

[Cosmicbandito]

Why not help them increase their literacy level while they have fun? There are plenty of text adventures that are non-violent and engaging. Any of the infocom titles would be an excellent choice, with the exception of HHGTG. That one might be a bit frustrating. As an added bonus, these games will run on the simplest of hardware and don't require frequent fixing. Also, it might foster a sense of community among your juveniles, forcing them to share solutions to puzzles.

Droidworks

[Chelloveck]

Lemmings qualifies as non-violent? The game where those cute little guys can fall off cliffs, be fried by flamethrowers, blown up, drowned, decapitated, and squished? That Lemmings? :-)

Anyway, I recommend Droidworks [lucaslearning.com]. You build droids to solve various puzzles, then pilot them in an over-the-shoulder view. My kids love it.

Adventures

[Anonymous Coward]

How about Grim Fandangoo.
Splenid graphics (quite important I would say for people who aren't necessarily interested in computers in any way (and therefor I would think that Tetris and the whole lot won't do)), and good fun!

What about sierra?

[MusicGeek]

How about the King's Quest games. If I remember correctly at least the first four were non-violent, although the owl in KQ IV sometimes made me want to kill somebody.

Rollercoaster Tycoon?

[Anonymous Coward]

This seems appropriate, as it's rather easy, teaches economic values and risk-reward types of lessons, and requires only as much reading as you want to invest.

Any adventure game

[dagashi]

Monkey Island 2, 3 and 4 are all great games where you have to think quite a bit... and best of all, you get to laugh too.
Don't miss out on Grim Fandango either.
All above from LucasArts.

I also enjoyed playing the Qing's/Space/Heroe's Quest games (Sierra) alot.
The Dig(LucasArts) is also a great adventure game not to be forgotten!

They're all non-violence.

Ambrosia SW

[Anonymous Coward]

For those Mac-heads out there, Ambrosia Software has a wealth of great quality games that have minimum system requirements and contain little or no violence.

http://www.ambrosiasw.com

There are Several

[cnladd]

The "Where in the * is Carmen San Diego" series is one of the best. Another common one that I've seen used in several schools was "Oregon Trail". If literacy levels are a concern, you may want to try some of the several text adventures out there. There are several good ones that are made for younger people - and having to read and type may be a great help to boost those literacy levels.

The various "Sim" games are, of course, excellent. I'd recommend Sim Earth, as it was intended to be purely educational. Sim City is, of course, a good one. Finally, though it can be considered slightly violent, depending on how you look at it, Civilization II would be an excellent choice for a strategy game.

Educational?...

[Anonymous Coward]

Games that are fun, nonviolent, and educational... well, I would personally reccomend a lego mindstorms set, though those can get pricey. Along the eyecandy line I can reccomend the Myst series, though if you want something a little less difficult (as far as the puzzles are concerned, Myst: Exile nonwithstanding), take a look at Presto Studio's Journeyman Project line... Not only eyecandy, but it includes quite a few historical/mythological locations (the game is based on time travel) and #2 and later include a handy AI who tends to comment on items of historical significance.

I'm actually reminded of an old game from about '94 that was called 'Heaven and Earth', which was essentially a collection of Puzzles and skill tests, ranging from the simle and fun to the mindbreakingly complex.

Of course... well, Civilization is a good one, a bit dated, though CivII is similarly addictive, and Civilization: Call To Power isn't bad either, and allows LAN games. Call To Power II I have personal issues with, because the interface is kinda tedious, and this series may not get past the non-violent part.

However, don't restrict yourself to computer games. If you feel like expanding into the realms of Card games and so on, I can reccomend a whole series of games. Chrononauts [wunderland.com] is a very funny and educational game, though it 'follows' a very tounge-in-cheek version of history. Similarly, many things by Cheapass Games [cheapass.com] can be fun... though you'll have to dig a bit to find something educational. :)

I hope this was helpfull ;)

Lego Alpha Team

[trichard]

Lego Alpha Team is a game that makes the player solve spatial puzzles to continue to the next level. The puzzles require the player to place special blocks that change the direction of movement of the on-screen characters.

In effect, you "program" the movement to accomplish a specific goal. In fact, the playing process reminds me a great deal of programming. Kind of an edit-run-debug sort of process. You have unlimited time and lives to complete the puzzles (unlike actual programming, I guess).

All of this is wrapped up in a action/adventure story-line which keep it engaging. My eight-year-old son loves this game and I enjoy playing it too.

Check out the game's home page [lego.com] and a review at Kid's Domain [kidsdomain.com].

trichard

Hoyle's

[remande]

There is an entire Hoyle's series of computer games, based on non-tech standards. Hoyle's Word Games is a good vocabulary builder. Hoyle's Board Games and Hoyle's Card Games build math and general strategic skills.

Try this: @# +1 ; Creative #@

[Anonymous Coward]

Chess. If they are on-line, you can play at chess.delorie.com [delorie.com] Have a nice day and a JonKatz-free weekend.

The Bridge Building Game!

[ObligatoryUserName]

I've recently been consumed by the non-violent fun found in Bridge Builder [bridgebuilder-game.com] (fulfill all your secret engineering fantasies), as well as the cartoon physics motorcycle puzzle game [elastomania.com]. Bridge Builder is Free (as in Beer), and the motorcycle game has an 18 level shareware version.

Re:Suggestion

[Sucuriju Gigante]

I would suggest pinball simulations, especially those by Cunning Development. They've written four so far, universally excellent. The titles in the series are:

Pro Pinball: The Web
Pro Pinball: Timeshock!
Pro Pinball: Big Race USA
Pro Pinball: Fantastic Journey

Sokoban

[Tet]

The title says it all. Sokoban is great for encouraging people to think about the consequences of actions, and to plan ahead.

Journeyman Project

[esper_child]

What about The Journeyman Project series. Much more entertaining than the myst series, and there is deffinately more thinking involved (or atleast their was for me). Plus, time travel just plain kicks ass.

Computer programming is very appropriate here

[toontalk]

The best way "to engage students' creativity and problem solving skills" is computer programming. Several people have suggested some very good special purpose programming languages:

Incredible Machine, Mind Rover, Lemmings (a slight stretch), LEGO Mindstorms, Rocky's Boots (and Robot Odyssey should be included here)

Someone's suggestion to try Java was called "cruel and unusual punishment" and that is probably accurate but some general purpose programming languages are appropriate:

Logo is being used in a few Juvenile Detention Centers. Seymour Papert is involved in such a project [wired.com].

Stagecast Creator [stagecast.com] is pretty simple and sort of general.

ToonTalk [toontalk.com] (my baby) is a general purpose programming language that looks and feels like a computer game.

A current alternative

[GoofyBoy]

with pretty pictures and music is Railroad Tycoon II.

They are coming out with a rerelease Sept 20th.

Excellent non-violence, competitive game.

Educational Programming Environments for Kids

[sambo_shacklock]

This happens to be what I'm doing a Ph.D. on. Here are some environments which might be of use (they're all pretty slick and engaging):

Alice [alice.org])
Essentially a 3D version of Logo. Users program 3D worlds and have characters which interact. Very cool (and no cost). The underlying language is Python.

Agentsheets [agentsheets.com]
Stagecast [stagecast.com]
Both very good environments which allow children to build simulations of anything which interests them. They both use visual languages to reduce the need for keyboards.

ToonTalk [toontalk.com]
Users program robots to perform tasks. All done using programming by demonstration.

Lego Mindstorms [lego.com]
Yeah, don't need to write anything here. It's wicked.

Alternatively, you can wait until I develop my environment, but don't held your breath...:)

my good non-violent games:

[zama]

I'm sure out of all these people somebody must have said it, but I'll reiterate - The Neverhood. Great game. Puzzles are challenging and entertaining. The humour is great for children of all ages. I dig the music too but others beg to differ (what is there not to like about 'The Doi-Doi Song'?). The claymation aspect also makes it very entertaining.

Mindrover is a terrific game that really helps build concrete skills. And fun too! But the rocket launchers prolly count as 'violence'. Hmmm.

What about Civilization II? At the mid to high levels the difficulty is challenging and requires planning and strategy. And of course it's fun as hell. I guess you could call it "violence" when two armies fight in CivII, but in the way that two chesspieces fight.