On Instructional Video Games

The New York Times (registration required), is running an article entitled Is Instructional Video Game an Oxymoron?. In it they discuss the increasingly high profile that games are playing in educational and conciousness raising situations. From the article: "Stop Fluin' Around, which arrived in December, is one of dozens of instructional online games that public interest organizations, advocacy groups and government agencies say have become the best way to reach a generation of children and teenagers weaned on video games and the Web."

Yes, it works. Sort of.

[Nomihn0]

This approach certainly works for advertising [candystandarcade.com]. As long as they "rebrand" the game right, it could work. Never, though, should this replace honest-to-goodness schooling. Games should be considered academic enrichment (in their current form). The only thing Pac Man taught me was that I couldn't cut corners.

Pac-Man

[game kid]

The only thing Pac Man taught me was that I couldn't cut corners.

...and that you could actually spend quality time "munching pills while listening to repetitive music." [bbc.co.uk] Amazing what they put in the Smithsonian [si.edu]'s collections [si.edu].

Not an oxy, moron

[centauri]

Instructional video games are quite useful. I used one to develop my leadership skills, in the area of large-scale ship-to-ship space combat. It was tough and I almost had a complete breakdown during my training, but I finally beat the game. Fortunately, I figured out the trick to beating the final level, and wiped out the opposition completely.

One thing that made the game so challenging was the enemy AI. It learned from its own mistakes and my tactics almost as if it were a real intelli... gence.

Oh, my God.

All Hail Ender!

[iridium_ionizer]

Seriously though, I think the non-game possibilities could be both useful and lucrative. I sat through a 40 hour HAZWOPR (Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response) course for my present employment and I could imagine absorbing 10 times the information were it presented in a real-time strategy format (e.g. the mission starts with a worker on a forklift crashing into a drum of xylene and then you must coordinate the emergency response). There is supposed there is something like that in the works with

Your comment makes my sig

[QEDog]

on-topic.

from the mario-teaches-with-mushrooms dept.?

[game kid]

Someone's been playing Mario is Missing [classicgaming.com] lately. I did once long ago, but never got through much of it. Some geography stuff (like where the Transamerica building is and the like), mixed in with walking around a city and the occasional Koopa, from the little I played. Not exactly a disease-prevention game, but I think I learned a thing or three.

Hmm...

[MeatBlast]

It's a good idea but will anyone play this game and then start washing their hands more? Maybe a better question is will anyone play this game besides my sister? People who send the time to go on the internet and play games don't want to play hand-washing simulation, trust me I've played the game (it sucks).

Of course they work

[roche]

Of course they do. I remember playing a ton of educational games at school back on the Apple 2e. The ones that seemed effective to me were the math and learn how to read/type ones.

The one I remember the clearest was called Kids on Keys. The game would drop letters from the sky and you would have to hit the corresponding key on the keyboard before it hit the ground. When you are in the first grade you are having too much fun playing it to realize you are actually learning.

Instructional Videogames?

[steveo777]

Try any of Squeenix's recent offerings... or any game for that matter. The tutorial is enough to make any man cringe.

In high school I had a shirt that I made that had the old Squaresoft symbol on the front, and on the back it said, "Fear the tutorial."

Re:Instructional Videogames?

[Chemical]

The recent games are a blessing. Try the tutorial in older games like Final Fantasy Tactics. If you try to learn how to play that game using the tutorial, you won't get very far. Some choice quotes:

"CT is Charge Time. It's charged by Speed value in one Clock"
"Select the Job command that bundles up Action Ability by the Job in the unit's sub-command"
"This was darkened items wont appear"
"Moving ability is ability tat is move"

typing of the dead

[way2trivial]

I have a copy waiting for my son to be 3 so he can start learning the right way.

demo still widely available on the net- I strongly suggest everyone give it a try.

no better educational game ever

Re:typing of the dead

[drxray]

Love the game, but it's not a great typing tutor... you don't need to type the spaces and no need to backspace if you make a mistake.

So to go fast you mash keys, teaching your child to type "kill zombies" as "klillzxombesbies". Do NOT try to code after as TotD session...

Used to be lots of educational games.

[LWATCDR]

One I can think of that is still pretty popular. Fight Simulator.

Some have been successful

[cuteseal]

Some have been successful in the past... I can think of the Carmen Sandiego series to name one...

These days it's all about money and profits though, and if edu-tainment doesn't pay, then you'll have a hard time getting game warehouses to finance you...

I used to love Educational Games

[neomage86]

Back in Elementary school(I'm an undergrad now) the advanced classes commonly used games or videos to teach. The fact of the matter is that these are the few things I remember learning in Elementary School. We had one cool game about rafting down the Amazon (I still know the region's geography, wildlife, and native tribes fairly well). We also used an Oregon Trail game, which taught a bit of history, and a fair amount of planning. Another fun one had us mantain a hypothetical ecosystem. I think that exposing us to interactive games, and teaching us planning/foresight at such a young age was immensley helpful. Everyone in that class with me got accepted (some couldn't afford to go) to a school that excels in their area of interest. I'm in the Electrical Engineering program at UIUC (best school for the price since I'm instate) Most of us had over 1400 on the SAT (Average is closer to a 1000), and are suceeding at what we do.

Re:I used to love Educational Games

[JeffTL]

I think the rafting one would be either The Amazon Trail or Amazon Trail II. The ecosystem is probably SimEarth or SimLife, I forget.

You question instructional video games?

[The Evil Couch]

Two words: Number Munchers

There has to be at least 100,000 Slashdotters who played the crap out of that game and got damn good at math as a direct result of associating math with fun.

Of course they can be educational...

[Landshark17]

...I learned how to pick locks from Splinter Cell :-)

Showing my age?

[shoolz]

Am I the first to point out "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego"?

I first played it on my Commodore 64, and it was a teriffic game that tricked me into learning about world geography, currencies, art, history, etc. I remember thinking that I was getting away with something... playing a video game instead of being outside riding my bike... little did I know.

"Instructional Video Game an Oxymoron?" - Hell no!

Article in GDM

[Minna Kirai]

Those of you with subscriptions to Game Dev Mag or the Gamasutra website (free for industry) can read their article on the same theme [gamasutra.com].

That author claims that a "teaching game" is an oxymoron, based on a narrow semantical interpretation: games can illustrate concepts, not teach them.

RR

[Dreamwalkerofyore]

hehe... Reader Rabbit... *nostalgic moment.... now*