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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."
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 Incident Commander for local U.S. government agencies to deal with the coordinating emergency services and aid in the wake of a natural disaster.
On more of the instructional side of things, anyone who has ever taken a ballroom dance class would appreciate taking home a game disc that let them see their various moves demonstrated by 3D models where they could change the camera angle to see exactly where their foot goes and how to shake it like that. A more basic use could be a CDC game of properly putting a condom on a banana.
On the advertising side of things, wouldn't travel agencies love to use an enemy-free mod of Crytek's Far Cry to advertise for Tahiti trips? Wouldn't the London Chamber of commerce love to help potential tourists figure out where the good shows/museums/historical places are using a modded version of The Getaway: Black Monday?
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.
roche
Bah Humbug!
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.
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!