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Revisionist History in Age of Empires
The fact that Microsoft Game Studios picked and chose from the past in order to make Age of Empires fun is understandable. While recognizing that, the Wonderland Blog brings up the (dubiously laudable but) important role Age of Empires has in educating young people. Alice asks if such a game, helpful to the teaching of the young, should futz with the past the way it does. The Guardian Blog follows up on her commentary by discussing the game and the issue in the context of Serious Games. From the article: "With the snowballing of interest in Serious Games and governmental support for the development of games in the classroom, should this be an issue that is seriously debated in development houses?"
While studying for the National Georgraphy Bee, I played a lot of Civ 2. It really teaches you those place names when you have to memorize them in order to figure out quickly what's going on in your empire. I did a lot of serious studying as well, but that game taught me 25 cities in each of Britain, France, Germany, and Russia (I'm from the US).
E = m c^3 Don't drink and derive E = m c^3
I'm sure someone will provide an analysis of the game comparing it's story to accepted historical theory. Blogging isn't just for geeks, you know.
-- Microsoft is the most expensive commodity operating system and office suite vendor in the marketplace.
"With the snowballing of interest in Serious Games and governmental support for the development of games in the classroom, should this be an issue that is seriously debated in development houses?"
NO.
Not with a game that is CLEARLY designed and marketed as ENTERTAINMENT.
If a child's primary source of learning history and historical content if a freakin' computer game, that child is already hopelessly borked.
Who ARE these IDIOTS who demand or even suggest that the entertainment industry shoulder the burden for rearing everyone's children?