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Serious Games - World of Borecraft?

Posted by Zonk on from the gotta-hit-level-zzzzz dept.

Slate has up a piece right now talking, in a somewhat frustrated tone, about the mixed message that serious or education games can pass on. The article recognizes that serious games have a great deal of power, and can be useful ... but do they have to be boring? "The basic issue here is that it's easier to make a fun game educational than it is to inject fun into an educational game. In his 2005 book, Everything Bad Is Good for You, Steven Johnson argues that games like The Sims and Grand Theft Auto make us smarter by training the mind in adaptive behavior and problem-solving. Most overtly educational software, though, ignores the complexities that make games riveting and enriching. The serious-gaming types think they can create educational software from whole cloth. In reality, they have a lot to learn from Grand Theft Auto." Coincidentally, Gamasutra is running an article entitled Who Says Videogames Have to be Fun?, which looks at the same issue from a slightly different point of view.

8 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Warcraft on Earth.. by Kreigaffe · · Score: 5, Funny

    Unfortunately we would have scores of people wandering Iowa asking where they could find Mankrik's wife.

    --
    ... still waiting for this free-as-in-beer free beer I keep hearing about. :|
  2. Educational Games by Minwee · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ah, I can see it now. "Grand Theft Auto - Oregon Trail". "Where in the Halo is Carmen Sandiego?" "Mavis Beacon Teaches Ganking".

    How could it possibly go wrong?

    1. Re:Educational Games by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 2, Funny

      I know you're doing this tongue-in-cheek, but just imagine if they were able to take the ambulance/firetruck aspect of GTA:3 but incorporate it with a real world map of a city. Drivers could train going really fast in their own city without ever having to enter into their vehicles, and get a good idea of directions etc.
      "Hey, Bob! I just found out that if we take a shortcut through the playground of the school for the deaf and disabled kids, we can cut two minutes from our response time to half of our coverage area!"

      "That's great Mark! And to get to the other half, we can take the hill on Maple Street fast enough to jump the pumper truck onto the elevated train platform and cut even more time bypassing all the traffic, especially now that Jimmy destroyed the el. train trying it last week!"
      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  3. WoW is educational! by The+Living+Fractal · · Score: 3, Funny

    Where else can you learn such amazing things, such as:

    - What it is to be "rickrolled"
    - That everyone should "lrn2ply" "nub"
    - That ridiculous is actually spelled "rediculous"
    - That OMG I"M NOT TWLEVE I"M TJHIRTEEN is acceptable retort?
    - The facepalm?
    - That people often like pie?
    - The internet is for porn?
    - Leeroy Jenkins

    OK but seriously. I've learned that WoW is just MySpace with cool loot.

    Now, back to the topic.

    Is it safe to call a game that stimulates the brain, one that requires the solving of complex problems in succession, one that requires the organization of many things simultaneously, educational? Even though it doesn't teach you about the war of 1812? Does education mean book smarts? Or does it expand to cover things like problem solving and mental conditioning?

    Because if it does, then most video games educate. Whether or not the time spent on that form of education is worthwhile, I am not at liberty to say.

    TLF

    --
    I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
  4. Re:how do you start with a purely educational "gam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "What game is education only, with no fun? That sounds like a sheet of math problems..."

    you mean to say that a sheet of math problems isn't fun? who knew!?

  5. Re:how do you start with a purely educational "gam by fbjon · · Score: 2, Funny
    No no, the title says "World of Borecraft".


    An educational drilling MMORPG. Awesome!

    --
    True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
  6. I can see it now... by Ub3rT3Rr0R1St · · Score: 4, Funny

    Grand Theft Auto V Mission #1: Tony Pinetti's ho owes him $230. She's been dodging him for 3.2 days. Tony charges an interest rate of %0.1 interest per hour a ho dodges him. Tony has instructed you to smack her for every $3.50 she owes him. How many times will you have to smack Tony's ho?

  7. Re:Warcraft on Earth.. by Fex303 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Unfortunately we would have scores of people wandering Iowa asking where they could find Mankrik's wife.
    Too many generations have been raised to not ask questions. The autonomic reflex to ask questions (even about the inane) is annoying to those who think they know everything, but it's a Good Thing(tm) for our culture.
    Oh for fuck's sake! You don't need to start in with the philosophical bullshit. Highbrow people like you are ruining Barrens Chat.

    She's at 49,50. Now go finish your quest.