To create an emotional connection, the game would have to make the player identify with the opponent somehow, which usually involves character development. This is usually reserved for major roles of allies or opponents, like the super villian.
For Battlefield Vietnam, you could have families of civilians running around. Trying to huddle together and survive the battle. Or maybe have families huddled in rooms in the bombed out buildings. There would have to be some penalty for killing civilians.
My main concern is it would be bad to de-sensitize people to the horrors of war. Somthing like "Oh, more Palistinian civilians killed in rocket attacks by Israeli forces... I played that mission, it's pretty much impossible not to hit the civilians while trying to kill the terrorist leader with the attack helicopter."
In games like Battlefield Vietnam there isn't time to form the necessary emotional relation ships any way. 1) There is no lull time where the players develop relationships with eachother. 2) Even if there was time to form emotional bonds, when somone dies, they respawn 10 seconds later, so death and loss have no meaning.
So in the end this game would have to include lots of lull time for players to bond, and to demonstrate that your opponents are themslves forming these bonds. Relation ships with civilians who have there own opinions, and fears would have to be exemplefied. Each player would have only one life, that way it actually mattered if someone died.
Basically it sounds more like a RPG than a war game. An RPG where you don't gain levels, you only develop relation ships, and try to survive your tour.
Games like Battlefield Vietnam should try and avoid the moral implications and stick to the aspects that make it a game, and as such enjoyable. It's not about the morals, it's about playing within a set of limited rules, and developing skills and strategies to try and do better.
But I guess Battlefield Vietnam invites the morals into the game by basing it off of an event that has had a huge impact on this society.
'The Sims' educational value is that it is a simulation of individual people in their daily life in a family and a neighborhood. In playing the game the player learns how to manage a person's life and relationships appropriately and learns some consequences of good and bad management.
The player has to balance the actions these Sims (individual people) take over the days and weeks in the game. You have to make sure they go to work and get paid, so that they can eat and pay the bills. They have to do a certain amount of socializing and fun activities or they become unhappy and do badly at work. If the Sims don't clean up their garbage, and the house gets messy it negatively impacts the mood of the Sims. The better you manage your Sim the better they do at work, and then they get promoted if they do well there. The player also has to manage the relationships of their Sims with each other. If the Sims don't keep up a friendship by inviting one another over, playing games, and talking on the phone then the friendship can end.
As for the content being inappropriate, there are several factors. 1) Although two people can get in bed together they have to be in love to do this. Once in bed they are only allowed to sleep, no hanky panky. 2) There are love relationships and the player can have two Sims who are in love kiss. Nothing beyond kissing goes though, and in 7th or 8th grade some kids do kiss. This brings me to 3) The polygamy bit, is not really polygamy, it is 'cheating' meaning one Sim has two or more loves. If this cheating is found out the cheater is rebuked by the cheated and their relation ship is trashed. (Some times the male is slapped by the female I think.) So there are consequences for this cheating and it is not condoned.
All in all to really understand this game, as for any game, you should actually play the game yourself. Maybe have one of the students help teach you to play.
I think parents who are concerned about what games their children play should play test the games. Meaning: play the game themselves. If the parent has a hard time playing the game have the child show you how to play while you are at the controls. Even if it is not interesting to the parent or teacher, show interest because it is interesting to these kids!
Slashdot Mirror
To create an emotional connection, the game would have to make the player identify with the opponent somehow, which usually involves character development. This is usually reserved for major roles of allies or opponents, like the super villian. For Battlefield Vietnam, you could have families of civilians running around. Trying to huddle together and survive the battle. Or maybe have families huddled in rooms in the bombed out buildings. There would have to be some penalty for killing civilians. My main concern is it would be bad to de-sensitize people to the horrors of war. Somthing like "Oh, more Palistinian civilians killed in rocket attacks by Israeli forces... I played that mission, it's pretty much impossible not to hit the civilians while trying to kill the terrorist leader with the attack helicopter." In games like Battlefield Vietnam there isn't time to form the necessary emotional relation ships any way. 1) There is no lull time where the players develop relationships with eachother. 2) Even if there was time to form emotional bonds, when somone dies, they respawn 10 seconds later, so death and loss have no meaning. So in the end this game would have to include lots of lull time for players to bond, and to demonstrate that your opponents are themslves forming these bonds. Relation ships with civilians who have there own opinions, and fears would have to be exemplefied. Each player would have only one life, that way it actually mattered if someone died. Basically it sounds more like a RPG than a war game. An RPG where you don't gain levels, you only develop relation ships, and try to survive your tour. Games like Battlefield Vietnam should try and avoid the moral implications and stick to the aspects that make it a game, and as such enjoyable. It's not about the morals, it's about playing within a set of limited rules, and developing skills and strategies to try and do better. But I guess Battlefield Vietnam invites the morals into the game by basing it off of an event that has had a huge impact on this society.
The player has to balance the actions these Sims (individual people) take over the days and weeks in the game. You have to make sure they go to work and get paid, so that they can eat and pay the bills. They have to do a certain amount of socializing and fun activities or they become unhappy and do badly at work. If the Sims don't clean up their garbage, and the house gets messy it negatively impacts the mood of the Sims. The better you manage your Sim the better they do at work, and then they get promoted if they do well there. The player also has to manage the relationships of their Sims with each other. If the Sims don't keep up a friendship by inviting one another over, playing games, and talking on the phone then the friendship can end.
As for the content being inappropriate, there are several factors. 1) Although two people can get in bed together they have to be in love to do this. Once in bed they are only allowed to sleep, no hanky panky. 2) There are love relationships and the player can have two Sims who are in love kiss. Nothing beyond kissing goes though, and in 7th or 8th grade some kids do kiss. This brings me to 3) The polygamy bit, is not really polygamy, it is 'cheating' meaning one Sim has two or more loves. If this cheating is found out the cheater is rebuked by the cheated and their relation ship is trashed. (Some times the male is slapped by the female I think.) So there are consequences for this cheating and it is not condoned.
All in all to really understand this game, as for any game, you should actually play the game yourself. Maybe have one of the students help teach you to play.
I think parents who are concerned about what games their children play should play test the games. Meaning: play the game themselves. If the parent has a hard time playing the game have the child show you how to play while you are at the controls. Even if it is not interesting to the parent or teacher, show interest because it is interesting to these kids!
I heard that if somthing the past employer says causes you not to get a job, they are liable.