When you talk of lack of depth in video-games, i may agree for a lot of them ( as in a lot of books ) but some really have a deep storyline that grabs you in an entirerly new world. ( think of World of Warcraft...)
Also, maybe the argument about the lack of good grammar comes mostly with the globalization of the Internet and the increasing number of people coming from all corners around the world onto it. We did not all grow up learning english, so our abilities to express ourself AND write in a perfect grammar is a little compromised... could that be a more influencal reason than games ? Although I admit that my spelling as not improved that much by fragging multi-color caracters lately...:o)
As for the visualization, i do agree that games are less prone to help you imagine and build an entire world from some simple lines of text. But it is better thant TV... since at least you do have control on what you look at and on what you do.
And finally, the game i think made me learn the most is Civilization. From the first one to the last, it helped me understand how a civilization and a society evolves. Reading about the different technological advances, their order of discoveries ( diplomacy comes after handwriting... etc... ) and the difficulties of making a prosperous society without a good army ( to defend at least ) made me learn a lot about the world i live in. I even remember using some of the descriptions to make school research papers and having good grades from it ! Now that's learning !
So games do have a great potential to help you learn, it just depends on what you want to learn, and i'm sure we will see more and more good ideas rising... !
Slashdot Mirror
Hi,
:o)
... etc ... ) and the difficulties of making a prosperous society without a good army ( to defend at least ) made me learn a lot about the world i live in. I even remember using some of the descriptions to make school research papers and having good grades from it ! Now that's learning !
... !
When you talk of lack of depth in video-games, i may agree for a lot of them ( as in a lot of books ) but some really have a deep storyline that grabs you in an entirerly new world. ( think of World of Warcraft...)
Also, maybe the argument about the lack of good grammar comes mostly with the globalization of the Internet and the increasing number of people coming from all corners around the world onto it. We did not all grow up learning english, so our abilities to express ourself AND write in a perfect grammar is a little compromised... could that be a more influencal reason than games ? Although I admit that my spelling as not improved that much by fragging multi-color caracters lately...
As for the visualization, i do agree that games are less prone to help you imagine and build an entire world from some simple lines of text. But it is better thant TV... since at least you do have control on what you look at and on what you do.
And finally, the game i think made me learn the most is Civilization. From the first one to the last, it helped me understand how a civilization and a society evolves. Reading about the different technological advances, their order of discoveries ( diplomacy comes after handwriting
So games do have a great potential to help you learn, it just depends on what you want to learn, and i'm sure we will see more and more good ideas rising