Edutainment

=Video Games= toc =History=



The first video game was created by a team of enginners Ralph Baer, Bill Harrison, and Bill Rush. In August 1966 they came up with the idea of building a game for a TV set. In 1967, Rusch suggested a new game in which a hard-wired logic circuit projected a spot flying across the screen. Originally, the object of the game was for players to catch the spot with manually controlled dots. Eventually, the players' dots evolved into paddles, and the game became [|PONG].

Video games have been going on for decades, now it has turned into a multi-billion dollar industry. From its simple concept to the elaborate virtual gaming world we now have. The industry set a milestone with the release of “Halo 2” the sequel to Xbox’s flagship title game, surpassing Hollywood’s opening weekend movie box office record on the opening day. It sold 2.38 million copies translating to about $ 125 million, surpassing “Spider-Man” opening $114 million. With more people focusing on gaming it is no surprise that the industry is growing this fast. Surprising is the fast that the average gamer is 29 and spends more time on gaming then other forms of traditional entertainment, according to Software Association latest survey.



=Edutainment: Do video games promote literacy?=

Some video games serve as a learning tool to do better in problem solving, logic, and strategizing. Studies found that some games promote literacy in children as young as three. On the other hand, studies also found harmful and misleading effects on kids being exposed to video games at an early age. Thousands of studies are made for and against videogames every single day. Video games often get blamed for a lot of things, like making children aggressive and turning them into couch-potatoes. But is it possible to say that they can also teach kids to read a lot sooner, be more productive or even think more critically?

Reading from a textbook can pose a challenge, an average attention span for a teenager is twenty minutes, now imagine a child’s. By disguising textbooks into a virtual learning environment, kids feel freer because they are able to roam and interact with the characters and feel as if they are in the game itself. The director of [|TEEM], Professor Angela McFarlane, said //there was much to learn from the game industry in terms of developing scenarios that really challenged and engaged children, rather than reproducing text books on the screen.// It is more engaging when children have something to hang on to like a character or a landmark when learning, rather than having a book with text and minimal drawings. That way, children can learn to navigate all by themselves along with colors and graphics, it will also help stimulate their brain and attention span.

Video games challenge children to learn and adjust in a digitally mediated world. They promise interactivity and encourage users to improve hand- eye coordination as well as interpretive skills by browsing through digital texts. Children that play video games are then more apt to directing themselves through hypertext which allows players to choose their own paths that are electronically linked to other paths, rather than the sequential ordering of a textbook. Video games also blur the boundaries between writers and readers in that the player is able to determine how they navigate through the text.

[|Sony PlayStation] commissioned a study on 13 and 14-year-olds about learning from video games vs. books. Research found that teenagers learned more effectively from information presented in audio-visual form such as video games rather than facts on a printed page. //These findings would be especially helpful to teenagers turned off by formal classroom teaching requiring a lot of reading. Not only that, but they become far more involved with video games and enjoy the learning experience to a much greater extent than when studying similar topics from books or even video tapes//. Take for example, [|Rollercoaster Tycoon], kids learn how to construct rollercoaster rides and as a reward, they get to play the rides that they have customized and built.

What about bringing video games it into a classroom? Would it meet the standards that the school board has set for education? Professor McFarlane, director of [|TEEM] (Teachers Evaluating Educational Multimedia) said that Teachers often found it difficult to justify the use of simulation or adventure computer games during school time because their content did not map the national curriculum. The gaming industry should consider making a specific game that accommodates the school curriculum worldwide. For now, there are games like Where in the World is [|Carmen Sandiego], where it can be incorporated in geography or history classes once a week as a treat.

(Children playing with V-tech's V-smile)

Games show promise for learning because they feature “situated learning,” said Christopher Dede, professor at [|Harvard University]. According to him, students learn by doing, kind of like an internship. //These games give educators a chance to take advantage of the power of situated learning//, Kind of like an escape from the traditional classrooms where teachers present ‘predigested’ information. //In a game, students are dealing not with information, but experiences from which information can be extracted. That’s more complex, but it’s often more engaging for students//, he said. He and his team are studying mechanisms to help students take knowledge from game situations and apply it in real world.

=Controversial Videogames=

One of the first controversial video games was in 1976, //Death Race//; based on the film //Death Race 2000//, the object of the game was for players to drive around in a car, in order to run down "gremlins."

Soon video games concentrated on more violence in order for teens to get addicted and to enjoy themselves as real players. Mystique was the first video game company that began producing sexually explicit games.

In 1999, after the Columbine Massacre had taken place many parents and school officials accused violent games such as Doom and Quake for causing violence among children. Lawyer [|Jack Thompson] had filed a multi-million dollar product liability suit against several entertainment companies on behalf of the families of the victims of the 1997 school shooting. He believed that the producers of these violent video games were responsible for making killing seem enjoyable and fun among young players. However, the case was dismissed in 2002 (Video Game Controversy).


 * Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
 * Doom
 * Red Alert
 * Duke Nukem
 * Counter Strike
 * Postal 2



Criticism
Many issues and controversies arise from the idea that video games have a negative effect on children and young teens. Following the tragic [|Columbine incident], many put the blame of teen violence on video games that glorify violence. Although there maybe some bright spots to the gaming world, where education is promoted, the risk of anyone becoming inspired to violent behaviour through gaming may be a risk too large to take. Young children tend to imitate things they see. A psychology study done in the 1980s showed violent and non-violent TV programs to two different groups of children and then placed them in a room with a Bop 'em Doll (A human sized inflatable clown doll). The children who had watched violent programming were more agressive with the doll than the ones who watched the neutral programming. Such a research study can be assumed to have similar results with video games. Such games where the objective is to inflict harm on others not only emphasizes violences but may suggest to younger individuals that it's okay to do so.

Issues also arise regarding the identification of gender in video games. Although there are both male and female gamers, gaming is dominated predominately by males. In recent studies it has been identified that females prefer to play games that invovle relationship building and a larger character development. However, males on the the other hand prefer games that require analytical problem solving skills. Given both stereotyped gaming preferences it is assumed that adventure games sucha as //Tomb Raider's Lara Croft// is targeted toward the male audience. In a women gamers forum members voice their opinions regarding the difficulty in identifying with female characters in games because of their robust female characteristics. They find it alleviating that there are strong, independent female charcter such as //Tomb Raider's Lara Croft// but also find it disturbing that her large breasts and perfect body are used as 'eye candy' for male player audiences.

It is important to keep in mind that some violence in video games is acceptable. It is a part of human nature to be violent, and being able to express those urges through a safe medium like a video game is far preferable than on family and loved ones. Due to the way video game development has evolved, it is almost impossible to create a hit-selling title that is violence free, and thus, as the purpose of video game development companies such as [|EA] and [|Sierra] is to make a profit, violence is here to stay. The most important aspect concerning video game violence is finding the appropriate balance of violence that is deemed acceptable by society for the targeted age group that would be playing the game. Young children should not be playing games with extreme gore and violence, while adults who want to vent off some agression do not want to play a game where they are learning about numbers. The rating of game content therefore plays a very important role.

Target Audience and ESRB Ratings

 * Children (ESRB Rating: "E" for everyone)
 * The most controversial target group concerning video games. While the majority of games that are released for this age group are soley focused on edutainment and are violence free, games that are released for older audiences contain elements in them that attract young children. For example, the popular MMORPG, //[|World of Warcraft]//, is graphically detailed in a cartoonish manner that can be seen as attractive to younger children. The game is rated Teen (13+), but has been known to have players as young as 7 years old. Video game development companies may be targeting children via such methods, as they will be their main consumers in the future of a large variety of games once they grow up.
 * Teenagers (ESRB RATING: "T" teen)
 * It is at this level where violence, crude humour, and light sexual themes are introduced into video games. The majority of new releases attempt to be classified as Teen rated games to be able to reach the largest market they can, so games usually utilize ‘violence sliders’ so users can turn off or reduce the amount of violence one will see when playing the game.
 * Adults (ESRB Rating: "M" for mature)
 * Ratings such as Mature (17+) and Adult Only (18+) are reserved for games that have intensive violence, sexual content, as well as strong language. To be able to purchase these games, identification must be shown. In practice, identification is rarely asked for unless the customer is obviously very young. Some stores do not carry titles rated AO as they feel that selling such titles may lower their reputation, as the vast majority of AO titles are too extreme for the average consumer.

Many people also question the effectiveness of video game ratings detering those who are deemed by society too young to play certain games due to graphic content unsuitable for their age. The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), was established in 1994 to apply ratings to new games that were being released to the public. Many games are sent through the ESRB to obtain a rating label first before shipping them to stores, as many retailers wish such labels affixed to the products to prevent possible backlash from customers about content. In practice though, the ratings do little to restrict younger ages from playing violent games. Many retailers care little about who they are selling to, as they are making a profit, and there is very little from stopping an older sibling or friend from purchasing a video game for a younger person. Additionally, video games can be downloaded from BitTorrent networks, circumventing the entire system of age restriction. Another factor is that placing age restrictions on video games may actually increase the desire of younger individuals to play such games.



Game Genres

 * **Action**
 * Shooter – The most controversial game genre, where the game puts you in the first person perspective and gives you the objective of usually killing as many things as you possibly can before you yourself get killed. The originals that started the genre are iD Software’s //[|Wolfenstien 3D]// and //[|Doom]//. Popular shooters today have evolved from the “kill-em-all” mindset to the “work as a team to kill-em-all” mindset as seen in games such as //[|Counterstrike]// and //[|Battlefield 2]//.
 * Educational Value: Many FPS games allow players to take control of a historical figure or place the player in a historical time period and can educate players about specific events that went on. May increase hand-to-eye coordination and speed of reflexes due to having to react quickly in in-game situations that arise.
 * Fighting – This mostly console-based genre (due to the easier use of a game pad instead of a keyboard) consists of two or more characters battling it out in arenas, whoever defeats or kills their opponent first wins. The levels of violence in this genre can differ greatly, in games such as //[|Mortal Kombat]//, players can kill each other in gruesome ways, such as decapitation or impalement. On the other end of the spectrum, games such as //Dead or Alive// feature no additional violence aside from hitting your opponent, but the women in the game are highly sexualized.
 * Educational Value: None. May increase hand-to-eye coordination and speed of reflexes due to having to react quickly in in-game situations that arise.
 * **Adventure**
 * An adventure game is a mix of a RPG, in which you play a single character (sometimes multiple), and a puzzle game, as you have to guide your character through usually increasingly difficult puzzles and riddles to progress in the game. Games of this genre tend to have little emphasis on violence and more on thinking and knowledge. Examples of this genre are //King’s Quest, Space Quest,// and //Myst//.
 * Educational Value: Good. Players have to think through situations and solve problems in ways that are not standard solutions. This can develop creativity as well, as many adventure game problems tend to require ‘innovative thinking’.
 * **Driving**
 * This genre usually involves the player racing some sort of vehicle from a starting point to an ending point, usually having some reward that allows them to improve their vehicle if they do well in the ‘race’. While the base genre is violence-free, there are many driving games such as //Burnout// or //[|Auto Assault]// where the purpose of the game is to destroy the other players, either by ramming into them or using weapons that are on your vehicle, while usually racing around a track.
 * Educational Value: Minimal. Players must manage their assets and resources to make purchases, but they tend to be rather straightforward.
 * **Puzzle**
 * Games such as //Tetris, Minesweeper, Bejeweled// and other such similar games that focus on repeating actions over and over, usually with increasing difficulty.
 * Educational Value: Moderate. Players have the opportunity to develop strategies and think about how they will do their next move, but the amount of thinking usually involved in such games is minimal.
 * **RPG**
 * Role Playing Games focus on character development and storylines. Whatever actions you choose to do affect your character and how you will progress in the game. RPGs tend to be violent, as the majority of character development occurs through killing enemies and quests that usually end up in violence. Examples of this genre are //Baldur’s Gate,// and //[|Diablo 2]//. When RPGs are taken online with a large-scale mindset, they become MMORPGs. Massively Multiplayer Online RPGs are also violence based, and are also problematic as they commonly lead to Internet Addiction Syndrome based on gaming.
 * Educational Value: None-Good. Depending on how one plays the game. If one goes to the effort to ‘role-play’ their role in an online setting, the amount of creativity required for such a task is very high and can translate into real-life writings.
 * **Simulation**
 * Puts the player in control of a virtual city, market, household, aircraft, etc, and lets them do what they want. Games of this genre have minimal violence and are usually safe for all ages to play. Examples are //[|Sim City 4]// and The Sims.
 * Educational Value: Good. Managing and controlling the multitude of various aspects that are found in simulation games can develop one’s skill of multitasking and management. Most games are based on realistic scenarios so one can learn about the complexities of various things that one may not normally be able to experience.
 * **Sports**
 * The player takes control of a sports team and plays just as one would in real life. Violence is typically what is seen in actual sports games.
 * Educational Value: None. What is learned is usually sports player related and is not applicable to real life in most cases.
 * **Strategy**
 * In strategy games, the player is placed as a general in command of units, with which they must construct an army using resources in order to crush their opponents. As the main objective is to defeat players with military power, this genre tends to be violent. There are RTS games, which happen in “real-time”, such as //[|Warcraft 3]//, and TBS games, which are “turn-based”, such as //Heroes of Might and Magic// and //Civilization 4//.
 * Educational Value: Good. Such games require management skills, extreme multitasking, quick-thinking, and planning to be able to defeat competent opponents. Such skills can translate into real life benefits.

=See Also=

The Sims Video Games Video Game Addiction Internet Addiction