Video games can teach?

Many people consider video games to be nothing more than time-wasters, and many more people consider video games harmful and often use them as scapegoats when a teen acts out in a violent manner. Now, that's not to say that excessive playing of video games isn't harmful, but that's where self-control and/or parental control come into play. Aside from the obvious hand-eye-coordination, I found it interesting the things I actually learned or learned practical applications for. So, without further adieu... Things I Learned From Video Games (in no particular order)

1. Vocabulary. I know, I know, it's a video game, it can't possibly be a good place to learn new words, especially with all the crap that is chat speak, but it has, really. Where else do you hear the term mitigate? That was actually a word I was surprised to find outside the gaming world. In my Information Security class, no less, where some people were actually confused about what it meant (which is how this list got started in the first place). Among other words I learned about through games is hinterland (rural back country). Having references to something a person is interested in also makes it easier for them to remember the meaning.
2. Diplomacy. Anything that forces you to deal with people in general in a more than primitive manner is going to teach you the finer points of diplomacy and negotiating. Give those general people a sense of anonymity and/or a perceived leadership role and you open up a whole new can of worms.
3. Leadership. Nothing like motivating a couple dozen people to work together to accomplish a task, let alone doing it without conventional forms of communication, such as paper or whiteboards, or face-to-face meetings, for that matter. Hats off to those people that are able to successfully take a group of 5, 10, 20, or even 40 people and lead them to successfully complete a given task.
4. The value of a savings account. This may seem somewhat absurd simply in the fact that pretty much everyone has had a real savings account at least at one point in time or another. It's interesting, though, if you have a savings account that you never withdraw from and try not to look at the balance of, you generally find yourself more able to save and reach a goal (or at least I do, anyway). My bank alt is the reason I'm so close to a personal goal in my game.
5. Math. This one's not quite as obvious unless you delve into the theorycrafting threads in the forums, where the most minute details are explained in the kind of depth that puts a college calculus class to shame. It's here that I finally understood why programming is considered so math-heavy. Until that time, my knowledge of programming required more problem-solving skills than math skills. Take a look at what many people are capable of. I bet if you actually combined all the information in the forums regarding the math behind a given game, you would probably have it practically reverse-engineered right there.
6. Problem-solving. How can you not have at least basic problem-solving skills after completing an endless number of quests and leading groups of strangers into dungeons you've never set foot into? Get into the details about the class/character you play, and you'll probably find yourself looking for ways to better that character. Then there's always the matter of getting your schedule worked around so you can raid and finally get that last piece of armor out of a given dungeon. Though, I will admit, some games, such as the Myst series, are far better at developing problem-solving skills than, say, Quake.
7. Economics. What? Economics? What planet are you from? If you think about it, though, it's not much of a stretch. Any game where people interact and are allowed to barter or sell items to others (especially if given an organized system) allows for an economic system to grow. Not only can you learn Economics on a practical level, but you can see the effects of supply and demand and cyclical events on item prices at a much faster rate and on a much smaller scale than what you can achieve in the real world while still keeping the variables of the human factor. You can also study the phenomenon of varying Economies when everything but the people (and the state of the people) involved are identical.

I posted this on my primary blog and in a gaming community and received several interesting responses (along with being featured in another blog), many of which agreed that there are, in fact, things that can be taught through even video games that aren't explicitly designed for education.

One person mentioned how very few "math wizards" come from American schools. Honestly, it makes sense. I don't know about other schools in other areas of the country, but all my math classes were dryer than the Arabian Desert. It was all I could do to stay awake. It was the way it was taught, I think. Math classes generally teach the numbers and things to do with the numbers. Video games actually give the subject an application that interests people. Students generally stop paying attention when they stop seeing the purpose in something (what's the point of learning something you're never going to use?).

Share this post on:

 •    •    •    •    •