CS Research: The fun part

Now I say the fun part because quite frankly it is. What do we think of when it comes to educational games? Well Valve president and co-founder Gabe Newell says that "A lot of times [the label] 'educational games' is a way of being an excuse for bad game design or poor production values." (Gilbert 2011). I too feel this to be true and totally agree with Newell. It's unfortunate really because educational games do have the potential to become good 'entertaining' games. The article that I am reading by Ben Gilbert on the keynote that Newell made is interesting because Newell outlines the points of how if Portal can be an educational device then why can't 'educational' games become just as good, I mean after all Portal made "$165 million dollars in gross revenue" from the game since April 18' (Gilbert 2011). That is of course a lot of money for a game that is essentially dressed up as a commercial game but underneath its pretty dress is an educational tool in which people can learn from. This I do feel is partly down to tangential methods used within the game, what do I mean by this? Well simply put it's a way of subtly putting an educational fact or device so be it into a game in which the player then takes in interest in and researches it. Of course this doesn't just apply to games, it can be seen in other media such as films. Take the movie 300, it's a film no doubt to entertain those amongst us that like a good film. However the movie is about historical characters and battles that actually happened, no one told anyone to then after the film go and research into the Battle of Thermopylae but some people did because they took an interest into it. Now Portal isn't solely based upon this of course but it does carry that subtle way of hinting at different learning scenarios that you could encounter in real life, and no I don't mean use a portal gun. Anyway I digress, games as they are, commercial that is are entertaining, they don't all intentionally aim at being educational and yet some of them are successful in becoming an educational device, for instance Little Big Planet was made to entertain people but became popular with schools and becoming a way of educating kids into collaborating and creating different designs and also the basic principles of being patient, working together and other scenarios. Media Molecule, the creator of the franchise started to make Little Big Planet teacher packs in which schools can use the game a way teaching. For instance "Little Big Planet is a game based around physics and within the game you can create your own level -- millions do this already. We are going to be creating teacher packs where class teachers with a specialist subject knowledge in science, technology, engineering and maths -- the stem subjects -- create 'levels' with content aligned to their specific age range." (Pereira 2011). This is interesting because it means that games such as Little Big Planet might just making their way into schools and teaching and the best part is that they're entertaining which if not some but all the kids will enjoy. If only a lot more companies such as Media Molecule could start creating 'teacher' editions of their games so that they could be taught in school. The rest of the article is very interesting, a link will be in the bibliography. 
So what about educational games? Well I found a fun 6 minute video on the top 10 educational games, somehow Reader Rabbit got into there, god knows how.

(Top 10 Educational Games, 2013)

Whilst watching the short Youtube video I stumbled upon this other one which talks about tangential games and how games can use them. This one I found most entertaining and is definitely worth a watch.

(Video Games and Learning, 2008)

 
Back to Portal. Valve and their efforts in convincing us lot (I use that loosely) that Portal can be used as an educational tool need not to really, after all I hope that many would agree that it is an educational tool in which we can use in schools to learn or even at home. Valve is or has being creating a tool in which Portal enhances this 'education' title properly and Newell said that "If you give us a lesson plan, we can give you a tool that allows kids to build content to lock down those lessons," Newell detailed. "The number of times I solved problems about how fast will this be going at this time -- how about if it's on the moon?" In his words, "It's a lot easier to get people excited about it [education] if they're on the moon and they get to throw the rock at the piece of glass that breaks the glass that lets all the robots fly out." - (Gilbert, 2011). Just thinking about this quotes put a smile on my face because it's so true, educational games just haven't got that same vibe or feeling as a more popular commercial game where it does actually teach. I feel that the way forward to is stop trying throw numbers at kids where they get bored and start doodling in the back of their maths book but rather do it in a more practical way, a way through which they engage in the thing that they are learning, a bit like the Youtube Video Games and Learning explains using tangential learning devices. Once the student has got their mind in the right place and are interested they will learn quickly if not better. Of course there will be a mob of angry parents with pitch forks and fire waiting for me outside my house saying that games aren't the way forwards or that they poison the minds of our kids, so be it but in this day and age when we are young we learn things better through interactivity, hell I still do. I'd rather sit down and actually do the thing that I am trying to learn than look a white wall of text. This leads me on to Jean Piaget; a 'Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children' - (Google/Wikipedia) Yes I know that's through Wikipedia but it sums it up nicely and isn't exactly un-true, point being is that he explored ideas in which interaction allows you to experience procedural rhetoric. Now I for one agree in that when we are kids we learn more from interactivity and what better way to do that than to, here it comes, play games. You see playing games that also use educational devices within them are a great way to learn, Little Big Planet uses all kinds of interactivity and if what Piaget studied is true than why not use games as a way to learn. Here's the thing though, I say why not use 'games' as if though I'm not referring to either education or commercial and this is because I feel the two shouldn't have this boundary between them and so should merge into one thing; A commercial educational popular game. That was quite a mouthful I know but if what Media Molecule and Valve is working then why can't this be the same. To answer what my question was to begin with; Can commercial games become educational devices? Yes, they can but with the right teams behind them and the right support.



Gilbert, Ben  (2011) Newell sees no distinction 'between games and educational games'. Available from: <http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/23/newell-sees-no-distinction-between-games-and-educational-games/ >[Accessed 05 May 2013]

Gilbert, Ben (2011) Portal 2 authoring tools for schools: Newell Explains. Available from: <http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/22/portal-2-authoring-tools-for-schools-newell-explains/>[Accessed 05 May 2013]

Pereira, Chris (2011) Little Big Planet wants to teach you math and science. Available from: <http://www.1up.com/news/littlebigplanet-teach-math-science>[Accessed 05 May 2013]

Top 10 Educational Games <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OSl4MT8mmA>[Accessed 05 May 2013]

Video Games and Learning <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN0qRKjfX3s>[Accessed 05 May 2013]