TQ#3 - Getting into Gaming

I was amazed how easily I got sucked into "The Oregon Trail." Once I was on the way, I quickly learned the value of pacing and resting; an unexpected lesson, but one with positive benefits when applied to real-life situations as well. At first I was a bit annoyed at how little distance could be covered by the oxen in a single day, but then it occurred to me that this might have been quite intentional....the game creator's way of getting the player to slow down to the pace of that era and even start to experience the same frustrations that probably plagued the explorers.

It soon became evident that I had made some very fundamental errors in my initial decisions, but I chose to keep going and going and going until we died. If we had had more time, I would have immediately started over. And this game was very simplistic (aka "boring" to the young game addicts I recruited in my study) compared to the other games I later played.

When I played the SIMS Superstar game with my daughter, I was dismayed to learn that the major way to get money to build a house (an early task) was to "use a cheat." I was appalled that this would be the best way to win. This fact, paired with the obvious stereotypical outfits, hairstyles, etc. available for my "family" made me begin to worry that the lessons being learned in these games were actually being used by someone wanting to hasten the disintegration of society as we know it.

However, as we continued to play and talk with my daughter about about her "former addiction" to this game, it became clear that there were many positive aspects to her involvement as well. The most amazing thing to me was how persistent she would be when engaged in these games. An added bonus, as Marc Prensky mentions in his writing is the connections that they make to what they are doing now and what they may need later (secondary consequences) based on their past experiences (failures, that like mine in the OT game only spurred me to want to try again and "do better.").

In later discussions with a college student who works for the NCC HelpDesk, I also confirmed other aspects of Pensky's contention that positive lessons come from gaming. One question posed to this young man about games led to a 1/2 hour monologue from him about the plusses and minuses of various MMORPG's (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games), in which thousands or maybe millions of young people come and go, playing daily at least while rarely "sitting out that night." The most striking was how the players that reached the highest levels of proficiency in games like "Guild Wars" would reach out to "noobs" to share strategies and "cheats" and so gain great credibility. I had no idea that this young man in my office had years of "teaching experience" on line. When this "Guild Leader" was not helping others, he was joining with others to complete difficult tasks, or help others in need. His story proved in my mind the following statement from my reading that 'What keeps the kids playing these games is....the ability to work together with others to achieve more and more difficult goals." (Prensky, 2004)

References:

Prensky, M., 2002. "What Kids Learn That’s POSITIVE from Playing Video Games," Retreied February 4, 2009 from http://www.marcprensky. com/writing/default.asp"

Prensky, M., 2004. "How Kids Learn to Cooperate in Video Games," Retreived February 5, 2009 from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/default.asp