Learning in Video Games

Most people are well aware of the violence found in some video games, but less people know about games that can bring about positive change. Serious Games, described as a new movement in gaming whose purpose to “raise awareness, instruct a new generation of good citizens, create new business models, train military personnel, or model surgery for doctors,” is one such breed.

Michelle Boule, Social Sciences Librarian at University of Houston, writes an interesting article on Serious Games that gives several examples of fascinating games that produce public awareness on various issues. These games include:

• optical communicationsDarfur is Dying (mtvU and Reebok Human Rights Foundation). A Flash-based game that promotes awareness about the genocide in Darfur. Players take on the role of a villager in Darfur and try to survive by foraging for water without being captured and killed Janjuweed. One soon realizes how dire the conditions are; you can’t really win, and that’s ultimately the point.
• Escape From Diab. This is a game that is meant to teach kids how to eat healthy. One plays a healthy youth who becomes trapped in Diab, a land where everyone eats exclusively junk food.
• Planet Green Game (Starbucks). This game creates an awareness of how one can change his or her lifestyle to slow global warming. One travels through aгардероби fantasy city and finds ways to decrease CO2 emissions.

Boule then discusses how games can help us les casino en lignejeux casino pour le fungamme com jeules jeux de casinojeu casino gratuitsjeu de roulette en lignecode bonus sans depot casinojeu de hasardtournois poker onlinegagner poker internetjeux poker virtueltelecharger poker pour macle poker gratuites sans t?l?chargementparadise poker comtelecharger poker texaspoker holdem gratuitestelechargement jeu poker gratuitespoker online compoker tour gratuitesjeu de cartejouer poker holdemjeu de poker holdem gratuiteswam poker comjouer poker en ligne gratuitestelecharger jeu pc pokertelecharger winamax pokerpoker gratuites brueljeux poker en lignejeu de carte pokercomment t?l?charger un jeu de pokerpoker gratuites sans inscriptionregle du jeu poker texasrent a car bulgariajeu de poker en flashjeux online poker tour,jeu poker tour gratuites ,poker tourle jeu vid?o pokerstrip poker en lignepocker texas holdemjeu poker gratuites a telechargertexas holdem parishigh stakes pokerplay seven card stud onlinepoker en ligne brueljeux pokerpoker hold hem gratuitespoker le jeupoker games netsexy pokerjouer au poker holdemjouer poker tour en lignetelecharger gratuitement jeux de poker,telecharger poker,telecharger jeu poker gratuites learn more about information seeking behavior: how people find the information they need when presented with various challenges. She argues that games could be built to teach information literacy and how to seek quality information among various sources to synthesize usable answers to a problem. Navigating in a world such as Second Life, “what would a 3D version of the information highway look like?” she asks.

Interesting questions. How can we create games and experiences that can foster better information skills in students?

Nintendo of America recently demoed their game, Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day at a recent AARP convention, of all places.  Many people consider playing video games a kids’ activity, but soon people might be thinking of getting grandpa and grandma video games when it comes to Christmas time. How so? As this Time magazine article (January 3) indicates., gaming companies are looking to tap into the baby-boomer generation as a largely untapped (and potentially lucrative) market that might be interested in products claiming to help sharpen memory and cognitive ability. A game based off a Japanese neuroscientist’s research, Brain Age features a host of quick memory, math, logic puzzles, and other kinds of activities that are intended to sharpen one’s mind. The game has easily sold well over half a million copies since its U.S. release for the Nintendo DS handheld system in April.

Can brain games stave off senility? Hard to say, as little research exists as of yet. But it’s interesting to see games (and educational games) continue to reach a wider audience. Brain Age is a product of Touch Generations, makers of other educational games such as Big Brain Academy.