8 Games That REALLY Are Educational And As Educational As They Are Fun

[Shymer]

I cannot find the correct Escapist Showcase - so apologies if any of these are on there. Lack of time and effort on my part. Mea culpa.

I have learnt things about the current state of the world and global economics and environmental politics from Fate of the World - and it is highly recommended as a true horror game.

I have learnt things about football I never knew by playing Football Manager. In fact almost all simulation games from Euro Trucker to Farming Simulator have told me something about their specialised area.

I learned how to type quickly by playing Typing of the Dead (the original - not 'overkill' the current swear-fest).

I have found the game "Gratuitous Space Battles" useful in training system designers.

And... of course... Thirty Flights of Loving taught me about... well, I won't spoil it.

 

[Fulbert]

Leafing through screenshots now however makes me question the educational value of the series. At least some of the games seem to feature underwater birthday cakes with burning candles [https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9976545/freddi-fish-and-luther-s-maze-madness_5.png] and dynamite sticks with burning fuses [https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9976545/freddi-fish-and-luther-s-maze-madness_5.png]. Not sure I like that.

You don't have to like that, but I'm not sure I understand what that has to do with the educational value of the series.

I'm not sure what exactly the series is educating its audience about; it just confuses me that they'd put fiery things in a game set underwater.
Come to think of it, the game also features fishes talking underwater, so maybe it is okay and I'm just being picky.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Yes! Droidworks! That game was extremely logical and really pushed my knowledge of physics as a 10 year old. It was also pretty fun too. When the Assassin droids showed up for the first time I remember being more shit-scared than any horror game I've ever played, because the buildup to their arrival was so intense.

Historical games like Civilization, Age of Empires, Europa Universalis deserve a mention, but most of their history tends to happen in an 'out of game' fashion, either by reading the manual or a wikipedia page.

 

[Spacewolf]

Age of Mythology taught me alot about Mythology thanks to the massive info dump it gave you every time you clicked on the little I next to the units name. Even the cheats where usually references to something.

 

[Lemmibl]

Dwarf Fortress taught me quite a lot about geology and metallurgy. Who'd have thought there could be so many kinds of rocks...

 

[Bad Jim]

Saint's Row 3 taught me that having a female PC with a male cockney voice is extremely funny.

 

[Wasted]

Okami thought me a lot of Shinto mythology, a subject before that game I knew nothing about. I enjoyed the game enough to do my own research to understand the references better, since nearly every item or character has a rich Shinto history.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

I learned a fair bit through the Total War games. Note, I mostly used them as a jumping off point. It's easier to google when you know the name of the thing you're looking up.

 

[jamail77]

I cannot find the correct Escapist Showcase

I put a link to the showcase in my original post that started this discussion. It's the words that are in blue.

I'm not sure what exactly the series is educating its audience about; it just confuses me that they'd put fiery things in a game set underwater.
Come to think of it, the game also features fishes talking underwater, so maybe it is okay and I'm just being picky.

In retrospect, your point was kind of obvious. I get how blatant disregards for how the laws of nature work might seem to go against education, but as you say it's a game that involves fishes talking underwater. The fantasy aspect doesn't necessarily interfere with what its trying to educate the demographic on.

Like I said though, I'm not sure if it was educational. I used to play it, but I don't remember much about it. It's just all children games like that felt like they were educational because they were all so similar in terms of presentation and plot. So, even the children's games that weren't educational I remember as educational even though they weren't simply because of how similar they were to other children's games. Most of the children's games I played were educational, so I remember them all as being educational frankly.

When the Assassin droids showed up for the first time I remember being more shit-scared than any horror game I've ever played, because the buildup to their arrival was so intense.

So was I! I'm usually not scared of anything: I have ridden some of the most insane roller coasters, jumped from heights I probably shouldn't have just in case I accidentally broke my legs, and have pretty much never gotten particularly frightened from any horror game or movie with a couple exceptions. But Droidworks? That final droid chasing you was freaking terrifying with its red eyes and menacing nature and the buildup. I know I was just a little kid, but all that stuff I'm not afraid of I wasn't afraid of when I was a kid either. That game was surprising in its depth for such regards.

 

[MorganL4]

Though I in no way can make a whole list, I do have a good one you looked over. The Where in the X is Carmen Sandiego? series. The US version helped me learn a lot about history and landmarks.

It helped me with my 50 state homework in 5th grade. I had to list the state flower/bird/song for each state, and my dial up internet connection couldn't get the assignment done fast enough. So I loaded up my Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego game, and went to the 50 state viewer and looked at the about a state section. It told me all of that in the same amount of time it would have taken our dial up modem to load 2 pages..... Good god, just thinking about it reminds me SO MUCH of what it was like back in the 90's. The next year we got cable.