I've found quite a lot of threads here asking the question "Have you ever learned anything from a video game?" - it comes in various forms, such as the "What facts did you learn?" or "Has this game taught you any good morals?".
Whatever the form, answer or discussion afterwards was I want to take a step back and look at the educational aspect in games themselves.
I'm currently studying educational science and game design separatly and have started combining them in my spare time. I've been trying to grasp the concept of making games that sends messages and creates ideas that sticks with the player long after he's left the screen.
I compared it to other mediums such as a radio show, movies and good ol' fashioned books. How do I design "X" that educates the audience?
In the end I boiled it all down to three fourths content and one fourth presentation. Roughly. (Mathematics is not my major).
In a book this is easily done by depicting events and characters in the way that makes the reader catch the information you're trying to send. Similarily in movies you pick a scene and characters, display it well, and the message is sent. (not counting in the audience receptability (is that a word?? ability to recieve information?))
In games however we're handing an element of CONTROL to the player. We do not always choose what the player looks at or what NPC he talks to. It creates a situation far from a simple presentation.
Now, today I'm not talking about games like "Pink Panther: Passport In Peril", Freddie Fish or the Brain Training for DS. No I'm talking about what is learned from games like....
Civilization (Newton born in India?)
Condemned (Detective work? Fo' realz?)
Portal (I can do science me!)
Now I know, most games today are just entertainment, much like movies and books. But in my effort of trying to teach other people things I want to add elements in my games that are genuinly interesting facts. For example
Civilization taught me about historically important characters and some of their culture.
Condemned was the first game that made me count bullets I fired instead of looking at magazine counters ticking down (actually of use to me when I did military service)
Portal introduced a whole new way for my brain to think with its very core mechanic.
Most of these things are entirely subconscious teachings but I'm also thinking along the lines of how anime sometimes gets crazy scientific in the middle of a ninja fight by accurately describing how a whole echosystem is affected when single species is removed. Games can have the same scenes sometimes (can't think of one right now)
If you're still with me after this, my question to you is not simply "Have you learned-" or "What have you learned-" from a video game. My question is what do you remember about the game you learned from? Was there something in particular that made to remember THIS bit of information? Genre of the game? Point of view for the player? Role? Things like that.
What are your opinions on information, facts and morals learned from games?
Regarding the poll - how can an option you did NOT pick be designed to teach you something?
Whatever the form, answer or discussion afterwards was I want to take a step back and look at the educational aspect in games themselves.
I'm currently studying educational science and game design separatly and have started combining them in my spare time. I've been trying to grasp the concept of making games that sends messages and creates ideas that sticks with the player long after he's left the screen.
I compared it to other mediums such as a radio show, movies and good ol' fashioned books. How do I design "X" that educates the audience?
In the end I boiled it all down to three fourths content and one fourth presentation. Roughly. (Mathematics is not my major).
In a book this is easily done by depicting events and characters in the way that makes the reader catch the information you're trying to send. Similarily in movies you pick a scene and characters, display it well, and the message is sent. (not counting in the audience receptability (is that a word?? ability to recieve information?))
In games however we're handing an element of CONTROL to the player. We do not always choose what the player looks at or what NPC he talks to. It creates a situation far from a simple presentation.
Now, today I'm not talking about games like "Pink Panther: Passport In Peril", Freddie Fish or the Brain Training for DS. No I'm talking about what is learned from games like....
Civilization (Newton born in India?)
Condemned (Detective work? Fo' realz?)
Portal (I can do science me!)
Now I know, most games today are just entertainment, much like movies and books. But in my effort of trying to teach other people things I want to add elements in my games that are genuinly interesting facts. For example
Civilization taught me about historically important characters and some of their culture.
Condemned was the first game that made me count bullets I fired instead of looking at magazine counters ticking down (actually of use to me when I did military service)
Portal introduced a whole new way for my brain to think with its very core mechanic.
Most of these things are entirely subconscious teachings but I'm also thinking along the lines of how anime sometimes gets crazy scientific in the middle of a ninja fight by accurately describing how a whole echosystem is affected when single species is removed. Games can have the same scenes sometimes (can't think of one right now)
If you're still with me after this, my question to you is not simply "Have you learned-" or "What have you learned-" from a video game. My question is what do you remember about the game you learned from? Was there something in particular that made to remember THIS bit of information? Genre of the game? Point of view for the player? Role? Things like that.
What are your opinions on information, facts and morals learned from games?
Regarding the poll - how can an option you did NOT pick be designed to teach you something?