Scientific American on the Importance of Play

From the Scientific American:

“A handful of studies support Brown’s conviction that a play-deprived childhood disrupts normal social, emotional and cognitive development in humans and animals. He and other psychologists worry that limiting free play in kids may result in a generation of anxious, unhappy and socially maladjusted adults. ‘The consequence of a life that is seriously play-deprived is serious stuff,’ Brown says. But it is never too late to start: play also promotes the continued mental and physical well-being of adults. …”

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From Age of Empires to Zork: Using Games in the Classroom

Sims 2, Civilization, Rome: Total War, A Force More Powerful, and Foldit — see recommended games and the skills they teach in this article from Academic Commons by Todd Bryant, Dickinson College.

http://www.academiccommons.org/commons/essay/gamesinclassroom

Differentiation and Game Playing

A recent article by teacher Karen Luciana at GamesforEducators.comdiscusses how games can be used to reach the needs of all learners.

“Remember the game, “Risk?” That game was excellent at requiring players to use strategy in order to win. Critical thinking and anticipating problems were crucial if the player were to conquer land. The computer game, “World of Warcraft” likewise requires players to strategize their way to increasing levels, thus becoming a dominant force in the game. “Life” asked players to make many decisions along the way (not to mention it had a really cool spinner). The process of playing and winning does not just require a right answer. Much of what we are not teaching in school nowadays can be accomplished with the playing of games. Most games require the use of higher order thinking skills to master and win. Unfortunately, we play very little at home and at school. We don’t play simply because we aren’t being provided with the opportunities to do so, not because we do not have the desire. There are too many tasks to complete, too many activities to finish, too many tests to pass…”

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Gaming and Learning Expo

sponsored by Park Ridge Public Library, the Friends of the Library, and the Park Ridge Teen Center

If you’re interested in exploring video games and learning, attend the Gaming and Learning Expo!
• Presentations:
1:00 – 1:30 p.m. Video Game Industry Q & A.
Michael Henson, DeVry University Game and Simulation
Programming Faculty
1:45 – 2:15 p.m. Animating 3D Characters for Game and Film.
Josh Jones, DePaul University
2:15 – 2:45 p.m. How to Really Get a Job in the Game Industry
Simeon Peebler, Flashpoint Academy
2:45 – 3:15 p.m. Skills and Systems: Good Educational Design.
Nate Scheidler, GamesforEducators.com Columnist
3:30 – 4:00 p.m. Gaming MegaTrends: Games for Fun and Profit
Krishna Kumar, Academic Liaison for Microsoft

• Game Designer meet-and-greets. Artists, designers and animators that have worked on:
SimYard.com, Mortal Kombat, Stranglehold Guitar Hero,
F.E.A.R., Fracture

• Information tables from area universities including DePaul University, DeVry University, and Flashpoint Academy and ITT Tech

• Hands-on gaming arcade including Rock Band, Wii Fit, DDR, and much, much more

ADMISSION IS FREE
Open to all ages

We especially welcome educators — CPDUs will be available

New Report Finds Videogames Good for Children

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE51A60H20090211

By Sarah Luehrs

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Videogames can be good for children, encouraging creativity and cooperation, a European Union report concluded Wednesday which ran counter to the violent reputation of some titles.

In conclusions that may either surprise or reassure parents of game addicts, the study by the European Parliament Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection found a number of benefits and no definitive link to violent behavior.

“Videogames are in most cases not dangerous and can even contribute to the development of important skills,” said Toine Manders, the Dutch liberal lawmaker who drafted the report.

“(They stimulate) learning of facts and skills such as strategic reflection, creativity, cooperation and a sense of innovation,” a news release on the report said.

The report avoided any call for EU-wide legislation banning certain games, and instead urged the bloc’s 27 member states to work together in strengthening an existing voluntary code in Europe known as “PEGI” which rates games according to content.

Total revenues from the video gaming sector amounted to more than seven billion euros ($9 billion) last year, the report said. In Britain, separate research last year showed videogames outselling music and other video products for the first time.

The EU report noted that not all games are appropriate for children, but argued that some books and movies are targeted for an older audience. It acknowledged that violence in some games could “stimulate” violent behavior in specific situations.

The report stressed parental involvement by proposing development of a “red button” that could allow parents to control content and how long games are played. It did not elaborate as to what form this button would take.

It further challenged received wisdom that such games were chiefly for children, quoting statistics that showed the average age of the European gamer was 33.

(Editing by Mark John)

Picking Age Appropriate Games

How do you choose the best type of video game for your child without playing each one?  The Entrtainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) provide impartial reviews on games.  They offer six different levels.  The labels appear on the front of each game and on the back, it will go into detail about why it is given that rating. 

Here are the official ratings of the ERSB:

ESRB Rating Symbols

	EARLY CHILDHOOD Titles rated EC (Early Childhood) have content that may be suitable for ages 3 and older. Contains no material that parents would find inappropriate.
	EVERYONE Titles rated E (Everyone) have content that may be suitable for ages 6 and older. Titles in this category may contain minimal cartoon, fantasy or mild violence and/or infrequent use of mild language.
	EVERYONE 10+ Titles rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older) have content that may be suitable for ages 10 and older. Titles in this category may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence, mild language and/or minimal suggestive themes.
	TEEN Titles rated T (Teen) have content that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. Titles in this category may contain violence, suggestive themes, crude humor, minimal blood, simulated gambling, and/or infrequent use of strong language.
	MATURE Titles rated M (Mature) have content that may be suitable for persons ages 17 and older. Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.
	ADULTS ONLY Titles rated AO (Adults Only) have content that should only be played by persons 18 years and older. Titles in this category may include prolonged scenes of intense violence and/or graphic sexual content and nudity.
	RATING PENDING Titles listed as RP (Rating Pending) have been submitted to the ESRB and are awaiting final rating. (This symbol appears only in advertising prior to a game’s release.)

 

For more information or to check on a rating of a game, visit http://www.esrb.org/index-js.jsp

Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked: Myth 8

8. Video game play is desensitizing.

Classic studies of play behavior among primates suggest that apes make basic distinctions between play fighting and actual combat. In some circumstances, they seem to take pleasure wrestling and tousling with each other. In others, they might rip each other apart in mortal combat. Game designer and play theorist Eric Zimmerman describes the ways we understand play as distinctive from reality as entering the “magic circle.” The same action — say, sweeping a floor — may take on different meanings in play (as in playing house) than in reality (housework). Play allows kids to express feelings and impulses that have to be carefully held in check in their real-world interactions. Media reformers argue that playing violent video games can cause a lack of empathy for real-world victims. Yet, a child who responds to a video game the same way he or she responds to a real-world tragedy could be showing symptoms of being severely emotionally disturbed. Here’s where the media effects research, which often uses punching rubber dolls as a marker of real-world aggression, becomes problematic. The kid who is punching a toy designed for this purpose is still within the “magic circle” of play and understands her actions on those terms. Such research shows us only that violent play leads to more violent play.

By Henry Jenkins, MIT Professor
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html

Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked: Myth 7

7. Video game play is socially isolating.

Much video game play is social. Almost 60 percent of frequent gamers play with friends. Thirty-three percent play with siblings and 25 percent play with spouses or parents. Even games designed for single players are often played socially, with one person giving advice to another holding a joystick. A growing number of games are designed for multiple players — for either cooperative play in the same space or online play with distributed players. Sociologist Talmadge Wright has logged many hours observing online communities interact with and react to violent video games, concluding that meta-gaming (conversation about game content) provides a context for thinking about rules and rule-breaking. In this way there are really two games taking place simultaneously: one, the explicit conflict and combat on the screen; the other, the implicit cooperation and comradeship between the players. Two players may be fighting to death on screen and growing closer as friends off screen. Social expectations are reaffirmed through the social contract governing play, even as they are symbolically cast aside within the transgressive fantasies represented onscreen.

By Henry Jenkins, MIT Professor
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html

Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked: Myth 6

6. Video games are not a meaningful form of expression.

On April 19, 2002, U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr. ruled that video games do not convey ideas and thus enjoy no constitutional protection. As evidence, Saint Louis County presented the judge with videotaped excerpts from four games, all within a narrow range of genres, and all the subject of previous controversy. Overturning a similar decision in Indianapolis, Federal Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner noted: “Violence has always been and remains a central interest of humankind and a recurrent, even obsessive theme of culture both high and low. It engages the interest of children from an early age, as anyone familiar with the classic fairy tales collected by Grimm, Andersen, and Perrault are aware.” Posner adds, “To shield children right up to the age of 18 from exposure to violent descriptions and images would not only be quixotic, but deforming; it would leave them unequipped to cope with the world as we know it.” Many early games were little more than shooting galleries where players were encouraged to blast everything that moved. Many current games are designed to be ethical testing grounds. They allow players to navigate an expansive and open-ended world, make their own choices and witness their consequences. The Sims designer Will Wright argues that games are perhaps the only medium that allows us to experience guilt over the actions of fictional characters. In a movie, one can always pull back and condemn the character or the artist when they cross certain social boundaries. But in playing a game, we choose what happens to the characters. In the right circumstances, we can be encouraged to examine our own values by seeing how we behave within virtual space.

By Henry Jenkins, MIT Professor
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html

Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked: Myth 5

5. Because games are used to train soldiers to kill, they have the same impact on the kids who play them.

Former military psychologist and moral reformer David Grossman argues that because the military uses games in training (including, he claims, training soldiers to shoot and kill), the generation of young people who play such games are similarly being brutalized and conditioned to be aggressive in their everyday social interactions.

Grossman’s model only works if:

 

• we remove training and education from a meaningful cultural context.
• we assume learners have no conscious goals and that they show no resistance to what they are being taught.
• we assume that they unwittingly apply what they learn in a fantasy environment to real world spaces.

 

The military uses games as part of a specific curriculum, with clearly defined goals, in a context where students actively want to learn and have a need for the information being transmitted. There are consequences for not mastering those skills. That being said, a growing body of research does suggest that games can enhance learning. In his recent book, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, James Gee describes game players as active problem solvers who do not see mistakes as errors, but as opportunities for improvement. Players search for newer, better solutions to problems and challenges, he says. And they are encouraged to constantly form and test hypotheses. This research points to a fundamentally different model of how and what players learn from games.

By Henry Jenkins, MIT Professor
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html