Educational Video Games: Paradox or Paradise?

There is no question that video games are engaging, if not addicting. I’ve known kids whose entire lives revolved around video games, as well as adults. The serious, “don’t waste time and brain cells on this crap” person in me cringes at video games. The time and money that go into gaming are hard to justify, since the result of gaming can in no way be construed as productive. Beyond that, the bio-psycho-social-emotional effects of gaming are varied and often profound in extreme cases. As much as I don’t like seeing my friends, family, or students “hooked” on gaming, I can certainly understand the nature of the drug.

I grew up with Nintendo, playing Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt very proficiently. The Nintendo 64 rocked my world, and I lived in Mario 64 for months, and later other totally awesome games. I owned a handheld Sega Game Gear, and I remember hours and hours playing a side-scrolling Beavis and Butthead game- the stupidest game imaginable- but totally awesome to me at the time. Then at some point I bought a Sony Playstation, and the original Grand Theft Auto was my favorite game. Then Playstation 2 came out, and I bought that at some point. I dumped a lot of my life into the "NCAA" football series, and every Grand Theft Auto game. NCAA football was enjoyable because it was a chance to play my favorite sport in a fantasy world, but I only enjoyed it when playing against my friends, because it was a competition that felt like it “mattered.” I never got excited about winning or losing against a computer program.

Grand Theft Auto was another story… I was (and still am, yet self aware) a product of violent movies, games, and television, and I absolutely, positively, to a frightening degree-enjoyed running around, raising absolute Hell in the Grand Theft Auto games! I would usually play several missions and try to beat the game, but I spent 99% of my playing time just trying to accumulate the maximum police-wanted level (“6 stars”) by killing everyone, stealing cars, and running from cops, FBI, and Army- while annihilating them with rockets, machine guns, and flamethrowers. It is in this game that I achieved “flow” as described by Bowman in “A Pac-Man theory of motivation” (1982). I was one with the game, like Neo in the Matrix, time slowed while I jumped out of each stolen car and hit the ground running and firing on target, switching between weapons flawlessly for maximum effectiveness, and jumping into new vehicles to tear off and begin the chase again. I was a master of “rage mode,” as my friends and I called this way of playing GTA.

But what did I get out of that flow? Surely a lot of laughs and demonic pleasure, but zero self improvement or growth.

But what if GTA was somehow modified into an educational game? I can’t even imagine how, but what if? Would it be fun if I had to stop and think? Or even think at all? It seems that flow and enjoyment through total engagement with video games is usually because the user is reacting and using practiced skills based on reactions, not meaningful thought. It seems like injecting academic content into a game could potentially kill the whole experience. Educational games can’t compete with the furious reactions-type games, like first-person shooters and sports games... but I think there is the potential to at least use the medium to engage students, especially “gamers” who are drawn to the medium. 

But that leads to another problem... Do we really want more kids playing more video games, and at school… especially those who are already spending huge chunks of their lives overstimulated, jerking thumbs with glossy eyes at a flashing blue screen. Perhaps these kids are better off reading books, creating with their learning, and discussing ideas with human beings… or perhaps the ultimate educational game just hasn’t been created yet?

Bowman, R.F. 1982. A Pac-Man theory of motivation. Tactical implications for classroom instruction. Educational Technology 22(9), 14-17.