Video Games as Texts and Art

All video games that can function as textbooks (that I know of) fall into the simulation genre, as opposed to the games I discuss as art, which are within the adventure and RPG genres. There are flight simulators, sports game simulators, life simulators (The Sims Series), and history simulators (SimCity, SimEarth). Sid Meier’s Civilization Series is the best history simulation I can think of. Oregon Trail also falls into the category of history simulation. Check out Kurt Squire’s article, “Cultural Framing of Computer/Video Games”which addresses the push for educational gaming.

Aside from background knowledge, what is the point of using text books in high school English? Do we need the big Prentice Hall books or the vocabulary workbooks? I’m not sure if the video game format of these textbooks could prove to be more engaging or meaningful to the individual grammatical needs of students. However, maybe a video game based on Professor Masselink's grammar lessons would work? Root Words?

Incidentally, there’s a new game by Rockstar (the makers of the Grand Theft Auto Series) called Bully. Initially, I thought it was about a kid who goes around bullying others, but it’s actually about a kid who deals with getting bullied at a prep school. There are even classroom mini-games, which include a grammar test. At the very least, I’m interested in seeing how the most popular video game developer, Rockstar, portrays schoolwork.

As I have said before, my interest in video games pertains almost exclusively to “non academic” video games played at home on the computer or video game console. If I am to use video games in the classroom, I intend to use games that students are willing to play outside of the classroom.