RPGs

I love video games but a lack of broad band connection and an almost non-existent interest in Dungeons and Dragons-type games has limited my appreciation for RPGs (Role Playing Games). To remedy this, to expand my knowledge, to connect with one more student faction, and to have a 506 project, I intend to participate in two online RPGs. One is a Star Wars MUD and the other is RUNESCAPE. Both allow the player to write to other players during the game. The MUD seems to be like a choose-your-own-story book, but with other players interacting with you (weird, and exciting). RUNESCAPE, has numerous worlds with preset stories. Both are free and easy to sign on too. I know very little about these games at this point other than they are very popular. If anyone has tips for beginners (especially for the MUD), I would greatly appreciate them. If you don't have tips, you can still make comments.

What Does Reading Look Like, Anyway?

In “What Does Reading Look Like, Anyway?”, Kajder addresses the importance of including students in what she calls the “literacy club” by acknowledging literacy outside the traditional. She raises an interesting point: students do not believe untraditional literacy counts. I have observed this through the comments on my psmonline post. Does this mean that video games, graphic novels, film, photography, and other internet-related literacy are not as important as traditional literacy? Or, have students been incorrectly convinced, by teachers and parents who were taught traditional literacy, that traditional literacy is the only literacy worth teaching? Kajder’s definition of literacy is right on: “literacy is using the most powerful cultural tools to communicate our understandings.” Her definition does not exclude traditional literacy; in fact, it still makes traditional reading and writing the most powerful cultural tool. However, it is no longer the only powerful cultural tool for communicating. Untraditional literacy is being developed outside of school. Teacher’s need to get students to see that what they are doing with untraditional literacy (analyzing) is what teachers want them to do with in-school literacy. Providing a place for both untraditional and traditional literacy can help students to become confidant, interested, and successful in the most powerful literacy, reading and writing.

Undercover Literacy

This was posted on my psmonline post (found in a previous blog of mine.) This is what the user freespace21 said: "we started a club. we played Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition. one of the new teachers last year had started it. we played after school every wednesday. it was extremely fun, the teacher actually played with us. he was really good, too. (headshots galore) unfortunately, there was a combination of two things that brought it to an end. the admin at school disliked it because it was violent. they just needed a reason to come down on us. their wish was granted when there were reports of people playing during school in one of the classes. they outlawed it and we were no longer allowed to play. it only takes one person to screw everybody else. there was an underground movement that started towards the end of the year though. several of us met in a different class room. somehow someone transfered the game to a drive that isn't checked out by the security program. with it there, we could play with each other. fragfests insued."

Students will play video games whether the administration allows it our not.

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.

PSMonline forum

As a subscriber to PSM magazine (PlayStation Magazine), I have the recently posted a topic and some comments on their online forum www.psmonline.com The focus of my first topic was to get others subscribers to comment on video games in English class. As of this post, 34 users have viewed my topic and two have commented. Here's a link to my post video games in the classroom

Would Socrates Play Video Games?

Would Socrates play Video Games?

Will video games someday replace books in classrooms?

Marco Visscher seems to think so in his article Reading, Writing and Video Gaming

I agree with Visscher that video games can inspire creative problem solving. The trial and error exploration found in gaming can help develop sound research skills. Yet these skills are neatly contained within the game’s framework. Interpreting that framework is what I find most promising for education.

I’m very skeptical about using “educational” games in an ELA classroom. For example, F. Scott Fitzgerald or Nathanial Hawthorne didn’t write their novels for the English classroom. Why should video game developers have to? A sense of artistic expression is lost when a text is specifically designed for the classroom. My future job as an English teacher is to get students to read and write critically about texts that are important to them and/or to our society. If a game is designed to be educational and is used primarily in a classroom setting, who will it be important too in the real world?

Visscher also addresses the standard arguments against gaming: they promote anti-social behavior, violent behavior, and are easy. There are now many articles that have shown these complaints to be groundless. Yet I commonly hear these unjustified accusations. First, reading a book is just as anti-social as playing video games. Second, no conclusive evidence has connected video game violence with real violence, and not all games are violent or sexually explicit. Finally, kids do not play video games because they are easy. More likely it is because good video games are challenging and meaningful. A good video game design uses an appropriate learning curve (i.e. the player is initially required to learn the game’s frame-work then apply it to more and more complex objectives). Just as English teachers traditionally critique the structure/organization of a novel, a video game’s frame-work can be critiqued. Visscher is right, video games need to be evaluated. Like attending a class discussion or a book club, evaluating a text with others improves analytic skills.

Matt

Grand Theft Education (continued)

I have already expressed my dissent to some of the opinions in this article pertaining to video games. But the authors also attack the film medium and the sci-fi and fantasy genres. This heresy must be dealt with. First, film. Zengotita writes, "I worry that games have the same effect on the imagination that movies have." Her argument is that the book version of a story is always better than the movie. With most film adaptations, I agree. However, what about original movies? "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," for example, is an excellent commentary on the Kong-fu genre. "The Matrix" is very fitting for discussing deconstructionism (the sequels are terrible). Furthermore, if movies are so detrimental to the imagination, how is it that I continue to analyze and re-interpret the original Star Wars Trilogy? Because I'm an uber-geek. But it's also because, like a good novel, a good film tells a story that leaves room for imagination.

Second, Kostor claims the sci-fi and fantasy genre's are plot driven and formulaic. According to Avrich, genre fiction (which only seems to include sci-fi and fantasy) is not very good at developing characters. At this point, their "debate" seems more like an unfounded rant about anything the authors can connect to video games. Have they forgotten that all literature falls into some sort of genre? Have they forgotten that Victorian literature is notoriously plot-driven? If the genre's of sci-fi and fantasy are so limited in terms of character, what do they think about Douglas Adam's work? Phillip Dick? Mary Schelly?

matt