Educational Opportunities in Video Games

There's Lessons in Them Thar Games!

Who would have ever thought that video games  - a form of entertainment - could improve the minds of those that play them! The truth is that amid all the cool graphics, the fantastic music, and the intriguing plots, educational opportunities are abound - and to find them, one only needs to look at them a little closer.

1. Video games improve strategic thinking. Rare is the video game that doesn't require its player to make a decision two or three steps ahead of a current situation. With constant play, players quickly learn the advantage of strategic thinking and they start to apply it to actual world opportunities.

2. Video games improve problem solving. Although the same could be said about any game, video games have proven in study after study to improve problem-solving skills. This is because most (if not all) games are centered around a problem and then challenge the player to solve it. In just one game, a player may solve anywhere from three to a hundred or more different problems.

3. Video games improve hand and eye coordination. If you find this hard to believe, pick up a game controller and try to maneuver around the game. Manipulating a game controller demands the same skills that it takes to maneuver a mouse around a computer screen.

4. Video games facilitate quick decision-making. One quality of video games that lends to quick decision making is its impromptu situations. The element of surprise is always around the corner and it's what makes games exciting to play. To win however, players must be able to make smart decisions within a very short amount of time.

5. Video games feed the imagination. We don't really understand the argument against things like television, videos, and gaming where people use the lack of imagination to support their part of the debate. Some people claim that video games take away from the imagination because games supply the mind with things instead of encouraging the mind to come up with these things on their own. Bear in mind that these are the same people who say a stack of blocks is sufficient to grow a child's imagination. Of course we couldn't disagree more. The imagery in video games only fuels the imagination and gives it a spring board to form new possibilities that might not have occurred otherwise.

6. Video games encourage exploration. In role-playing games, players must venture off the beaten path and explore the unknown. They have to open doors without knowing what's behind them. They have to enter areas of the game without knowing the consequence. And they have to interact with characters that they've never met before. Inside these particular kinds of games, the opportunity to gather up the courage to explorer unknown territory isn't just available, it's required.

7. Video games enforce memorization. Another feature of video games is its strong influence on memorization. The terrain portrayed inside some of these games is huge, yet accessing the maps can be cumbersome and disruptive to the game. To compensate, gamers will not only memorize a large portion of the terrain, they'll remember the tasks required to get to specific areas.

8. Video games teach consequence. All computer and video games operate off of an "action - reaction" principle. Do something, and the game will react. This is a great opportunity to learn about consequence - whether this opportunity is experienced from a gamer's point of view or a programmer's point of view.

9. Video games teach patience, dedication, and endurance. No great game can be conquered in a day. In fact, some of the best and most popular games take weeks or months to finish.

These are just some of the educational opportunities hidden inside video and computer games. After closer investigation, we're sure you can find more in addition to hours of fun and amazement.

Getting New Ideas for Video Games (Part 1)

A Springboard for Video Game Developers

Creating video games is an art, no doubt. The problem is that it isn't easy to come up with ideas for video games. And even when we do get an idea, it doesn't seem as fresh or exciting as we want it to be. The following offers a few ways you can generate some creative ideas to keep your video game as fun to play from beginning to end.

1. Make it funny. Humor has a wonderful way of transforming the seemingly dreadful boring into something that's not only tolerable, but engaging as well. And if boredom is an illness, laughter is its cure. If you can inject jokes, funny imagery, or goofy characters into your game, your players will relax and associate your game with good feelings - a definite formula for success.

2. Let your mind wander off the beaten path. Since much of our thinking is associative anyway, there's no reason why you couldn't manifest this association into your video game. When one idea makes you think of another, include it as part of a video game no matter how illogical the connection is (at first). Remember that video games are your platform for creativity. It's time to be a little wild and a little unconventional. Without this free-form thinking, we surely wouldn't have the creative gems that we have today. You can always restore a sense of logic back into the game at an appropriate time.

3. Make your dreams come true. Literally, turn your dreams into video game scenarios. Had a nightmare lately? Include the scary thing in the game. Had a ridiculously stupid dream lately? Include it in the game as a detour or distraction. Sometimes dreams can be more interesting as life, and as a video game developer, you want your games to be the same. Keep a dream journal and write down those bizarre experiences you have at night. Your gamers will thank you for it.
4. Copy nature. Let's be honest - Nature is pretty weird. We have bees flying around and pollinating plants. We have water evaporating into the sky and then falling down from clouds as rain. Childbirth is a strange phenomenon itself, and germs - the smallest thing on the planet can bring down a herd of elephants. If you could emulate some of this crazy stuff in your own video games, you will have done what every man secretly wishes he could do himself. And that's take nature into your own hands and shape it into the reality you want! But don't copy nature faithfully. Twist it around. For example, instead of bees flying around and pollinating plants, your video game could have 3-inch aliens flying around and pollinating brainwashed FBI agents. Starting to get the idea?

5. Dig into History. Another good resource for video game material is our own history - but not the boring stuff. We're talking about the good stuff. The embarrassing stuff. Look for odd and weird news online and include the asinine things that people have done in the past as part of your game's plot. Your players won't believe what they're seeing!

6. Go Metaphor Happy. Metaphors are figures of speech in which expressions are used to refer to something that it does not literally denote. It simply suggests a similarity.  We're not sure, but we're pretty convinced that a lot of the space ships in video games are based on what we call the "nuts and bolts" metaphor. If you look closely at the designs of some of these vehicles, and then look at some of the tools you have in your toolbox, you'll start to see a similarity among the two like we did. You can do the same in your video games to come up with some really unique imagery and situations.

Benefits of Game Boards to Children

It is somewhat surprising how a set of simple game board, dice, a deck of cards and tokens can have big effects on the growth of a child. What is more surprising is that, game boards that are designed for entertainment actually aid children in their social and educational development. And although most game boards are not that academic and straightforward in terms of how they are played, they can be used as tools to teach specific skills. 

As a bonus, board games create a venue to gather the family together and play. While there are other activities such as dining out, watching television and doing chores, that can bring the whole family in one place, board games have that special capacity which draws family members to become much closer. Since the aim is not to teach and the setup is very informal, playing board games together is neither intimidating nor difficult. The child becomes more confident and open to their parents.

Just by virtue of playing the game, children learn the value of patience, verbal communication and interaction with others, thus developing their social skills even further. By learning how to wait for their turns, board games can also help a child to develop focus and lengthen attention span.

Fair play can also be thought by simply playing any board game. The rules of the game can be used in real life as well. When a child learns how to follow the simple rules of the game and finds it logical and reasonable, following the rules of the world will become second nature. 

We all know that children's board games are won by luck. But for them, they take winning and losing seriously. That is why when they win, they feel happy and proud; when they lose, they experience disappointment. Hence it is important for parents and guardians to help articulate these feelings in relation to real life situations. While managing happy emotions can be easy, dealing with disappointments should be done with outmost care. Nonetheless, the idea of losing and winning and the emotions that are felt along with these have positive effects on the child as he or she extends the lesson learned in those particular experiences.
Some board games teach basic math skills such as counting and arithmetic. Equate, the word version of scrabble, teaches kids to form and solve simple mathematical equations.

Chutes and Ladders, while simple as it may seem, teaches young kids how to count and how to wait turns.

Scrabble, Boggle, Typo, Upwords and Balderdash are some of the games that help kids expand their vocabulary.

Cueldo is a mystery game that encourages deductive method of thinking and problem solving.

Chess improves math skills, intuition, logical thinking, strategic planning and even IQ.

Zingo helps kids improve visual recognitions.

Monopoly helps enhance reasoning, strategic planning, management, investment, social skills and business skills.

German style games such as Tigris and Euphrates, Scotland Yard, World of Warcraft, Settlers or Catan, Puerto Rico, Risk and Diplomacy teach children about strategy, management and planning.

If you are going to ask me, game boards are a good investment if you want your kids to learn some of the most important lessons in life. They may not learn all these in one sitting but it is always a good to introduce kids with objects and activities that have been proven to be very useful.