Education in video games

The genre of video games is various: adventure, puzzle-solving, racing, role-playing and simulation. The genre is not limited to these five. One of the categories of video games is educational. Reader Rabbit is edutainment (education-entertainment) game which enhances kids' reading and spelling skill. Storybook Weaver requires players to create their own stories (Wikipedia.) In Japan, Nintendo DS produces many educational games such as English Training (Eigo duke). English Training is very famous. Player can learn spelling and taking a dictation on touch panel. A few years ago, I heard that some junior high-school installed this game in an English class to build kids' vocabulary and improve listening skill. I thought that Japanese must focus more on speaking from childhood than they boost spelling skill, but this is good way to inspire kids who like electronic games to learn more.
(*picture: Japanese juinor-high studets are studying English using Nintendo DS.)

According to Mighty Mommy, which is one of my favorite podcasts, other genre also can be an educational game surprisingly. Adventure games develop problem-solving skill and information retention while exploring. Racing games require players to choose right car to win, and develop quick hand-eye coordination (Mighty Mommy.) When I was in Japan, I had seen a boy playing a video game at kids' floor in a department store. Probably he was playing a fighting game there while waiting for his mother who enjoyed shopping. Amazingly, he was pressing many buttons very quickly at lightning speed, gazing at display, and he seemed to win. Do you know how many buttons a recent controller has? Twelve! Twelve buttons are on a PlayStation controller. The boy knew which button works for what correctly. My controller of Nintendo Family Computer over twenty years ago had only one cross button on left side of a controller and two small round buttons on right side. Kids in digital age definitely can improve hand-eye coordination, and they can do more than I could do. Take a look at this movie. A boy wearing a sweatshort printed "video game" is playaing a video game. Look at his fingers.

Here is another example. Nobunaga no Yabo (Nobunaga's ambition), turn-based strategy video game was one of my favorite games. This game was set in the Age of Civil Wars, about five hundred years ago of Japan. In this game, I became a lord and captured territories by fighting against other countries. The final goal was to rule Japan. I got interested in history around this period because a number of famous lords who I learned in a history class appeared in this game. I started reading history books and biographies of those warriors. Perhaps, I knew about the history more than I learned at school.

An educational game is not the only one category which kids can learn something from. Even violent video games could be educational if we saw them from different point of view such as hand-eye coordination and strategy skill. How wonderful it is for kids to be able to learn something having fun! I agree with this idea. Although I still believe that kids shouldn't play video games instead of doing homework, I hope my daughter will learn a lot from video games and build skills as well as she learn at school.

Electronic games as a social tool?

A few years ago, Tamagochi got popular again since it was created and sold in huge numbers in 1996. Tamagochi is a hand-sized computer which functions as a virtual pet. You can raise the pet in the small computer: feeding it, cleaning it and playing with it. The pet is in a good mood when you communicate with it well, but it is in a bad mood when you don't take care of it. In the worst case, it dies as a result of neglect.

Around that time, one of my colleague's daughters wanted one, but he didn't like any video games or digital things which were kinds of games. So, she wrote a letter to Santa Claus to give her Tamagochi (In the family's custom, kids believed in Santa Clause and wrote letters to him and put them in the mailbox before Christmas. Then parents read them and prepared for the gifts which kids wanted.) In the letter she said, "I want Tamagochi, because I CANNOT GET INTO A CONVERSATION WITH MY FRIENDS."

A recent study showed that 97% of kids play video games regularly. 7% of respondents didn't even have a computer, but they had a video game console. They might talk about other things playing games, but playing games is the motive of getting together (Daily Tech.) In one interpretation, kids don't meet each other unless they play games. They get together bringing games even if they don't know each other at all. Here is a story of another friend's kid who loves playing Nintendo DS. On the way back to Japan last summer vacation, the son played video games as usual while waiting for an airplane at the airport. One boy told something to him, and they started gaming together in communication. They played DS for the rest of waiting time together.

When I heard that, I felt it was weird. Because they were complete strangers to each other, and even spoke different languages! But at the same time, I also felt that video games might be one of new social tools like Facebook and blogs to have communication for digital age since kids have a chance to get to know each other through playing games. So are online games. It seems to me that those kinds of ways of communication are poor interpersonal relations compared to a few generations ago. Ten years ago, I used to play a guitar, and used to go to a guitar shop to get information such as concerts and seminars. I got to know some people there who had a same hobby, and chatted face to face. As "eyes are the windows to the soul" says, I could even know people's emotion while talking. However, to me, digital letters just shows information. Even if kids get together to play video games, how profound conversation can they have facing at a display and controlling characters in virtual world?

If my daughter told me "I cannot get into a conversation with my friends without video games," how would I respond? It is painful for parents that their kids cannot get along with friends. Of course playing games is not only the way to have communication. They can communicate playing outside, doing homework together, and complaining about their teachers sometimes. However, as far as video games are such popular among kids, I would buy one for my daughter if I saw her feeling lonely.

*picture: Tamagochi

Numb sense

Columbine high school massacre ― this is one of the most horrible tragedy I have known. It happened on the morning if April 20, 1999. Two school boys, Eric Harris, 18 and Dylan Klebold, 17 shot to kill twelve students and one teacher. After that they killed themselves. This rampage was the deadliest school shooting in US until Virginia Tech massacre happened (New York Times.)

Japanese media also took a lot of time and space on TV and in news paper to cover this disaster. I remember that I was shocked by the fact that such young normal people, eventually those two guys might not be "normal," could get guns and shot to death their fellows easily. Japan is relatively safer country and not a gun-prevalent society, so of course I haven't seen real guns and I've never heard that children shot people. I had thought that shooting to kill happened in a virtual world, video games before I heard this news.

Many analysts and professors point out and research bad effects of violent video games on kids' behaviors such as school shootings, and this has been a major controversy for a long time. Here is very interesting research. Two professors showed that violent video games and movies make people unfeeling about the pain. In their study, participants were divided into two groups: one playing a violent video games and the other playing a nonviolent games. After finishing games, participants answer questionnaire. Meanwhile, they heard a loud fight outside the lab, which was expected someone got injured. Participants who played violent games took longer to help injured people than participants who played nonviolent games (Comfortably numb.) I think that the result of this research says that people who play violent video games a lot tend to get numbed to injuring and killing people because they are liable to lose sense of pain. This is understandable. This idea works some different situation. First example is about sense of largeness. I had felt that Hokkaido,
which is located northern Japan, had vast land and straight roads without signals for miles. However, once I get use to Idaho's scenery, I won't feel Hokkaido is large and vast when I go there next time (of course I still love there because there are a lot of green, delicious seafood, and people are kind and friendly. Hokkaido is special place for me!) My sense of largeness may get numb after moving to here in Boise, Idaho. How about money? A few months ago, a Japanese famous pop musician, who was rage of the time and millionaire, was charged of fraud. He spent money even after he was on the wane, and then went into debt so as to keep his level of life. I guess he could not forget good time when he was rich, and could not let down the level of life after he knew good life with a lot of money. Habitation is horrific.

Some media reported that Eric and Dylan had spent a lot of time playing violent video games. Probably they felt nothing while they were shooting, or felt something like "I got 5 points!" Although they had a strong reason which was to pay back at bullies, the idea linking it to shooting easily maybe comes from video games which they liked, Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. This is movie of Wolfenstein 3D.

As you can see this game, objects to shoot are people. Players intend to just kill people to earn points and get high score. I guess two guys felt just playing shooting games in the real world, not a virtual world. Overall, playing violent video games again and again might make people more violent.

*A picture is the veiw from Kaiyodai in Hokkaido. I used to go there for a week by motorcycle with my husband every summar. I miss there.

Games as a break?

From my job experience, I know taking an adequate break or rest is necessary to make good progress. But, can you believe that playing video games can be a equivalent to coffee break? The author of Changing the Game mentions,

"...scientists have found that playing games like Solitaire for limited periods can potentially lead to higher morale and higher productivity. Think of it as the coffee break of the new millennium."


As a common conception, if your boss catches you playing games for hours instead of working, you might be fired. (It happened at New York City in 2006.) When I took a break, I used to have a coffee, smoke and chat with my colleagues. After break, I could concentrate on my job and keep working well. I had never thought that playing games was able to be a break until I read this book.

In this case, I think "Solitaire" and "limited periods" are important points. First, Solitaire is a puzzle game. Unlike role playing games, puzzle solving games are easy rules to play, and most of them are done in a short period of time. Besides, you can get a sense of accomplishment when you solve a puzzle even if you are stuck at work. This might be your drive to keep working. Second, "limited periods" should be short. I guess this means you should not devote yourself into playing games. Your brain might be occupied by games and you might never come back to your work.

I believe that the same thing happens to children. They have to study and do homework. But they also need some breaks. Playing puzzle games could makes kids refresh their brain and concentrate on study again. I don't recommend games having a long story and taking kids forever to solve them. When I was thirteen or fourteen, I used to play Dragon Quest, which had a long story and eventually took me a month or so to solve it, before doing homework. I couldn't stop thinking about the rest of the story. I had to work out a sum, but I was thinking what tools are the best to beat a monster. I had to read a chapter beforehand at home, but I was thinking what item should I get next. If kids choose video games as a break, I believe that puzzle solving games are better.