Are Video Games Really Educational?

[shadowmaks]

I know that this might seem really silly. I for one think this is true, in fact I call myself living proof they are. So, what do you think of this.

[quietchat]

If they are, they didn't help you any. You don't have an argument, a reason for this discussion, why you feel so on so forth, or even if you think it applies to every videogame.

[giovanni r]

I really don't play them but no they aren't

[Lince]

If they have any sort of educational value then yes.
If they're Halo then no.

[suigintou]

Well, some games are made to be educational, so those ones obviously are.

Other games don't teach you very much other than better hand-eye coordination, but anything similar could do the same thing, like just working in general. I guess they can also help your reaction time.

Games that are heavy in text can help someone to strengthen their reading skills.

But all in all, games are not a good way to learn, even if they do sometimes have a tiny bit of educational value. You could learn faster by doing things other ways.

[Anime_Dude]

I know that this might seem really silly. I for one think this is true, in fact I call myself living proof they are. So, what do you think of this.


Were/What is this proof of urs?
I dont see any

[Dolly]

While I don't consider video games a primary source of learning, you can learn a surprising amount from them--depending on the game, obviously. While things are exaggerated, you can learn a slew of historical facts through games such as Medal of Honor and Call of Duty.

In some more, what I would call, games of immersion, you can learn a great deal psychologically. That's what next-gen games are kind of trying to accomplish more often than not, realism and closeness to a human mentality. What does this teach exactly? Well, a variation of things, really.

A more involved learning of the way we "think" as humans. A handful of games pride themselves in this sort of accuracy. Mind you, the entire thing can be made folly from players who just want to beat the game and enjoy the pixels. Which is more often than not the case. But still, the possibility is there.

[hubbabubba]

ya all of them are in a way, they are widly considered an interactive art for, they teach a vast majority of todays teens about other cultures, and without gta i wouldnt know to whip out my rpg if a helicopter is chasing me.

[shadowmaks]

Wow, there are a lot opinions on this. Dolly, you are right in a small or large way. Well, there is this one game I have called Persona 3. I learned more things in this game than I did in about 1 months worth of school. I learned about the Tarot cards and what each card is and stands for. Then there is the way "magic" came to be like dousing and the tarot cards. They even talk about mythical beings from all the countries around the world and science things like the center of the Earth spins faster than the speed of sound. The list just keeps going and I'm not even half done with the game yet.

[Mugen]

Well, some games are made to be educational, so those ones obviously are.

Other games don't teach you very much other than better hand-eye coordination, but anything similar could do the same thing, like just working in general. I guess they can also help your reaction time.

Games that are heavy in text can help someone to strengthen their reading skills.

But all in all, games are not a good way to learn, even if they do sometimes have a tiny bit of educational value. You could learn faster by doing things other ways.

Like Leapfrog? I love that learning facility.

[shadowmaks]

Like Leapfrog? I love that learning facility.

Well, Leapfrog is supposed to be educational. It's for little kids. Wait, didn't they do something with the Wii? Now I remember, they opened fitness centers where kids go to play Wii and get an exercise. Dam, it looks like video games are being the future, doesn't it.

[analogZero]

Well there are skills and general knowledge to be had from some video games. Some are idol amusement, however. For those that encourage, for example: organization, data management, reaction, coordination, sound judgment, as well as idealogical and psychological advancements I'd have to say that perhaps they're slower learning tools. I mean you're not going to learn math, rhetoric, or even business skills from video games, or at least not at the rate that you would if you put your nose into a book on the subject. I'd say they're good to reinforce or introduce you to new educational practices, but they're not sturdy enough to lean on.

[nata555]

Sometimes.There are games that taught me wisdom and strategy while others are just fun.

[moffetto]

ive been able to answer a bucn of question about japanese history thanx to games

[shadowmaks]

Now that I think about it. I was learning math when I was 6. You know, in those games that have turn-by-turn commands. Looking back, I find this very funny. Video games still have those negatives thou.

[Valor]

Not all Games are educational.
Either way they are fun, I'm not bothered whether they teach me anything or not - as long as they keep me entertained. =D

[jyuukai]

Of course they are! They teach us valuable skills on what to do and what not to do in certain situations. For example, if zombies invaded your town, you'd know what to do if you played Resident Evil

[Koopaking]

Who the hell plays games in order to learn things?

[mikesword]

Blazing Aces lists all the air battles & historic events that took place during world war II.http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk122/mikegofwar/Race_dragons.jpg

[Felix42]

I know when Iceland left Denmark because i played Heart of Iron II.
Europa Universalis, Civilization, Age of Empires 2 and the Total War series have taught me different things about history. Then there's strategy.
Ofc this isn't knowledge i use much, but it did help me a little during high school history and playing Trivial Pursuit.

A book might be better though, and personally i don't think you learn much from FPS games.

[analogZero]

I've heard and experienced some guff about historical accuracy in video games. There's a lot of war games that jazz up past events, and don't tell the story exactly as it happened, or not at all how it happened. I find it a little uninspiring to learn historical facts from a video game when you could learn the whole truth from somebody who's got their facts straight and isn't out to impress.

ps. video games teach you that 1 bullet to the head kills, while 10 bullets to the heart almost kills. also, severe, untreated blood loss isn't a factor as to when a person will die. thumbs up

[ylaixVK]

The more obvious ones, yes.
Some are just games, and some are the reason why we have serial killers in the world O.o; just kidding.

[xXWENWENXx]

There are some educational ones that helps you learn knowledge and the others educates you how to fight so most or every game is educational.

[am0184]

No, unless ur saying they teach u that guns, swords and explosives kill people.

[kuristar]

Sometimes.There are games that taught me wisdom and strategy while others are just fun.

i agree...::D:

[analogZero]

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/exercise.png
learn

[fejknick]

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/exercise.png
learn

(y)
:dance::pissed::dancing::dance:

[puppetz]

i believe they are.

[Viduus]

This guy has some great points about video games and learning/education:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN0qRKjfX3s

[acelomado]

I think depends of the game, games normaly stmulate a fast ratiocination. If Educational or not, depends of the individual nature...
http://www.animefuel.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=1256&pictureid=13955
You complete me... you are like me...

[strike7785]

uh no! why do you think your parents ground you n take away your games from you when you get into trouble at school. Because they are uneducational. All it is, is fun! School can be fun to but not always

[analogZero]

This guy has some great points about video games and learning/education:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN0qRKjfX3s

I have this urge to look up the sephiroth even though I know what it is. agh!

[Nightmare]

yes they are.
see I learned hoe to tread water from a video game so... ya they are.

[yoh]

they are and at the same time not cuz take the legend of zelda games they teach you how to multi task cuz ofcoarse the main goal is to save zelda but inorder to do that you need to do alot of side quests to get what you need to save her ... mmo games teach you how to be social over internet games ... zombie games(left 4 dead and resident evil) teach you what to do when the city(or even the world) is infecter by something to make almost everyone into a zombie ... and it also depends on the person playing thr game ... and thats all i can think of at this moment

[Gogo]

I'm not sure if I can say this in a way it will make much sense and I might ramble a little bit but these are my views from how I was raised and how I learned. All of this stuff is from what I did as a kid and how it helped me.

RPG's: Text heavy, Memorization, Strategy, Basic logic.

*Because RPG's have so much text going on (and I liked it better that way rather then having voices going with the text) It's quite easy to be able to pick up an RPG learn how to read and quickly start grasping the language. Because I played so many RPG's I was reading at a 12 grade level by 4th or 5th grade. *note: I started playing RPG's at the age of 5 or 6.

*Memory is a focal point of RPG's as well. You have to remember quests, key points in the story, and in a good RPG enemies have certain weakness' that you can remember in order to get through the game. All of these things combine to an important factor of memorization skills. Memorization helps with learning things quickly later on in school and life, and you DO pick things up faster because of it.

*Strategy is RPG is a key element in the fights, or at least in older ones it was. You would set up your 3 fighters in a fight, 1 healer/mage 1 all around and one power fighter. Also depending on the point in the game, You would switch around characters in order to strategize and get through a particularly hard point faster. Also, the weakness of the enemies in the area of the game where you are can help you choose the characters you need. You eventually start doing it by habit to find an easy way to finish things. This helps you later with home work and at your job.

*RPG's help logic cause you learn to think about certain aspects of things within the game within the fights and within the world your surrounded by. You start to look at things a certain way and you use logic to figure things out in life and in the games.

FPS: Memorization, Strategy, team work.

*Memorization in FPS is a big part, while most people have no idea about it. Memorization helps you remember the layout of stages and eventually all the hiding spots where people can hide to get a high number of kills. Memorization of these spots can reduce the amount of time you spend dead. This again can help you later with Theorems for math, science and such.

*Strategy here points to figuring out a key way of winning the round. You can work alone and go with your own strategy and own specific style of game play and use what you've learned about strategy and what people do in different situations and play alone or you can get help from the rest of your team and come up with a game plan. Also again, helps find a strategy that will work for you in life to help you with work.

*Teamwork, this is the part where you LEARN how to work with others on anything. On a team it's not just one on one it's your team versus theres and you NEED to STRATEGIZE. and for that you to have a basic stage layout (Memorization) and where everyone should position themselves in order to win the round. Team work that FPS builds up is used in school for projects and later on when you get to out of school life with jobs and such. Also Team work in it self helps with your COMMUNICATION ABILITIES.

I've played many other types of games but I won't get into them right now cause I've played too many and I don't feel like typing out everything I've learned and how I use the skills I learn from them in my everyday life but I'll say this, I use these skills most everyday. Also sorry if not a lot of it makes sense... I tried.

[cutieB]

It all depends on what game it is like those brain age games are and the puzzles and riddles games are.:cute:

[wi_sam]

hell yes they are ......for starters i learned English out of video games , and Gogo said it all .

[suune]

They teach you what you already know or it's made of tests with questions you should know...it's stupid...

[SmokedBoo]

I also agree with Gogo. Playing video games helps you advance your hand- eye coordination. Games hold most of the same kind of problems that regular school does. So instead of thinking about how you can't figure out a problem, think of it as a puzzle you have do to advance to the next level. of course this won't work if you rely on walk throughs >.>...

[Eggroll]

ok, i think that they are educational *looks around*:eyes:
why do i feel like some1's following me??

btw, BOOOOO!!!!!!!!! I LUVVVV THE SIG!!!!!!!! <3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3
<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

[leoern]

hmmmmm not really I mean not unless the knowledge is essential to the game.

[jujutsu]

they are the brain trainign things and some others are educational and also bully i learned one new bullying technique from that game xD

[Silverleon]

Well, they might teach some thing here and there, maybe not directly for educational reasons, but for game story reasons, nevertheless you are still learning something, which makes some games a bit educational.

[Neoliger]

Well there are some educational games, but I don't like them at all.