Edu-tainment: Learning from games
A recent article on this very site reminded me of an article I’d been meaning to write for ages. Whilst that article was about reading about games, this one is about what we actually learn from games. I don’t mean in an ‘I’ve learnt I have a brain age of a forty year old, and I’m only 23!’ kind of way, although I’ll be covering that out of a vague sense of obligation to do so. I mean, what do we learn beyond the brain training and academies?
First, I should deal with that aforementioned obligation though, no? Far before Dr Kawashima’s neurological work inspired the likes of Brain Training on the DS (Or, Brain Academy for the less dedicated of us), games were slowly being used for educational purposes. Anyone remember Granny’s Garden? Released before my time, of course, but still a staple of the computer room whilst I was in education.
Remember the Arcventure series, per chance? The point-and-click adventure where you went back in time, clicking on objects to learn about them, always thinking about the printable certificate you could get if you completed all the expeditions? Ah, those were the days. Well before all the various games mascot tie-ins. Sonic, you should be (more) ashamed.
A is for Anthropomorphized. B is for Bioware collaboration. C is for...
Of course, now we have Dr Kawashima to praise and scold us as we try and keep our neurons active and gain that coveted 20 year old status. This is all well and good, but these games are actually meant to teach you something; they would be failing if they didn’t. But what about those games that people label as ‘trash’ and ‘mindless entertainment’?
Dr Kawashima knows what you do with yourself at night...
Think back over the last few times you sat down to play a game. Did you learn anything from that experience? Perhaps some otherwise pointless trivia that just sprouted from you in the heat of a conversation? I’m not talking about the best boosting spots in Modern Warfare 2 or how high Chun-Li is on the ranked tier in Super Street Fighter. Although, Modern Warfare is heading in the right direction…
I have a friend; one who is incredibly knowledgeable about anything to do with comics. He would perhaps be labelled a geek by a lot of people if it wasn’t for his towering stature. Over the course of playing all the Call of Duty games, he is now able to name most, if not all, guns from any of the World Wars as well as the more modern makes from the Modern Warfare series. Perhaps not the most useful of knowledge in the world, and it couldn’t get him a job outside of a ‘munitions shop, but I’m still impressed.
Personally? I wouldn’t be able to recount the amount of mythology I have learnt over the years through playing games involving just that. From the names of Norse gods, that feature heavily in most JRPG’s, to learning of the Sephirothic Tree of Life (nothing to do with Final Fantasy 7, mind).
Make any sense to you? Any at all?
I know of, and have become a big fan of, the Water Margin thanks to Suikoden. I doubt I would have ever learnt so much about one of the four great classical novels from China, not to mention Romance of the Three Kingdoms; not only from the game of the same name, but also because of Dynasty Warriors. Not so much ‘mindless bashing of repetitive enemies’ now, huh?
I guess the greatest example that sticks out in my mind, the one that made me think of this article in the first place, comes from Sega’s gangster epic, Yakuza. Upon our second visit to Japan, my fiancé and I decided to put both my memory of the street maps of Kabukichõ, in Shinjuku, as well as Sega’s accuracy to the test. Turns out, they were pretty darned accurate.
Turn left and head straight for the Poppo market, just past the male hostess club.
Before I knew it I was leading on to the Theater square, pointing out the Poppo store (a Family Mart in real life), visiting Don Quijote, as well as spotting (from a distance) the locations of my favourite hostess bars. Not quite so amazing nor documented as this guy’s search for the location of Shenmue, but equally beautiful.
Now, who said you don’t learn anything from games?
– Sabbi Stone
Mario is missing involved going around the world and learning about the different cultures and cities you visited as Luigi we had this on our old 386. Similar thing with Where in Time is Carmen Sandiago which we had on the Megadrive.
O’course I couldn’t reference every game I knew which involved learning something new about this and that, otherwise it would’ve ended up more like a book rather than a short piece!
Those are two fair points, though. Having owned/played Carmen Sandiago before I did consider putting that in. I just ended up having far fonder memories of Granny’s Garden and the Arcventure games to exclude them. <3
Mario is Missing was great.
I never got into the learning of all the names of the guns in war games. Everybody else seems to know them all.