Despite Egon Spengler's assertion in 1984's Ghostbusters that print is dead, books continue to be published, produced and studied. Some time ago, however, it was decided that films could be used in the English classroom as a companion to the more traditional books. It started out with students watching "movie versions" of the books that they read in class, and moved on to watching films and analyzing them as their own separate pieces of fiction, using terms and techniques that were learned in class and applying them to the movie. "Who is the protagonist of The Matrix?" "What is the climax of Titanic?" "To what genre does Chinatown belong?" These are completely acceptable teaching methods. No administrator or parent would think twice about teachers using films in this way, but if you replaced those titles with Final Fantasy X, Neverwinter Nights and F.E.A.R., someone would undoubtedly question your methods.
When all is said and done, though, the question remains as to how the answers: "Neo," "When the ship sinks" and "Drama" are any more correct and of any more value than the answers: "Tidus," "When Aribeth turns to evil" and "Horror/Suspense." Both sets of answers show that the students understood the meanings of the terms they have been taught, as well as the texts that they were presented with. Both sets of answers meet the desired outcomes and requirements to be of valid use in the classroom, yet only one has gained widespread acceptance.
The value of videogames in school is not limited strictly to the English classroom. Other "mainstream" games could be of use in other courses. The History classroom, for example, can be a frustrating place for some students. With lots of dates and specific details to learn, the subject can become dry and lifeless. Fortunately, History may be the course with the widest variety of entertaining games at its disposal.
From first-person shooters to real-time strategies, game after game has been created with history in mind, allowing players to take part in some of the biggest events of the past. The Battlefield series, for example, allows players to take part in real-world conflicts. Battlefield: Vietnam even makes good use of its loading screens, playing music of the period and giving players the historical information they need in order to understand the map they are about to play. Games like Civilization and Age of Empires offer players historical tidbits. By knowing the histories of the various peoples that are represented as playable civilizations, players can gain advantages over their opponents and tailor their choice of civilization to their personal playing style. Not only does a historical game contain information that would be useful in the classroom, but it also creates a system that rewards learning in a way that is hard to accomplish using text books.
Realistically, the widespread use of games in a classroom has obstacles that must be overcome before they can become a common teaching tool. The first is education. Teachers, administrators and governments will need to come to see the benefits of this new teaching tool. The second is money. In a world of growing class sizes and shrinking budgets, it is unlikely that schools are going to pay for (or ask parents to pay for) licenses to these non-educational games en masse.
For now, teachers would be well advised to use these games on an individual level rather than using them as assignments for the whole class. An individual student with a passion for gaming might benefit enormously from the opportunity to put those skills to use for school. The bottom line is that students who enjoy their learning experience are more likely to do well in their classes than students who feel as though they are being force-fed information that has no real relevance to their everyday, technology-filled worlds.
Jon "Stradden" Wood is the News Manager at MMORPG.com and is a former GM for Wish. Wood is also a certified teacher in Nova Scotia, Canada.
