TQ#3: The World of Gaming

As a self-processed non-gamer and someone who previously questioned society’s addiction to gaming systems, I postponed the playing SimCity, Sims, and Oregon Trail as long as possible. Once I got into game mode, however, it was difficult to stop. I experienced what it is like to become part of the competitive, self-driven spirit of the games. The game playing actually interfered with my daily life over this past weekend and I found myself putting off activities as a result.

SimCity and Sims are exciting simulation games that require the user to take an active role in creating societies in such activities as constructing family members, friends, and pets; looking in the newspaper for a job, then a better job as the game progresses; even an entire neighborhood complete with a fireworks display! These simulation games develop strategic thinking skills and the ability to effective plan as the player constantly strives for self-improvement and a better situation for him/herself. In the Sims game (CD-ROM), a player can purchase expansion packs to obtain better furniture and may be safer for the computer as it does not need website downloads.

Oregon Trail involves an extremely straightforward, simple screen that provides four information windows and tools: a status scoreboard that monitors stores, health, and progress; the movement of a wagon simulated by an illustration on the screen; a map containing the wagon’s progress; and a journal. The goal of the user is to guide the wagon from Independence, Missouri to Oregon's Willamette Valley. Choices include the user’s occupation (banker, carpenter, farmer), provisioning the wagon, departure date, pace, restocking and direction. Obstacles appear frequently such as fires, no water, no grass, floods, and injuries. These life-or-death decisions may also impact the livelihood of the passengers of the wagon. In my first experience in playing Oregon Trail (since third grade), I was killed by carnivores! This game is particularly useful for those interested in American history.

Gee believes that the blending demos and instruction is more effective than common classroom drill-and-kill practices. He has discussed many potential benefits of video games in education which do not fit nicely in the curricula framework, but are also too significant to be described merely as support mechanism. Gee (2003) described that games can help develop a student’s multimodal literacy. Gee (2003) also explained that through playing video games and reflecting on the experience, students can learn the important skills of self-instruction and systems thinking. Playing games allows the user to develop a set of valuable social skills (Shaffer, Squire, & Gee, 2005).

Prensky, like Gee and Seymour Papert, was also interested in the concept of how educational technology impacts the classroom experience. Prensky focused on principles of learning found in high-quality video games, but not necessarily in classrooms. In speaking with my eighth grade students regarding their experience with SimCity, they surprised me by stating that in second grade, they played SimTown in school! When I contacted the district personnel, I learned that Fogelsville Elementary school purchased 30 licenses for the program SimTown. SimTown allows students to construct a town consisting of streets, houses, businesses and parks, similar to SimCity. According to the technology department spokesperson, “This program helped students learn about what makes up a community which is part of the second grade social studies curriculum.” The next year and from then on out, however, the game was unavailable or blocked by the server. Students benefited from the simulations and the challenge of improving their situations within the games. As an educator who has experienced the positive attributes of playing such a game, why would a school take this opportunity away?

My second SimCity attempt: (more images in later posts)

Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy.
New York: Palgrave/Macmillan.

Shaffer, D. W., Squire, K. R., Gee, J. P. (2005). Video games and the future of
learning. Phi Delta Kappan, 87(2), 105-111.