Beating video game baddies moves minds up a l

evel
Use your superpower now, or save it for battling the boss later?
Spend your hard-earned points on this special item, or buy a diferent
one instead?
From the moment you start playing a video game, you face choices. A
nd those choices, some eperts say, often lead to educational eperien
ces ! sometimes even more enriching than what students get from sit
ting in traditional classrooms.
"#hat$s not %ust because they want to have fun," said &ndiana Universit
y researcher Sean 'uncan. "#hat$s also because (games) are meaningf
ul, comple and tough decision-ma*ing spaces. #hey$re learning when
they play these games."
&ndiana University is marching at the front of a national movement to
promote video games in education. And, as 'uncan$s wor* in the univ
ersity$s +enter for ,esearch on -earning and #echnology highlights, i
t$s not %ust the made-for-learning math or spelling games that boost co
gnitive s*ills.
&t can also be the popular video games that millions of children ! and
adults, too ! remain glued to for hours on end. S*yrim, /inecraft and,
yes, maybe even 0rand #heft Auto.
1ait. 2ut aren$t video games %ust brain-melting evil sludge that corrup
t our youth?
3ardly, 'uncan says. (1ell, sometimes. 2ut we$ll get to that later.)
"#hese open-world environments allow the learner to choose what the
y want to do," 'uncan said. "#hese are things that we don$t do at all in
schools. 1e very rarely allow a learner to say, $45, you want to go of
and do this? 6ou 7gure out what you need to do and we$ll give you the
resources to do it.$
"8o, it$s $Stay in the chair. Stay still. And we$ll tell you what to learn.$"
3e calls it "playful learning."
/a*ing most of video games
&U has also %oined the budding 3igher 9ducation :ideo 0ame Alliance,
where 'uncan helps hype video games for their myriad potentials. For
instructional purposes, to increase tech literacy, as an art form and a c
ulture, and to create high-tech %ob opportunities.
&U also plans to roll out a new game design ma%or in fall ;<=>.
-ast year, a study by the American ?sychological Association found th
at rather than ma*ing children "intellectually la@y," video games foster
ed problem-solving s*ills and creativity. First-person shooter games de
veloped spatial navigation. -osing at games made children more resili
ent.
+hildren often use video games, &U$s 'uncan says, as a playground. #
hey ma*e "virtual mud pies."
#a*e the wildly popular /inecraft. #he game plops the player into an
open virtual world, 'uncan says. "1hat you do is you combine things,
eplore, create, build. 2ut the game doesn$t tell you how to do that. #h
e social community around the game tells you how to do that."
#hey can ! and have ! even recreated the city of &ndianapolis.
4ne of the minds behind building /onument +ircle in /inecraft durin
g last year$s ?op+on. #hen-=A-year-old B# 0raham of 2rownsburg.
3is dad, Bohn, worries a little bit about how much time the teenager s
pends wrapped around the computer, and he tries to *eep B# away fro
m the really violent video games.
2ut B# awed his dad with what he created. 3e sna*ed a labyrinth of ca
ves and put a blimp in the /inecraft s*y.
3e has invented his own @ombie video game. 3e has built game levels
on virtual moons with other players from places li*e ?ortugal. 3e has
watched 6ou#ube videos until he can solve a ,ubi*$s +ube.
"#hat was one of those parenting moments where & was li*e, 1ow. /y
*id is active and wants to learn something," Bohn 0raham, A=, said.
+oncerns about violence
Still, video games have endured signi7cant bac*lash from parents con
cerned about the hours children spend @oned out in front of games an
d the eposure to %arring violence, hyperseuali@ation and other types
of mature content included in many popular games these days.
Fran*ly, &U$s 'uncan shares those same worries. 3e$s bothered by the
themes in games such as 0rand #heft Auto. 2ut at the same time, he s
ees problems with polari@ed conversations around video games.
"1e want to thin* games are one thing or another," he said. "0ames a
re going to save the world, on one hand, or games are going to turn us
into *illing machines."
&mplicit in the national video game alliance$s mission, 'uncan said, is i
mproving perceptions and understandings of games.
Studies on the efects of video games on young minds span the gamut.
A recent one from the University at 2ufalo found players feel guilty w
hen they commit immoral acts in games. 4n the other hand, research
at &owa State University has connected violent video games with ma*i
ng children more aggressive and less caring.
4ut of the &U School of /edicine, a study a few years ago pointed to vi
olent video games causing changes in brain activity that could eventu
ally afect players$ behaviors.
#he ?arents #elevision +ouncil, an advocacy group headCuartered in -
os Angeles, opposes games that epose children to se, violence and p
rofanity ! particularly those li*e 0rand #heft Auto that are rated /, r
ecommended for mature audiences ages =D and up.
"1hat the games are doing is putting the child in the shoes of a horrib
ly violent person," said /elissa 3enson, director of grassroots activis
m and education.
She added. "#here are video games out there that can be very instruct
ive that can really encourage children with their creativity, their imagi
nation. 2ut & thin* & would want to steer *ids away from the /-rated g
ames and more in the direction of something li*e a /inecraft."
3enson also noted she would encourage parents to be careful about h
ow much time their children spend in front of television or computer s
creens.
#a*ing the broad view
2ut parent Anna -ynch said she sees a bigger picture when her two d
aughters, =; and =A years old, play video games.
"#hey have understood that you$re %ust trying things on, and you$re un
derstanding diferent perspectives in the world," said -ynch, AA of 2lo
omington. "6ou don$t always have to only wear that out7t. 6ou get to t
ry other things on, and that$s 45. #hat doesn$t mean you become that
person.
"-earning to play is 45. #hat$s a really valuable thing. & thin* ta*ing y
ourself too seriously all the time is probably more of a danger than pla
ying."
3er daughters are going to &U$s 0ame 'evelopment +amp, where last
wee* students designed games where %umping over spi*es changed d
ay into night, marshmallows faced of against evil-doers and late-night
#: host +onan 4$2rien hunted for coo*ies to eat.
+amper 9van 1ilt, =D, of /artinsville, says he learns from subtle mes
sages in video games. 8ot everyone notices them, he said ! "but & fee
l li*e if you do see it, it$s a very important part to the video game itsel
f."
&n his favorite game, /etal 0ear Solid, "the main theme of the story is
being yourself and trying not to be told that you are supposed to do th
is one thing," 9van said. "2ut instead, follow what you want to do( htt
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