Our "faculty newsletter" has a running column called "tech tips" and I'd like to write a short article about video games.
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Our "faculty newsletter" has a running column called "tech tips" and I'd like to write a short article about video games.
Some of my fellow teachers know next to *nothing* about video games. It's like they are from the 50s I think this makes some of the rules they make for our students less effective.
If you could tell a bunch of very dedicated teachers one thing about games what would it be?
(I'm thinking about talking about loot boxes, and why games can hook people.)
Honestly imagine a person saying "Oh I don't really read books"
or "I've never enjoyed movies"
That is how "I don't do video games" sounds to me. Really? NONE of them? Not a one. Not even candy crush?
Oddly people who say this often turn out to be mildly addicted to some of the very worst loot box games and unhappy about it.
I think if you think of playing games like reading a novel or watching a sports event one can have a more healthy relationship to the medium.
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Honestly imagine a person saying "Oh I don't really read books"
or "I've never enjoyed movies"
That is how "I don't do video games" sounds to me. Really? NONE of them? Not a one. Not even candy crush?
Oddly people who say this often turn out to be mildly addicted to some of the very worst loot box games and unhappy about it.
I think if you think of playing games like reading a novel or watching a sports event one can have a more healthy relationship to the medium.
@futurebird I'm pretty turned off by any arcade-style gaming that requires me to react quickly to what the game is doing. Give me games where I can pause and think and make a move in a turn-based structure or something.
Also if it doesn't produce a raw NTSC or PAL signal, is it really a "video" game?
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@futurebird I'm pretty turned off by any arcade-style gaming that requires me to react quickly to what the game is doing. Give me games where I can pause and think and make a move in a turn-based structure or something.
Also if it doesn't produce a raw NTSC or PAL signal, is it really a "video" game?
Yeah. I don't enjoy reaction time stress games much at all either and I also dislike the strain of video game fans and designers who think that those kinds of skills define the medium.
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Honestly imagine a person saying "Oh I don't really read books"
or "I've never enjoyed movies"
That is how "I don't do video games" sounds to me. Really? NONE of them? Not a one. Not even candy crush?
Oddly people who say this often turn out to be mildly addicted to some of the very worst loot box games and unhappy about it.
I think if you think of playing games like reading a novel or watching a sports event one can have a more healthy relationship to the medium.
@futurebird I do know people (not many, granted) who don't read books. Not because they're illiterate, but because that's not a medium they enjoy. After having to read X books at school they're completely done with it.
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@futurebird I do know people (not many, granted) who don't read books. Not because they're illiterate, but because that's not a medium they enjoy. After having to read X books at school they're completely done with it.
Like that's fine, but they aren't just unfamiliar with the concept of a book or why anyone would read one, right?
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Our "faculty newsletter" has a running column called "tech tips" and I'd like to write a short article about video games.
Some of my fellow teachers know next to *nothing* about video games. It's like they are from the 50s I think this makes some of the rules they make for our students less effective.
If you could tell a bunch of very dedicated teachers one thing about games what would it be?
(I'm thinking about talking about loot boxes, and why games can hook people.)
@futurebird There's a lot of narrative content in video games, and some inspire a significant amount of fan fiction. My two stepkids spend a day each weekend writing Zelda fan fiction together. They spend hours discussing how each game has problematic elements and one writes modifications (mods) to fix them.
Many show the problems of authoritarianism, capitalism, and racism (see Cyberpunk 2027 and BioShock Infinite), and that war is hell.
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F myrmepropagandist shared this topic
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Our "faculty newsletter" has a running column called "tech tips" and I'd like to write a short article about video games.
Some of my fellow teachers know next to *nothing* about video games. It's like they are from the 50s I think this makes some of the rules they make for our students less effective.
If you could tell a bunch of very dedicated teachers one thing about games what would it be?
(I'm thinking about talking about loot boxes, and why games can hook people.)
@futurebird On the positive side, I'd want to share just how diverse video games are! They aren't a "genre", they're a whole medium. Visual novels! Turn-based RPGs! There's so much there.
On the negative, I'd like them to be aware of how addictive games can be. Many mobile games are *literally* just Skinner boxes with ads and microtransactions glued on.
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Our "faculty newsletter" has a running column called "tech tips" and I'd like to write a short article about video games.
Some of my fellow teachers know next to *nothing* about video games. It's like they are from the 50s I think this makes some of the rules they make for our students less effective.
If you could tell a bunch of very dedicated teachers one thing about games what would it be?
(I'm thinking about talking about loot boxes, and why games can hook people.)
@futurebird What I haven't read in the replies so far & catering to educators specifically:
- Good games are excellent at feedback and making learning fun. Even very complex matters/routines can be broken down, varied, spaced out and thus conveyed more easily.
- Alibis, scenarios & a magic circle can help with that.
- Also, games have been the largest cultural industry by far now for a while now. Understanding games will help you understand broader culture e.g. references, memes (think: "NPC"). -
My Goals:
* foster respect for games as an art form and understanding about why people like them
* help teachers talk about self-regulation when playing games with students in intelligent ways.
* stop the trend of random games getting "banned" for being annoying-- I think we can teach students to use games like other toys in appropriate ways.(make no mistake I get just as mad as any teacher when I discover them playing gimkit instead of coding or doing math in the middle of class. )
@futurebird by middle school round here... there's hardly even recess so th kids don't get to play ANY games for 7 hours.
yeah... probly not great for child developmental processes!
I don't recall a lot of GAME in phys ed either. during some months.
and the kids are mostly very unstrategic!
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My Goals:
* foster respect for games as an art form and understanding about why people like them
* help teachers talk about self-regulation when playing games with students in intelligent ways.
* stop the trend of random games getting "banned" for being annoying-- I think we can teach students to use games like other toys in appropriate ways.(make no mistake I get just as mad as any teacher when I discover them playing gimkit instead of coding or doing math in the middle of class. )
@futurebird hav u ever seen the klutz book of classic games? 15 games, each on a stiff board page and enuf playin peices. games like backgammon, checkers, go, 9 mens morris...
sadly out of print
i can imagine spending an entire semester having kids read it and figure out the rules and the strategy, playing them. would education the hell out of em. maybe thre's a video game equivelent? tho some of those games are HUNDREDS of years old. shouldn't throw thm away.
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The Book of Classic Board Games
A set of essential family/classic boardgames in a handy portable format!
BoardGameGeek (boardgamegeek.com)
