Captains Log #7.learning from PAC-MAN

In this weeks reading I was quit interested in the James Gee and his revelations on gaming and the way we interoperate them. I also think his ideas of learning and gender roles played in perfect with the Mr. Bungle article. Our culture is still struggling to see video games or MUDS as potential learning tools and merely brushing them off as a faze of adolescents. Even though the majority of people think of video games in that sense, there is a growing population of people that are willing to accept that it is a growing part of our culture. Some of the events that take place in these games have emotional effects on there users. It tells us that we are in an age where a non-physical world can be superior to our physical realm. The attachment to a certain video game, for some, is stronger than a real time friend. We could however class these people as nerdy gamers who stay up all night drinking Mt.Dew but that’s not the point. The point is that; people are hugely attached to video games not just because of the fighting or gun-play (well, its kind of apart of it) but manly for the ACHIEVMENTS.

Achievements in a game act as a drug for its players. You could say it’s a game, within a game, within a game and so on. Any game would be boring without them. For instance, think of PAC-MAN if you didn’t have to dodge the ghosts or collect the little yellow pellets, you would be bored out of your mind. The appeal to play the game would be diminished after five minutes. Now, think of what you know about the game. I know that if I collect a blue pellet the ghost will turn white and I can kill them, I know that if I want to escape quickly from left to right I can go through the portals on the side, I also know the ghost are bad, the food gives me points and so on. Because I have invested time into that game it becomes second nature. I’ve acquired a new set of rules and mind frame when playing this game. PAC-MAN is a very simple game but a good example non-the less. Now we have entered the age of first person shooters, third person shooters, locative gaming, MUDS and many more. Our mind processed the simple rules and concepts of PAC-MAN just like it will when we play games with more advanced techniques, like Tomb Rader. Sure, when we first start playing the controls seem foreign but because our minds grasp the simple concepts or achievements first, we begin understand the concept. When we are successful we come back because we want t fulfill more achievements in the game and in our minds. We learn things when the game is based on certain events, placed in a certain settings or placed in a certain era. We learn gender roles, sexual identity, physics from racing games, how to aim a gun from war games and even how to manage money from manger games. Anything and everything is a learning opportunity with video games. From learning how to jump, to figuring out a puzzle to get you to the next level, we’re learning in one way or another.

Video games can hit on all of are sensory nerves and not just some. In our day-to-day living we might find it hard to remember test questions for a test or how to type without looking at the keyboard. But then we go home after a long day, turn on a game, look at a screen, guide a character over a wall, talk to a friend, listen to music, and eat food as if it were second nature. We do it effortlessly because we have learned it and we acquired our talent to do so because we go back for more achievements.

Sincerely,

Capt. J. Dangle