Let Them Play Videogames
If you're one of those parents who despises videogames, bemoan the children who spend countless hours plastered in front of them, and insist on banning them from your household, you may be guilty of obstructing economic prosperity and productivity. There was a fascinating piece in yesterday's Wall Street Journal about how videogames are not only changing the economy, but are becoming our economic reality. And that's a good thing!
Former hedge-fund manager Andy Kessler writes:
Videogames will influence how next-gen workers interact with each other. Call of Duty, a military simulation game, has a mode that allows players to cooperate from remote locations. In World of Warcraft, players form guilds to collaborate, using real-time texting and talking, to navigate worlds presented in high-resolution graphics. Sure, they have funky weapons and are killing Orcs and Trolls and Dwarves, but you don't have to be a gamer to see how this technology is going to find its way into corporate America. Within the next few years, this is how traders or marketers or DNA hunters will work together. No more meetings!
Once consumers adapt to these entertaining applications, corporations figure out how to use them to increase productivity....
The economy is not going to create wealth just because we print dollars, build fast trains, put up windmills, or even assemble military supercomputers. (For the record, Google has the largest and fastest supercomputer, spread over dozens of data centers.) Even China will someday learn that wealth only comes from productivity. That's found in a different place every cycle—and the stock market will find it first and fund its expansion. So where is it now? It's staring us in the face and amusing us to a better life.
So the next time you're ready to yank your kid away from his Xbox or PlayStation 3 or Wii, remember, you're not only inhibiting a budding entrepreneur, you're hurting America!
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May '10
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
I have no problem with the technology or the industry, and am happy to let my children play videogames to the same degree I am happy to let them watch reruns of Gilligan's Island. But moderation is key, as is insisting on a diversity of leisure activities.
The idea that video game skills are meaningful 21st century skills is self-serving hogwash. Perhaps if the endorsement were not coming from a hedge fund manager I might be more persuaded.
Dec '10
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
Interesting article. As someone who plays both of the video games mentioned, I can see how the business world could learn a thing or two from these sorts of games. Both games--as well as others--take people from across the globe and connect them instantly and effectively. Granted, the people are connected for the purpose of killing digital terrorists and monsters but they could just as easily be connected to discuss a business deal or trade.
GoToMeeting has already made life much easier for smaller offices who find their staff spread out across the country.
Getting slightly off topic, I would hazard that while video games certainly have some positive influence on children, the games can just as easily be a detriment to their well-being. Childhood obesity is a real problem and I'd imagine that video games don't help the issue.
Video games are like any technology, they can be a good thing if used properly but are just as likely to be a detriment if abused. It's up to parents to keep their children active and fit. It is certainly not Michelle Obama's charge to force our children into fitness.
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
Trace Urdan: I have no problem with the technology or the industry, and am happy to let my children play videogames to the same degree I am happy to let them watch reruns of Gilligan's Island. But moderation is key, as is insisting on a diversity of leisure activities.
The idea that video game skills are meaningful 21st century skills is self-serving hogwash. Perhaps if the endorsement were not coming from a hedge fund manager I might be more persuaded. · Jan 4 at 7:46am
Good point about moderation!
Isn't it fascinating, though, that tasks that once required an office or entire fields of land are beginning to occur virtually, via these videogame-like applications? Think of how the military is beginning to train troops on Second Life, a virtual world, and Call of Duty.
Will the real world experiences be totally replaced one day by a virtual world?
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
There are already videogames, on Wii for instance, that simulate sports and working out. These are obviously not a substitute for actually playing outside, but we may be trending in that direction.
One question for parents to consider, I imagine, is this: if you can't beat 'em, then should you join 'em? I bet there are all kinds of interesting and fun videogames that are also educational and beneficial in other ways.
Dec '10
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
Emily Esfahani Smith, Ed.
There are already videogames, on Wii for instance, that simulate sports and working out. These are obviously not a substitute for actually playing outside, but we may be trending in that direction.
Quite true, Emily. I'd imagine that there are also uses in the classroom for video games. It seems like the biggest challenge for any teacher is to convey the subject information in an easily digestible and entertaining manner.
I work as a fundraiser and one of the lessons I've learned is to "feed them what they eat", which means to approach and talk to a prospect in the manner that they are used to. Kids are obviously quite used to video games--and technology in general-- and I can see video games used as a catalyst for education.
Nov '10
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
I tend to look at video games the same way as I do TV - another "opiate of the masses". OTOH, I'm totally for legalization of drugs. In either case, it's not society's job, or government's, to regulate children's behaviour; it is the parents'.
As for joining them - maybe a little, and occasionally, just to keep an eye on things, but otherwise, no way. Kids need space to experiment & explore and make mistakes without parents hovering around. Many in my generation made that mistake & now can't understand why 30 year old junior can't make his own way in life.
May '10
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
If video games are being used in classrooms there's something horribly wrong with that classroom.
I had more fun playing Counterstrike in a LAN game with my roommates in college than I ever did going against anonymous racist 15-year olds on any server. The ability to interact with and kill people from other countries is overrated.
Video games offer escape & an alternative form of competition & achievement. Young Dash Parr is playing Black Ops because all other opportunities for winning have been reduced to "everyone's special, which means no one is."
The kind of escape offered by video games has no similarity to drugs. First player shooters or quest based RPGs fulfill an innate need in human males to emulate heroic role models by participating in a competitive milieu. Even games & stories filled with esoteric knowledge and rules (pokemon, D&D, harry potter, yugi-oh) provide something children want but aren't getting in school or at home.
So what does that say about our society that a game like call of duty made more money than any hollywood movie within 24 hours?
May '10
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
When I was an RA the biggest problem we had was "WoW (World of Warcraft) addiction." I had to keep an eye on whether kids were skipping class to go questing rather than sparking a blunt and tipping back on a forty.
A fairly recent trend in games, probably due to computing power, is the emergence of open-ended RPG's; games where you essentially live in the game and do world-based quests and tasks, rather than only a set story line. If it's a substitute for real-life, then I'd say it's a bad thing; if it's a substitute for more brain-dead linear games, then I'd say it's a good, or at least better, thing.
That's it. If you hear a gamer talk about his/her favourite game, they always talk about the challenges, opportunities, and accomplishments. In any other endeavour, parents would be proud of that kind of motivation. It may not be especially productive, but the character's there.
Edited on Jan 4, 2011 at 9:50amMay '10
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
Unfortunately, dueling with a night elf in Azeroth is a poor alternative for actual physical games, whose benefits far outweigh their potential danger and perceived bias towards the weak. Even a gentleman's game like Cricket is a lot more than hitting the ball with the bat.
Men landed on the moon on top of flying TI-83s. If anything, education since has regressed, not progressed. Video games, or interactive gaming of any kind is not the solution.
Let me qualify my previous statement with this: I got over my fear of calculus by taking an online course that allowed me to take unlimited practice tests over the semester and explained where I went wrong, a far cry from the social ostracism that came from poor test results in the anglo-indian school of my childhood. The solution was the proper setting (for me) that allowed one to practice practice practice without having to wait for (or dread) the next class which had often already moved to the next chapter.
Edited on Jan 4, 2011 at 10:42amSep '10
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
What would Plutarch say?
In his provocative new book The Dumbest Generation, Mark Bauerlein argues that "the digital age stupefies young Americans and jeopardizes our future" by turning out hyper-networked kids who can track each other's every move with ease but are largely ignorant of history, economics, culture, and other subjects he believes are prerequisites for meaningful civic participation.
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
Joe S.: When I was an RA the biggest problem we had was "WoW (World of Warcraft) addiction." I had to keep an eye on whether kids were skipping class to go questing rather than sparking a blunt and tipping back on a forty
Edited on Jan 04 at 09:50 am
When I was in college, there was this one friend I had whose dorm-room I would occasionally visit. I would have visited her more except that whenever I would go there, with the intention of convincing her to do something on campus, she would be tethered to her laptop playing WoW. That was my first experience with WoW and it was a bizarre thing to behold her addiction to it: she had created a virtual world for herself, full of virtual friends, virtual problems, and virtual tasks that she was expected to attend to. I couldn't understand why she would choose to live in that world rather than the normal world. Now, five or so years later, what struck me as bizarre behavior is becoming....normal!
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
Anang: If video games are being used in classrooms there's something horribly wrong with that classroom.
· Jan 4 at 9:25am
Some education reformers, like Terry Moe at Stanford, think that virtual learning will and SHOULD be systematically implemented in classrooms with computer games, online lectures, video games, etc.
So instead of a teacher lecturing them and going over problems/examples, a computer would do that. This way, a student will be able to go at their own pace, and learning will be more efficient and effective--more tailored. There will still be a teacher in the classroom, but this will allow there to be more students per teacher--classes to be larger. According to some studies, the rate of learning in these more virtual classrooms is no less than the rate of learning in traditional classrooms. Just food for thought!
Sep '10
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
That was my first experience with WoW and it was a bizarre thing to behold her addiction to it: she had created a virtual world for herself, full of virtual friends, virtual problems, and virtual tasks that she was expected to attend to. I couldn't understand why she would choose to live in that world rather than the normal world. Now, five or so years later, what struck me as bizarre behavior is becoming....normal!
Ah yes, Inception for the small screen.
Nov '10
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
Anang: If video games are being used in classrooms there's something horribly wrong with that classroom.
Anang, I watched online resources in action yesterday in the third grade where I subbed.
Yesterday was their computer lab day (I'm not sure how often they go in there.) From 9:30 to 10:00, they were to work on this electronic math flashcards system in which they were periodically tested and given their score correct and timings. I can see how this allows them all to be served at their own levels simultaneously and given instant feedback. It's an incredible tool.
I've run into problems with old-fashioned flashcards used with the class, because part of the group will be way ahead of the problem I wave, and another part needs time to process; the advanced group will shout out the answer before the rest of the class has even read the question, and to me this becomes a messy discipline/management issue.
Anyway, from 10:00 to 10:15 they could choose from a variety of online math games that drilled them in subtraction, addition, and if they were ready, multiplication. Then they 15 minutes' free choice.
Nov '10
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
. . . continued
Anyway, Anang, I think you could agree that this is a good use of "games" in the classroom. If there's one thing kids need in contemporary schools, it's skills' practice, of which traditional approaches are deathly unpopular in educational thinking today. The students' visit to the computer lab accomplished forty-five minutes of concentrated practice differentiated to the students' level of accomplishment. That's better than a game of "Around the World," I think.
By the way, in the afternoon, one student who wasn't placed in a reading group because of special needs and who didn't happen to have a slot with the resource teacher that day was on the computer while I worked with a group on reading. There were a couple of language arts programs he was to be working on that I'm sure targeted his skill level. So he was working completely indepently accomplishing practice while the other students were in small groups working on their reading.
Video games in that sense are indispensible.
Nov '10
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
By the way, Emily, I abhor the idea of kids sitting around playing games. Movies are a big enough distraction. Now that I am subbing in the local schools, I'm seeing how widespread the phenomenon of gameplay (including violent gameplay) is amongst young boys.
A little boy yesterday in third grade wore a t-shirt that said: "My Schedule" Eat. Play video games. Eat lunch. Play video games. . . .etc. It got all the way to "Sleep" with the idea that the child immersed himself in games all day with the exception of eating and sleeping. What are we parents thinking?
My girls like to play "educational" games online, and I really wrestle with them indulging this enjoyment even for an hour or two on weekends. If they are playing online, I'd like it to be an honest-to-goodness math skills game. I need to have a better, clearer system for them because there are much better things for them to do. I'd much rather have them on the Wii Fit during the winter, which they love as well.
Maybe video games are good for the economy, but at what cost?
May '10
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
Bauerlein hit the nail on its head. Yes, video games and associated technology can and are being implemented in useful ways, but they have a gravitational pull of their own that allows adolescents and adolescent-adults to check out and ignore any voice of reason around them. They negate the already diminishing social benefits from a familial and communal structure. Having gone through it myself I can testify to that fact: If your entire social structure is kids your age who think like you and look like you, there is no incentive to do anything else, other than interact with them.
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
Emily, thanks for the pointer.
I think many commenters miss the bigger point.
I hate when my sons are addicted to WoW and CoD and I can't pry them away for dinner or homework or much else. But...the problem solving and collaborative skills and communication techniques they are perfecting are what will be needed in the workplace. I can already figure out these games are more useful than French II or (gasp) Algebra.
Today, most workers from airline counters to sales and marketing folks to derivative traders are all staring at screens, clicking on a keyboard and moving around a mouse. How quaint. Today's 15 year olds will productively navigate a high resolution graphics world, perhaps with voice and gesture recognition with no need for keyboards or a mouse. Better yet, no screen.
My point was that the state of the art in technology is increasingly driven by entertainment. Some form of it will end up enhancing productivity for corporations. It's going to happen. Don't be fooled by Orcs and Trolls.
Jul '10
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
Andy Kessler: Emily, thanks for the pointer.
I think many commenters miss the bigger point.
I hate when my sons are addicted to WoW and CoD and I can't pry them away for dinner or homework or much else. But...the problem solving and collaborative skills and communication techniques they are perfecting are what will be needed in the workplace. I can already figure out these games are more useful than French II or (gasp) Algebra.
Sounds like a rationalization for why you don't just take their mind-numbing toys away and make them read a book or go out and play in the fresh air.
I'm totally unconvinced that video games have any value other than relieving parents of their responsibility for nurturing their children's intellectual development.
Edited on Jan 4, 2011 at 5:02pmSep '10
Re: Let Them Play Videogames
The purpose of an education is to create citizens, not consumers. The "no more meetings" rants of a few fanatics reminds me of Bill Gates's "friction free capitalism" before the dot com bubble went boom.