Jessica Lunsford Blog

Gaming is not just about revenue, addiction, gamers, and so on. A game being an expression of technology, developing cultural norms, and a world wide phenomenon that transcends all boundaries, becomes a source of study.

Games are not mere toys, they promote:

• Information literacy. Players download text files, make notes, they also take “screen shots” of the game and upload it with their comments. A group then examines the suggestions and discussions emerge on strategies as well as required improvements or changes. Knowledge creation and rapid sharing is common to digital spaces. People of all ages and ethnicities from around the world pool their understanding and resources to solve problems.

• Curiosity and a thirst to find out more. Leading to the development of learning. Players pool thoughts and resources and try and work out how different elements function. Individual skills are sharpened using pooled resources.

• Development of well developed research skills and the use of a huge mind boggling variety of resources. For games like “Lineage” a player would need to become a member of a 100 or more strong clan and in order to protect his castle or carry out sieges he or she needs to manipulate text, images, research equipment use, draw out maps, manage resources, design strategies, create and maintain treasuries, write down facts, theories, and proposals, as well as design workable models.

• Social interaction and exchange of ideas and thoughts especially in multiplayer online games.

• An understanding of world history. A few games are based on civilizations and take players as far back as 4000 BCE leading them through different developmental stages of the world with the creation of cities, temples, libraries, granaries, railroads and more. Many games are map based and re-enact actual events that have taken place in the world.

• The setting up of virtual learning to explore new game related technologies, new gaming elements, and modes of play with peers. In fact, “Civilization” aficionados created “Give peace a Chance” in which players learn about wining by using non violence.

• Interpretation of data and lateral thinking. Players spend long hours absorbed in researching information, searching high and low for tips, cheats, and tricks, developing what are known as walkthroughs.

• Curiosity and sets the wheels of the mind clicking leading to innovations in design, software programming, graphics, strategies, and more.

• Team work, a sharing of ideas, as well as collective problem solving.

• Competitiveness a thirst to succeed and win.

In depth research has proven that gaming plays a role in increasing self esteem, and is motivational in many ways. Children who play games perform better at comprehension, spelling, and math.

Gee, Squire, and Stienkuehler, University of Wisconsin-Madison professors, are studying learning through game playing and the advantages of gaming over traditional teaching tools truly believe that gaming has woven within its matrix important learning technologies. Learning in the e-learning world of virtual gaming is hands on, interactive, has no restrictions or boundaries, promotes collaborative working, problem solving, creating a new generation of leaders.

Paul Wilson is a freelance writer for http://www.1888Discuss.com/online-games/, the premier REVENUE SHARING discussion forum for Online Games Forum including topics on find free online games, free download games, suggest your new game and more. He also freelances for the premier Free Online Games Site http://www.1888FreeOnlineGames.com

We all know that technology these days moves with an alarming rate of speed, one minute we are playing on an Amstrad CPC 464 thinking its the dogs jaffa’s, next minute before you know it, BANG!! your playing on something that wouldn’t look out of place on one of NASA’s space shuttles.

I am of course talking about Microsoft’s latest monster of a gaming console, the allegedly fantastic XBox 360, i say allegedly because i haven’t had the privilege of playing on the new 360 console. Partly because i think its far to expensive for what it is and the chaps at Microsoft know all about this and the fact that they will definitely make millions from it, despite their supply and demand structure which has failed yet again to deliver to all of the worlds “hard-pressed” parents who feel let down because their kids won’t have the latest expensive craze.

Spare a thought for those around the world who could probably feed their entire family for a month with the money spent on one XBox. But i guess that’s why we are supposed to be a “developed country”…don’t make me laugh!!…most people in this country have no idea what its like to go without food let alone a £400 console.

I have an admission to make i actually own an Xbox…the previous one to the 360 that is…i didn’t ask for it, it was a Christmas present that i didn’t know about although i was very surprised about receiving it and it did make me happy…having said that it was the only one i have ever bought/received so i’m not really classed as going mad for the latest one that’s on offer.

Although i do like playing on it and sometimes i’m addicted to playing first person shooters, i do think its a shame that people feel that they need the constant excitement of keeping up with the Jones’ just to stay with the trend. Its unfair for company’s like Microsoft to put unnecessary pressure on parents to buy the latest console…but you could say its up to the individual parents and their ability to say no to their kids in the first place, no-matter how demanding they are.

Get the latest on the XBox 360 Console and Sony PSP News at UK Central

Barry - UK Consoles
http://www.uk-consoles.co.uk

Do stores that sell video games, always, and I mean ALWAYS, check for ID on questionable titles? I have it on pretty good authority they do not.

“I always check for ID, but my boss does not. He wants a sale,” says one assistant manager for a top gaming franchise. When I asked someone who worked for a competing store, he too agreed that they can be pretty lax in checking for ID. “If it gets busy and we have a long line, I don’t check for ID. I don’t think I checked ID once during the holiday season. If a kid wants a game bad enough he is going to buy it or steal it. I’d rather have him buy it.”

While not everyone agrees that games should have a rating feature, parents certainly have the right to make sure their kids are buying games that are indicitive of their values. A few years ago Mortal Combat was as close to real violence as we could get with video games, but now technology and a driving market force have changed the way we game. There are titles where you can do virtually anything: gamble, kill a person, solicit prostitution, have sex, and more.

So is it the responsibility of the gaming stores to make sure your kids are buying games that are deemed appropriate? Perhaps. That system, however, is not fail-proof. “If a kid knows that one sales-clerk always checks ID they will just wait until another salesclerk is on duty,” says a hard-core gamer I know. “There will always be someone willing to bend the rules.”

Bottom line parents, it’s up to you to keep your kids safe. Go shopping with your kids or ask them to show you the game once they have bought it. The game ratings range from EC (anyone 3+) to Adult Only, and most ratings are labeled in a very easy to see place on the box. If in doubt look it up online to determine what others are saying about it. If the game goes against what you are trying to teach your kids talk to them about it and help them find a more appropriate title. Or play the game with them and talk to them about ‘real life vs fantasy’ (if it’s a game thats only slightly questionable). Don’t rely on the gaming industry to do all of the work for you. It’s a business, and because 40% of gamers are under 18*, this is a demographic that some stores are willing to cater to, even when they shouldn’t.

April Whidden is a freelance writer from Portland, OR
Pieces of April at aprilwhidden.com
April also currently writes a video game blog at http://www.xanga.com/aprilstorme.