(Gamefication has become the buzzword in education circles, and here’s a SXSW 2008 preview for the Austin Chronicle on those issues.)
The line between educational software and games has always been a blurry one. Now educators and game developers are doing more than just making toys with some redeeming qualities: They’re adapting lessons from gaming into the curriculum, from interactivity in Nintendo’s Wii Sports to cooperative play in Halo 3.
“Games are largely misunderstood,” said Suzanne Seggerman, president of Games for Change. “They are not inherently sophomoric.” G4C introduces activist groups to the educational benefits of situated learning – the cognitive process of learning through doing, or in this case simulated doing. The idea is nothing new. “The U.S. Army has [combat simulator]America’s Army,” Seggerman said, “and it’s their number one recruiting tool. So why shouldn’t nonprofits have access to the same tools?” ‘
She points to the award-winning Darfur Is Dying. It’s a different view of battle to, say, Call of Duty: a deceptively simple online game in which players are Sudanese refugees, avoiding Janjaweed militias while foraging for water. They learn and are inspired by doing, a process she argues has always been part of gaming. “Will Wright has had hundreds of people mailing him, saying they became urban planners because of SimCity,” said Seggerman.
