Why don't you Game?

Apparently there are 1 billion gamers worldwide, according to Jane Mcgonigal. Being a gamer here defined as someone who spends at least an hour a day playing a video game of some sort. It could be a highly complex, immersive and sophisticated game such as MGS or Starcraft 2 or something simple yet fun like Angry Birds or Candy Crush.

1 billion of us. Gamers. That is a lot of people.

What does it mean? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Well according to Jane Mcgonigal it does cut both ways, games like Call of Duty are highly addictive, a recent study claiming that the number of gaming hours devoted to CoD a year roughly equals a month's full time work. Well CoD: Black Ops 2 was launched, employers and teachers noted abnormally high rates of absenteeism on launch day.
Not to mention the stories we hear, particularly in Asian countries of highly addicted gamers playing till they literally drop dead (link)


So maybe I should rename this posting, "Why haven't you stopped gaming, are you insane????"


Well, I am a gamer, and I love games, so for a little bit I am going to explore why that is, and I invite fellow gamers to do the same thing, ask yourself "why do you love games?". Well the obvious answer is it is fun. Definitely true, but lets take a closer look, lets dive a little deeper, "what makes it fun for us?". After all, there are so many different types and genres of games out there, they might give different people something different to think about.

I love primarily strategy and RPG games. This is because I find great satisfaction in creating something unique and wholly from my own intellect and skill. The gaming experience for me is entirely unique and non-repetitive. For example, an RPG typically involves a character you control that starts out as pretty weak and basic, but as the game progress, it gets stronger and more powerful depending on maybe experience points, items or other factors that could or could not be within your control. Strategy games work similarly where you employ your own tactics to beat your enemy. Winning or losing is up to you and the learning curve is usually quite steep, that means that you can get better and learn from your mistakes. I love that aspect, as the saying goes in Starcraft 2, "more gg, more skill". They more you lose, the more you learn, the beter you get.


Yes that learning aspect. Gaming is an amazing way to learn without actually realising you are learning.   For the non-gamers, you would say "learn what? how to blast zombies?? (either with plants or rocket launchers depending what you're into, how amazing is that?)" So lets look at other media and see where, and if, learning takes place. Ask yourself, do you learn watching movies/tv shows, reading, listening to music? If you answer, "hmm maybe, depends on what it is". The same thing applies to gaming!

The gaming industry is huge and expanding extremely fast, overlapping itself other entertainment medias even. USD5 billion revenue alone from North America in 2011. Simply put, there are a lot of games out there from different genres, platforms etc. So if its perfectly normal in this day and age to assume someone watches movies/tv shows and listens to some music, why not game as well?


Where does gaming and learning come together? I'm going to look at some of the games I play or used to play and see if figure this out.

Starcraft 2. Easily the game I most likely have spent the most hours playing. A few reasons why that is its a family thing with my brothers and I. We have been into the game since I was in high school. Another strong reason is that I haven't mastered the game yet. No one has.  Average win rates are between 40-60%. That is the great thing about it, it is so well designed that the journey to mastering the game is the fun part in itself.

The basic idea of the game is you collect resources, build and army with those resources and destroy your enemy's base with that army. It is quite straightforward. With 3 different races to choose from, that have their own strengths and weaknesses, that adds another layer of complexity. You play on different maps that offer varied tactical scenarios depending on your own army's deployment and your opponents, also the strength and composition of armies, which is another layer of complexity. Questions players have to deal with are like: 

What units do I build? 

Where do I attack?
What is my opponent doing and how can I turn that to my advantage?
Should I obtain more resources or should I make more fighting units?
What strategy are my allies employing, how can I align our strategies for maximum effect?

Through answering these types of questions as the game is being played it  develops  decision-making, teamwork, communication skills, analytical skills and critical thinking. 


Another game I loved to play when i was younger is Caesar 3. Its a pretty old game, released in the 90s but still very playable. I am in the midst of trying to find a copy, digital or physical, just to give it another go? In this game you play the role of a City Governor during the Roman times and your job is to manage the city's economy, trade, resources, jobs, living standards, security etc, like a real actual Mayor. Tons of games follow this formula, the most popular being the Sim City series, but I love this game in particular because I'm quite a history buff as well.

So where is the learning in this game? Lets take a look.

Following a keynote by Steven Johnson, best selling author of books such as Where Good Ideas Come From, I realised these types of games teach not just 21st Century skills like in Starcraft 2, but teaches actual content and reveals real-world realities.

For example, from Caesar 3, a governor needs to ensure his citizens are well fed. To do that he needs farms planting crops and a granary. Agriculture. He will also need a market in which to distribute the foods, different foods are demanded by different neighbourhoods based on income and affluence. Commerce. He needs to ensure that there is good transport available from the farms all the way to the homes of the citizens, but not like next door to each other that would harm the desirability of the area. Urban Planning. Some foods that are demanded may not be locally available, he has to trade for them. International Trade Lastly, all of these different components, the farms, markets etc need workers for them to function. Economics.

This is just a fraction of the game. Other aspects such as taxes, military expenditure, diplomacy etc just add more complexity and sophistication, which then offer more learning opportunities over a wide range of subjects.

So from my two favourite games, I've developed 21st century skills and expanded my knowledge as well. I didn't step into a classroom, I didn't open a textbook and I certainly didn't sit for a test.

So to those non-gamers out there, why don't you game?


S.B.