Would you say that games are in a way educational?

I think so, if the game has a good storyline then it can get you inspired and writing, if you like the music, it too can get you inspired. Along with artwork and many other things. So,

Do you think games can be educational?

Yes, Aside from what BlackMage said, they can also teach you stragety. Certain games will put your skill to the test and help you to think on your toes better.

True, some games even keep you fit (dance mat games) - anyone ever played one? I have, it's so much fun!

:( Those are so confusing, my feet kept getting tangled. I fell on the floor too many times. I have two left feet and no hand/eye coordination.

Lol, I did fall over a lot at first, but I started from easy and made my way up. Now, I am really good at them!

Anyone playes DDR? Visit my thread. Lol.

There are also games specifically made to educate, especially for little kids.

Yeah, games like Mario Party actually stimulate the mind and other games make you think of tactics.

It's not so much a video game... but it simulates pretty well. I was on vacation with some friends of mine and we stopped at a laser tag arena *grins evily* We went in thinking "Oh, its just a regular arena, lets do the usual and then head to the hotel". We get in there... its huge. The guy at the desk asks us if we wanna play and so we get our stuff on(which was a full body suit) and go out into the arena all ready to go. There was real trees, bushes, vines everything that you'd find in a rainforest or something... After about 3 minutes of playing a friend and i finally found each other *BAM* I hit him and all of a sudden he's cussing his mouth off over there... I sitting there wondering what the hell... then *BAM* I get hit in my left shoulder. I try getting up but almost fall over because well, my left arm wont move. The suits there would cringe up on you in the place where you were hit. If you were hit in the leg, you wouldnt be able to move your leg until you died. We spent most of the week there... lol

I have been to one like that in Glasgow, a city in Scotland. It was slightely different than yours Miroku, instead of the area in which you were hit going numb, you would feel a vibration which would give you a tingley sensation. After you hit a certain amount of people, you can go in to a small room to exchange guns, as I had killed all my friends (what a backstabber I am, lol) I cashed my points in an got a machine gun. Because I had killed all my friends, I had to move in to the room beside me and my friends went up to the balcony and wathed, everyone else seemed to have machine guns and mini guns as I suspect it was a sort of winner's room. After about 20 seconds in the room, I was against a wall feeling heavy vibrations in my arms as I was getting shot by some strange middle aged man with a mini gun. It was really funny and I am defiantly going again!

I was actually thinking about actual educational games, the one that schools use.

Michael, your previous post had nothing to do with Miroku's and my post. Anyway, there are alot educational games out there, but we don't play games in school.

You asked if games can be educational. And I replied that there are games out there that are COMPLETELY educational, along with the games you mentioned. DO NOT accuse me of going off-topic.

"Where in the World is Carmen Sandeigo" taught me so much when I was growing up! And who can forget Number Munchers :D

Oh wow! I remember that game! Number Munchers was one of my first games I've ever played on the PC!!! Also, there was this other game I played which was solving mysteries in Britain with this brother and sister detectives. That game really taught me a lot, and helped me with my grammar. I forgot what it was called though.

Carmen Sandiego was the best. It taught me all of my geoghaphical skills when I was young.

I found an article and a comic that talked about video games. Generally it said that when kids play video games the mind gets bigger and the body gets fatter. I'll have to find that comic again.

All in all video games help with hand-eye-coordination (which is good with sports such as basketball) even if though they don't get you any healthier.

Video games can't make a person fatter. A person's diet will make a person fatter.

I also played Mario Teaches Typing when I was young.

Good point. I think that they ment the fact that as they keep eating, there's no way for them to burn it off because they don't reguraly excercise. I don't think I stated that clearly.

I had Mario Teaches Typing, but it didn't work on my computer. My dad thinks it was scratched. Stupid Delivery service.

I don't know if you'd consider this, but Sim City is a good educational game. In my excels class (for gifted people) we had to bulid a city using Sim City. It teaches you how to budget and manage cities.

I don't see Sim City as too much of an educational game, but it does have some merit. Then again, in my school, we played Oregon Trail. I still love that game... I guess it's educational because if you choose the worst job, you have to manage money and stuff.

I suppose that all games are educational in their own way. Whether the game is a war strategy like Stronghold or Age of Empires, whether it's realistic strategy like Sim City or Sim Pizza or whether it's a game like Mario Party, their all educational really.

I'm pretty sure that they are educational, and I'm sure that tehy also boost visual skills. The can quicken your reaction time and help your skills at noticing small changes.

About visual skills...that's one thing they don't do. It weakens the retina at the back of your eye, thus making your site slightely weaker :(. Oh well :).

Super Muchers, Mario Teaches Typing, O`Dell Down Under, and the Oregon Trail were all educational in one way or another. Nowadays, however, I don't play many educational games though. Partly because I feel I have enough education from HS.

I think EVERY video game is educational. Fast paced games like Ninja Gaiden improve your reaction speed and ability to intrepret things. Almost al games, except for puzzle ones, require you to observe the envoirnment to help you progress thorugh the game. It improves hand-eye coordination. It also can be very inspiring. It has inspired me to compose and program.

Video game is a healthy way to fix problems. Rather than avoid the problem, you can use video games to relax your mind and then better think about the problem. Games likes Tekken and Soul Calibur are great for anger management. It helps breathing too. Most people breath in a way that makes their stomache go in and out, but if you encounter a boss, this can change.

It can grealty expand the vocabulary and grammar. Games like Legacy of Kain can help you be a bit more poetic. And almost all games not only just provide good hand-eye coordination, bt terrific mind stimulation as well, and can boost ones well being. Typically in a video game, you'll be the authority. You'll be stronger than all your enemies and all the bosses, and they will be nothing but weak things. That feeling can be great to comprehend.

No, I barely read through this, so.......if I said a thing or 2 that you did, oh well.

I think that some games can be educational, if only subconsciously. I know so many new words just from playing EverQuest for 5 years due to the wide range of items in the game with words that I'd never heard before. "Insidious Rod of Glamour" and "Viscid Robe" are a few examples. It's also good because it keeps you entertained while subconsciously you're reading things and spellings of words are stuck in your mind without you even knowing. I think it really helps in that way. :)



I also played Mario Teaches Typing when I was young.

More like "Mario Teaches You How To Get Carpal Tunnel" :D

Jumpstart, and Zoombinis etc. they're the shiz...

ive seen kids who have grown up on games and stuff. good for your hand to eye co-ordination surprisingly. alot of stuff that requires logic is also good for you

All games have some sort of education to them. No-matter how small.

As for educational, Oregon Trail taught me how to keep a bank account... Pretty educational, in my opinion :4eyes:

My parents used to get me this learning game software line called "Jump Start". They stopped buying it when I got to fourth grade because i was doing everything at a 9th grade level of accuracy.

video games are about as educational as watching tv........

i mean.. shur u can learn stuff...

but really... nothing too important..........

basically takes away from your time to do other stuff..

><

yet i still play videogames...

*addicted*

I think games are a little more educational than TV. You never have to decipher logic puzzles or hone reflexes and work out tactics to succeed at watching TV.

Like in Final Fantasdy or Mario or something, TV just kills brain cells

Originally posted by LingXiaoyu@Jul 27 2004, 01:26 AM
video games are about as educational as watching tv........

i mean.. shur u can learn stuff...

but really... nothing too important..........

basically takes away from your time to do other stuff..

><

yet i still play videogames...

*addicted*
Learn stuff? Nothing too important? Bah&#33; You can learn plenty of stuff, and its YOU who decides how important and valueable it will become. Lets see, on tv, you watch it, and about the only ways it can educate you is by updating you on news, refering to places in the world, or perhaps giving you new perspectives.

With video games, take all that and add all the mind stimulation and more, and thats a significantly large difference. For one, video games exercise the fingers. Go ahead, guys, laugh. But if you actually think about it, I&#39;m sure people who play a lot of video games/do programming have more functionality in their fingers and hands then those who don&#39;t when they grow older. No, you can&#39;t get that from watching a lot of tv.

It stimulates the mind REALLY well. You can&#39;t possibly stimulate your mind by watching tv, maybe entertain it, but not stimulate. Video games can do both at once. Video games can improve reflexes, tv&#39;s can&#39;t. Having good reflexes can be a good thing. For example, you can apply it to Martial Arts, if you drop something, you can catch it before it falls, preventing car accidents, and a plenty of other things. Reflexes are a pretty handy thing to have.

Timing. This can be a VERY important thing. It can help you have a good sense of timing, not refering to the current time, but in do something in a time limit or on a specific time. That&#39;s useful, and can&#39;t be found on tv. How fast you can interpret things is another good thing, which you can&#39;t get from TV. It can help you comprehend multiple things at once, and heighten your skill at observing.

There are just so many more benefits from video games then you can get from tv. They will only be educational if you apply what you got from the video game to your life.

Final Fantasy is a good game for education. It requires a lot of strategy, ie. what attack to use, when to use it, which character to use, and a LOT more. The storyline helps build good vocabulary, and a nice set of perspectives. These games definately require high observing skills to find all the chests, put the puzzles together, and a good sense of direction to get to where you want to go. And before I forget, video games help with memorization, which can REALLY be benifital to some people. This is applied in Final Fantasy. There&#39;s some more about FF, but I don&#39;t want to say too much because I need to say some things about mario.

Mario is good because it also requires good observing. It also requires good coordination and most definately timing. Its essential that the player has this to beat a level. Strategizing for some of the bosses is also important, and most of all, strategizing for enemies. Finding ways around the levels are important, and it helps with patience too.

Find one television show that can be these games. Just ONE(one that I can&#39;t provide a even half decent arguement for)

I agree with the majorityof your points Nightmare. I&#39;ve found games have helped me a fair amount with my problem solving skills and my adaptation abilities. After being a primarily console gamer for about a decade and having to learn endless amounts of new control schemes (not to mention adapting to completely different controllers) I&#39;ve found it&#39;s just added to my ability to adapt to a new situation overall.

There is one thing I have to disagree with you on though. I feel T.V. can be an intellectually stimulating experience. Sure the majority of shows don&#39;t stiulate the mind, but neither do the majority of games. For instance, the other day I was watching a documentary called Helen&#39;s War and it was extremely influential. It really got me thinking about the state of nuclear weapons in the world and the frightening power they hold. The only similar situation in a video game I&#39;ve had is after playing Eternal Darkness, I began to think a lot about the way we perceive reality and what our perceptions can hide. I still believe games are a much more eduactional and useful medium but TV isn&#39;t completely useless.

I think games can be extremely educational...

For one people who play games have better hand-eye-coordination. They teach you a whole bunch of words and when you play it&#39;s like reading an interactive book.