Will Wright Talks Educational Gaming, Funny Money

This is a little off topic but it strikes me after watching that interview that Will Wright is an excellent speaker. Talks he has given earlier in relation to spore were also excellent.

It makes me wonder how many other personalities in the gaming industries could hold an audiences attention like that.

Other mediums such as Film and Music have personalities who could appear on talk shows and hold their own. Perhaps if the gaming industry had more people like Will Wirght or Peter Molyneaux and if these people were given media attention the publics' perception of gaming could be vastly different.

Can anyone else think of an ideal Gaming talk show line up?

@--Core--: I found an awesome article on kuro5hin years ago (before the site became a total hole) where some kid described public school as government mandated day care, where the kids are all consolidated in several government-owned locations and held captive during the nine-to-five workday as a means of keeping minor children out of the hands of their parents while they go forth every day and contribute to society.

Public school has a purpose, which isn't to teach children about "subjects". It's about how to read, write, count, think, socialize, and work. The subjects themselves are negligible. Schools are more development centers than learning institutions.

mintycrys is HOT for Bayonetta

@ludwigk: "ESRB does not rate online content"

@-Skyline-: I ran into him and his wife a few weeks ago in the FiDi district of SF, and also at one of his Spore presentations at the SF Apple Store. I've also seen him all over Emeryville, and of course at Maxis.

Now that he's not there anymore, he may be harder to pin down, but hanging out in the Bay Area would be a good first step!

ludwigk

@Boom-Chicka-Ah: The obvious problem with Wikipedia is that it is crowd-sourced, uncensored, and would turn into a weird ESRB issue, as any game with this feature would be AO rated, or would require lots of back-end content filtering, management, cost, and effectively being liable in a financial manner to infinitely editable, completely accessible, crowd-sourced content.

ludwigk

@Boom-Chicka-Ah: I enjoyed this. Thanks for sharing.

--Core--

Motivate people to educate themselves.

Ding Ding Ding, we have a winner!

I hated public/government school.. ever loving minute of it. Boring and .. really just a big waste of time as far as I am concerned.

I really did not start "learning" until I wanted to. And the only reason I wanted to learn was so I could have pride in myself. And be a better person. My intentions are to be a student forever. Always new things to learn.

Surprisingly enough this point where I wanted to learn was after I graduated. And met a mentor who introduced me to Robert Kiyosaki's book "rich dad poor dad"

Now I am going to a technical college as well as taking a vocational course on small engine repair on top of this.

Truth of the matter is this. Government schools are never going to be fun. There not meant to teach you anything, there just there to fill you up with what the state/federal government wants you to know. Nothing more nothing less. Now I do not say this in some conspiracy type way. Its just a fact.

Now there are teachers who are passionate about education and really want kids to learn and expand there mental capacity's, but those are far and few.

I guess to sum up what I am saying. Is he makes a great point. You can't force anyone to do anything, you can only motivate them.

I am more likely to work when I know I am going to be given adequate compensation for my work, then when I know I will get nothing in return.

--Core--

@Boom-Chicka-Ah: I completely believe in the pedagogical nature of video games, as I cannot tell you how much I have been inspired to learn from my favorite games, and having the option to learn more real world information in-game is a very good idea, I thought.

The video is well done and well written, but suffers from the single greatest drawback that most erudite gamers (and readers, viewers, etc...) encounter. This, again, comes from the inversion of instinct that people learn as they grow intellectually. Because so much of higher thinking requires discarding what one thought he knew, it becomes a pattern to which one blindly adheres. In this case I am speaking specifically of his comment that making the "points," metaphors or symbols obvious and straightforward is "tacky." Consider for a second, is there really any benefit to obscuring the meaning of something just to make it more subtle and "tasteful"? What makes subtlety tasteful? Nothing except that it gives people a sense of pedantic pride in deciphering something that need not be ciphered in the first place. Here I am talking about games that are more in the motivational category as compared to the teaching category. These games usually have some type of comment or critique on that which they are motivating one to learn, but they pretentiously hide their analysis of the issue or subject as if the mere addition of the "hidden" qualifier makes a "hidden message" any more meaningful or relevant.

Of course, the people who took the time to find the obfuscated analogies and metaphors and allegories come out of the process with a vested interest in maintaining the perception of the inherent credibility of the vague and ambiguous. The enlightened also see benefit in telling their friends about their accomplishments, who in turn have the same interest in discovering hiddden meanings and extolling the authors/designers/creators. This forms a kind of iron triangle where everyone benefits, except the unlearned, in promoting any given creator's work. I'm just a little disappointed, though not the least bit surprised, that this is happening with such frequency in games.

Honestly, if you have read 1984, tell me, from which did you learn more, "the book" within the book or the rest of the actual novel 1984? I'm willing to bet it was the former, because Orwell specifically explicates much of his theory of government's nature and potential evolution. No other symbolism or imagery in 1984 even compares to the wealth of learning and knowledge that can be had in those few pages of the book alone.

Anyway, I'm a true believer in games as a motivator, but they can also be the educator themselves; there is no reason that they cannot be both at once. This is especially easy with games dealing with history, as opposed to, say, physics, where specific instruction would seem more intrusive and out of place.

BigManMalone

Weird. I had no idea Javier Bardem created The Sims!

SirCletus

@Boom-Chicka-Ah: Bioshock is a good example of this exposing TONS of gamers to the works of Ayn Rand. Mad Men (TV series) did the same thing showing people interested in the book and having Don Drapper read it.

I like this idea. It'll also allow developers to say "No, see, we're teaching the kids about urban planning and traffic flow patterns in GTA V."

Chris R

@Andrew Freedman: God yes. I still love those games. My favorite was one that took place in an ocean town helping old ghosts of whalers make ammends for their past lives (or something like that). It was out around the same time as the "Voyage of the Mimi" and was really well done. Can't remember the name of it for the life of me.

Chris R

@Malfunktion v2: lol yeah I did the same after watching the video lol

@deanbmmv: lol yeah same

@Boom-Chicka-Ah: I totally wiki'd a sephirah after watching that

So what is that script on the business card, anyway? I saw some Devanagari or Bengali script on the left side, but on the right....Will said Cambodia, and it might be a match, but he's not sure, and neither am I. Any suggestions?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devanagari_script

This is relevant to my interests.

Also, I like how he said "play is a fundamental educational technology", and that "as a culture, we've forgotten that". Scientists and researchers have been echoing this sentiment for years now, but none of them are willing to stand up and say that this applies to video gaming as well.

mintycrys is HOT for Bayonetta

Quite an interesting issue. I don't see the idea of games being incorporated as class room teaching aids if we take the Will Wright approach of just trying to inspire rather than educate though. That's probably for the best though.

Just like how white boards are used to allow graphics I think gaming could be done that way too but I probably do think they should stay out of the class room. When I volunteered as a teaching assistant for a maths and computing class I found that computers made it quite hard. You have to make sure everyone is computer literate, personally help anyone who falls behind etc. You can't just tell them the maths, you have to tell them the maths and show them how to use the computer too.

I like gaming but I see it more as an aid to learning outside of classes if you choose to rather than a way to make learning more fun.

xxXX_Insanities_Birth_XXxx

@Boom-Chicka-Ah: Very good. I do like references (I'm one of the .1% who knows what the Sephrioth is) and quotes in load screens.

Does anyone else remember playing Oregon Trail, Math Blaster, etc. in schools? Gaming, though educational, had a decent impact on some schools (at least, they did a decade ago).

Andrew Freedman

A Goal in my life is to meet Will Wright. It will probably never happen =(

-Skyline-

Watch this

I see. Anymore motivation for gaming and will all be zombies.