“I’m running tonight.” Video games take us places; this is known. They allow us to try on identities other than our own, and to see what it’s like to live life as another person. They can also teach us things. maths and science teachers have spent a good amount of time figuring out how to leverage games to better instruct their students, but role-playing and adventure games have always seemed particularly well-suited to teaching history.
For a relaxing time, sit back and watch this terrific PBS short documentary on the artistic merits of video games. The video runs only about seven minutes, and features NYU’s Eric Zimmerman, game designer and researcher Jesper Juul, Kotaku contributor and secret nerdcore superstar Leigh Alexander, and Babycastles curator and designer Syed Salahuddin.