Suggested Harry Potter Games

With the latest Harry Potter movie raking in millions at the theater, and with the final book installment in the boy wizard’s saga due out this weekend, I have to wonder if Potter mania will extend to the world of computer gaming at some point.

Already, countless columnists and wordsmiths are postulating and speculating about Harry’s effect on reading for today’s youth. Kevin Nance over at the Chicago Sun Times confesses he avoided Potter mania for a long time in a vain effort to avoid following the crowd. But, when Amazon offered the first five books in a paperback box set, he shelled out the dough and caught up with the series.

Many educators and educational commentators have expressed their glee that Potter mania has led more kids to crack open a book, those antiquated information transmission devices that are so yester-year they don’t even require a power source or wireless connection. This is a triumph in the minds of many educators and parents since reading in general, and reading books in particular, is considered the highest form of learning acquisition. Reading books is so revered, in fact, that rabid proponents don’t seem to care what, exactly, kids are reading. Just the fact they are reading is good enough. Content will take care of itself if the kids just learn to read for the sake of reading, they say.

Fair enough. But, has Potter mania resulted in a higher level of reading? Has it led to higher literacy rates in the English speaking world? Maybe, maybe not. Ron Charles over at the Washington Post writes that most folks still don’t read novels for pleasure, Harry Potter notwithstanding.

Still, there is an awful lot of attention and interest surrounding J.K. Rowling’s work. So, since video gaming is my primary research interest, I wondered if the Harry Potter phenomenon would extend to the gaming world, and if it would have similar effects there as it has had in the literary world.

Alas, the sad history of video games fashioned after movies is one of carelessness and neglect. Too often these games are obvious marketing afterthoughts, will little effort expended in making them truly great. Their guiding thought in creation has been that the many fans of the movies (or books and movies in Harry’s case) will simply buy the game and play it for a while based on its derivation from the parent material.

Doug Elfman gives a review of the latest Potter game that is typical. One nice thing about the Wii version of the game, Doug says, is you can wave the Wii controller around in the real world to control Harry’s virtual wand in the game. Alas, he was less than enthusiastic about the rest of the game.

This got me to thinking, what could be offered in the gaming world with the Harry Potter imprimatur that would approach his influence in the literary world? Here are a few of my ideas, from an educator’s point of view, of course:

Potter World: World of Warcraft meets Hogwarts (Alternative title: Hogwarts Online). Players assume the role of students, and progress through the school. Heavy reading could appease traditionalists, with spell and lore books filling a voluminous virtual library. Other academic exercises abound.

Potter Lab: A science lab set in the HP universe. Math and science teachers would delight in the potion creation classes and other exercises. (“Two pints, one ounce of bat spit mixed with 3 quarts of fairy dew … how many ounces in a pint? Curse the British measuring system!”)

Harry’s Math Arena: Math wizards face off in duels and Quidditch. Quick math skills are used to estimate the proper strength of a wand blast. Geometry and physics are employed to successfully win Quidditch tournaments.

Well, anyway, these ideas are certainly no more silly than other things that have come down the pike. And besides, maybe the kids would learn a thing or two.