Gaming Industry Looks for Positive Side

David Perry of GameConsultants.com has a nice article in the current issue of BusinessWeek focusing on beneficial aspects of commercial games. Rather than dwell on purely academic benefits, Perry delves into the topic of how popular video games positively impact the audience. The first example he uses to illustrate this point is what a six year old girl learned about trebuchets from playing a video game.

Perry brings up Gee’s first book on the subject, then spends more time discussing Rusel DeMaria’s new book Reset: Changing the Way We Look at Video Games. DeMaria’s much heralded five learning powers of games (motivation, immersion, identification, interactivity, and choice) comprise much of the remainder of the article. Joining in his conversation concerning these matters (via e-mail, apparently), were Chris Taylor, CEO of Gas Powered Games, and Bing Gordon, Chief Creative Office of Electronic Arts.

Perry concludes on a positive note, predicting a strong possibility of future efforts from the major gaming studios that will result in, “games that promote positive values, or that teach or inspire players.” Here’s hoping Perry’s prognostications come true.

References

Perry, D. (2007, August 13). Video games entertain and educate. BusinessWeek. [Online]. Available: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/aug2007/
id20070813_874107.htm