The Gamer's Quarter

[Shapermc]

Yes there has been some talk of this lately. I just wanted to bring up that I read probably one of the better IGN articles out there. Here is a summary/re-write of an article published in Discover Magazine. My wife subscribes to it so I am going to see how well it compairs to this re-write. I only have one problem with the article really:

“The researchers debunked the premise that visually intelligent people were more likely to be attracted to videogames in the first place. After a week of playing EA's Medal of Honor, they found that the group's skills improved. The evidence was overwhelming: games were literally making people perceive the world more clearly.”

Ok… what the hell does the first sentence have to do with the follow up?

[SuperWes]

What are" visually intelligent" people? And more importantly, what is learing?

-Wes
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[dessgeega]

isn't that when you sort of stare at someone and make them uncomfortable?
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[dhex]

1) it is highly unlikely the research did anything but indicate a preference or group of tendencies for their study group

2) ign
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[dessgeega]

ign makes me uncomfortable.
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[SuperWes]

That would be "leering."

[dark steve]

There is a not-bad book called "What Videogames Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy" written by a fairly serious linguist named James Paul Gee. It's strikingly not pretentious. Much of the book is the author, a Baby Boomer who has never played a modern videogame before, throwing himself at Deus Ex, Pikmin, etc. until he finally beats them, and then writing about "how he learned." It's a good read, he actually has some decent insight.

[nICO]

I was actually thinking about starting a thread on this a couple weeks back, but never got around to it.

As Shaper said, the article that matters is not actually from IGN but Discover magazine. I've had a sub to Discover for over 5 years now, so I obviously like it myself. It focuses on the macro of scientific discoveries and theories without getting bogged down by the micro, which is good for non-specialists such as myself who are interested in learning about new trends in science, but aren't necessarily obsessive.

As for the article, I forget my exact reaction, to be honest. I'm in no position to judge the results of the study, but as far as mainstream coverage of games goes, this article is certainly worth a read.

I seem to have misplaced my print copy of the magazine, but if I ever find it I might offer some quotations.

A summary can be found here.

And what in the world is that New Adventures of the Time Machine game that blew the researcher away?
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Brauner: Damn you, humans... You selfishly start wars and despoil the earth. Perhaps justice wasn't on my side but I will never admit that it was on yours.

[Shapermc]

[SuperWes]

Another book that might be worth checking out is Everything Bad is Good for You.

There's a review here.

-Wes
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[dark steve]

Shaper, you don't even have to buy this one if you're apprehensive. James Paul Gee actually has enough academic clout to put the book in a lot of libraries (remember those?), which is where I found it (A crappy rural university library no less).

[Pootivic]

there's a;ways new research like this comming out that won't make any difference in the perception of games.


LOOK, heres annother about how videogames help with conflict reslution!
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/US/story?id=814220&page=1

[Pootivic]

[dhex]

everything bad for you is a decent book.
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[Shapermc]

[aderack]

I wouldn't mind a game made from King Lear.

You know. I don't think I've seen anyone attempt an adaptation of Shakespeare. It wouldn't work well with tradtional design methods, of course. There's... something there, though.
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[dessgeega]

go here.
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[Shapermc]