Honestly, I was not looking forward to this weeks readings. I’m not a ‘gamer’ and every time I have tried to play a game like World of Warcraft, I can’t even get pass the tutorial level without getting eaten by zombies. However, reading the articles elicited a bigger thought from me than simply gaming.

Jane McGonigal gives a TED talk and claims “Gaming can make a better world.” I agree with her to a certain extent. McGonigal says that we literally have to play billions of hours of games. I wouldn’t take it to that extreme.

Howard Rheingold interviews professor Katie Salen about a new school she is involved in that uses gaming techniques to choose. In essence it is a design school. A school that uses design thinking to teach students. My major is actually called design studies. What this does is teach us how to critically think, solve problems, and make connections between seemingly random points. In this way gaming can change the world.

In Rheingold’s article Learning, Playing, Designing: Video Games in School he explains a different approach to learning. Rheingold explains the “’eat your broccoli’ approach to education — ‘Sit still and learn this; it will come in handy later.’”

I don’t believe this approach is working for most kids. I know I have grown up learning how to digest information up until the test and then it’s gone. I have had this conversation with friends who feel the same way. The education system hasn’t taught us to solve problems or critically think. Games may be able to teach us.

However, there are some problems with the statement “gaming can make a better world,” because as it is right now I don’t see it helping much. Is it really helpful if people are killing zombies and stealing cars for hours on end? I’m not convinced.