Do you think it's possible to create a FUN educational game?

[Faarbaute]

All games are educational, granted you don't intentionally fill your game with misleading nonsense.

 

[luj1]

PST is educational too.

 

[Hammer Of The Heretics]

My wife took a college biology course that gave her a homework assignment to collect 20 dead insects. I'm sure her experience with WoW helped with that.

 

[Tweed]

There was also Exodus. It was sort of a Christian trivia game with arcade gameplay. You control Moses, shoot enemies, collects pots and answer questions about Christianity.

I had this on the NES, it actually gets balls to the walls hard later. You also get driven completely insane by the song "Father Abraham"

 

[Faarbaute]

My wife took a college biology course that gave her a homework assignment to collect 20 dead insects. I'm sure her experience with WoW helped with that.

It could have taught her what an insect is.

 

[Hagashager]

My wife took a college biology course that gave her a homework assignment to collect 20 dead insects. I'm sure her experience with WoW helped with that.

It could have taught her what an insect is.

Insects are productive, unlike WoW players.

 

[The Decline]

 

[Talby]

Games can be good for engaging abstract thinking, strategic planning, etc. but they're inefficient for teaching things like history. You'd learn much more on history by reading books, researching sources and so on. Still games can be useful for getting people interested in new subjects.

Not true at all. I learned a ton about history from playing Civilization II, for example the American invasion of Byzantium in 3000BC, or the time Gandhi nuked Moscow.

 

[Victor1234]

Nothing wrong with dropping loads of history into games. I'd say A Legionary's Life is borderline educational with the way it covers the Second punic war from the view of a soldier starting with quelling the uprising in Hispania, marching on Carthage and finishing in Greece (I hope he announces his next game soon). The journal excerpts from Russian and German soldiers in Red Orchestra 2's loading screens really did a much better job of painting a picture of Stalingrad better than any movie on the subject (Russian ones are particularly bad). Newsreal footage being inserted into war games: flightsims, strategy games, shooters, et cetera is always nice to have.

Outside of the historical games edutainment is sadly almost entirely aimed at 5-10 year olds. That's not to say kid's games can't be good; I quite enjoyed The Castle of Dr. Brain and the previously mentioned Encarta as a young lad.

Big yes to Legionary Life! I read an obscure history book from Martin van Creveld in the late 90's that describes the Roman rotation system (dude at the front fighting rotates back to the end, fresh dude steps up to face tired enemy). Aside from the opening scene of HBO's Rome and Legionary Life, I haven't seen it used anywhere else.

Edit: I think the actual Latin for it is mutatio ordinis, but don't quote me on that.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Games can be good for engaging abstract thinking, strategic planning, etc. but they're inefficient for teaching things like history. You'd learn much more on history by reading books, researching sources and so on. Still games can be useful for getting people interested in new subjects.

Not true at all. I learned a ton about history from playing Civilization II, for example the American invasion of Byzantium in 3000BC, or the time Gandhi nuked Moscow.

 

[Pocgels]

When I was in 9th grade, I got a 80% on the pre-test for my world history course basically because I read the flavor text and encyclopedia entries in total war games.
Morrowind helped my understand the frustration of a country occupied by a foreign imperialist government.
Crusader Kings 2 let me understand why monarchs often put their immediate family to death.

TV and Books can't compete with the level of empathy a well-made video game can. There is really something to the agency given to you in a game that a story lacks - YOU decided to wipe out that religion because it was causing you problems. And when you start to see the world in that way, your understanding (and interest) benefits in turn.

 

[mediocrepoet]

Master of Orion 3 basically taught you how to use spreadsheets and live the glory of being a space accountant. Not sure that it's fun though.

 

[MrBuzzKill]

No one mentioned Mind Maze really? This game shipped with the Microsoft Encarta CD (a kind of early digital encyclopedia). In this game you explore a castle by answering questions.

Screenshots

Yes! Thanks, this is quite similar to what I had in mind... yes, yes, excellent.

 

[Blutwurstritter]

You could learn about energy saving already back in 1993 by playing the Energie-Manager on Amiga, by Rauser Advertainment GmbH and publisehd by the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie. Its a highly educational German game. It took me a while to remember the name and I no longer remember why I played it as kid, but you had to manage a restaurants and in particular the facilities and the interior. Starting with buying a property and a house, employees and then all the machines required. I think you lost very quickly by running out of money unless you bought the energy saving dishwashers and ovens, sanitary facilities, etc. Great game! With a whopping 100% education and 100% fun!

https://www.myabandonware.com/game/energie-manager-1uy

 

[luj1]

No one mentioned Mind Maze really? This game shipped with the Microsoft Encarta CD (a kind of early digital encyclopedia). In this game you explore a castle by answering questions.

Screenshots

Yes! Thanks, this is quite similar to what I had in mind... yes, yes, excellent.

It looked like a blobber and had a dungeon map. It also had torches (lives) you could run out.

 

[bionicman]

To me, video games are a lot more than just entertainment. I wouldn't be half the man I am today were it not for them. I've learned philosophy, strategic thinking, solving and dealing with all sorts of problems, both logical and social in nature. I've learned English, I've become quicker, smarter... and my love for video games translated into learning how to use computers, and then eventually to code. Basically, video games made me!

 

[AdamReith]

Civ taught me history, sim city taught me city planning; EA taught me that humanity is doomed.

 

[Hobknobling]

Multimedia-CDs had a huge positive impact on my interest on learning. It is sad that nothing like this exists anymore. The skeuomorphic menus and the illustrations alone are so much better than anything you can find today that it is fucking embarrassing how much we have regressed.

 

[Vic]

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

I think people underestimate the wonders a well recreated historical world can do in terms of education. Books can tell you the events and thoughts of a time period, but a good recreation can show you how a people lived. A lot of '90s games did this pretty well, even if they're showing their age.

I also think using video games as an aid to learn a language is underutilized. It gives a pretty good target for comprehension and hides the "grinding" of learning a language fairly well. It worked judging by how many people around here can speak English. Some better than others, of course.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

I think people underestimate the wonders a well recreated historical world can do in terms of education. Books can tell you the events and thoughts of a time period, but a good recreation can show you how a people lived. A lot of '90s games did this pretty well, even if they're showing their age.

I also think using video games as an aid to learn a language is underutilized. It gives a pretty good target for comprehension and hides the "grinding" of learning a language fairly well. It worked judging by how many people around here can speak English. Some better than others, of course.

I could only think of this game while reading this post

 

[zapotec]

SimLife, SimEarth wonderful games

 

[MrBuzzKill]

I also think using video games as an aid to learn a language is underutilized. It gives a pretty good target for comprehension and hides the "grinding" of learning a language fairly well. It worked judging by how many people around here can speak English. Some better than others, of course.

Agreed, the trouble is, the game has to be so desirable that people will actually go through the pains of language learning to be able to play it. That age is past, I think - nowadays, games are so widely available, and so many to choose from, that people would probably just walk away from your game if they don't undestand the language it's in.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Many kids learned English by playing adventure games.