The Escapist Bulletin: Why educational games are stupid

As hackneyed as the sentiment may be, even the biggest cynic in the world would find it hard to deny that children are our future. Indeed, growing up to be the adults of tomorrow is pretty much all that children do, and the quality of our future is directly linked to how much effort we expend in preparing them for theirs.

The time we spend on making them capable and smart now is time that they spend *being* capable and smart later in life. Which raises several question: Why are are educational games almost universally terrible?

Warner Brothers recently announced that it will be producing a line of Sesame Street educational games, and the sad truth is that the first thing that springs to mind is not excitement, or fondness for a favourite character: it's wondering just how hard the games are going to suck.

Everyone can recall a favorite teacher growing up, and for most people it's usually the teacher who made lessons fun that we remember the best.

Learning doesn't instantly become fun just because a kid has a controller in his or her hand, and nor does it immediately become more effective. There are certainly fun educational games available, games like Carmen Sandiago or Bookworm Adventures, but these titles entertain as much as they educate.

You want a kid to learn the alphabet? Make it part of a fun puzzle they have to work out, not something they have to memorise.

A is for apple?Then make sure it's highlighted in the subtitles so they can easily pick it out as they're playing. Arithmetic? Make it part of mini-game where they mix potions or food out of ingredients.

If the game works as a game, rather than as an appendix to a textbook, the lessons will go in more easily and they will be retained better because they were fun.

Games do information really, really well, with the capacity of a book and the presentation of a movie or TV show. Even relatively short games will immerse a player for hours and impart all kinds of information about people and places that they have never met before, with players retaining a great deal of that information at the end of the game.

Will most gamers have learnt something about renaissance Italy from play Assassin's Creed 2? Almost certainly, and while it might not be a huge amount, it's more than they knew before.

Give a child the choice between schoolwork and playing an educational video game and chances are they’ll go for the game, but ask them to choose between an educational game and a regular game, and it’s almost certain they’ll quickly abandon the educational title so that they can have some fun.

With the hierarchy established, it’s clear that making the fun educational is going to be more effective than trying to make the education fun. It’s the same principle as getting a kid to eat more vegetables: you don’t pile them up on a plate, you hide them in other foods.

Education is an entirely noble enterprise, but even the most studious child in the world is going to want to play at some point.