Post Arqi9ZNiNgA8H03JSa by Datenegassie@mastodon.gamedev.place
(DIR) More posts by Datenegassie@mastodon.gamedev.place
(DIR) Post #ArqTs9mQujgyahPuVs by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-03-08T13:03:47Z
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Our "faculty newsletter" has a running column called "tech tips" and I'd like to write a short article about video games. Some of my fellow teachers know next to *nothing* about video games. It's like they are from the 50s I think this makes some of the rules they make for our students less effective.If you could tell a bunch of very dedicated teachers one thing about games what would it be?(I'm thinking about talking about loot boxes, and why games can hook people.)
(DIR) Post #ArqU8iqsHoTDzsOSWG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-03-08T13:06:47Z
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My Goals:* foster respect for games as an art form and understanding about why people like them* help teachers talk about self-regulation when playing games with students in intelligent ways. * stop the trend of random games getting "banned" for being annoying-- I think we can teach students to use games like other toys in appropriate ways. (make no mistake I get just as mad as any teacher when I discover them playing gimkit instead of coding or doing math in the middle of class. )
(DIR) Post #ArqUed09ZbBZ7Rwnb6 by dahukanna@mastodon.social
2025-03-08T13:12:31Z
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@futurebird Games are good practice for mental model 3D spatial abstraction and mapping. Still use this skill daily, decades later as a software interface + interaction designer.
(DIR) Post #ArqUsbnMr379QrdKXQ by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-03-08T13:15:03Z
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Honestly imagine a person saying "Oh I don't really read books"or "I've never enjoyed movies"That is how "I don't do video games" sounds to me. Really? NONE of them? Not a one. Not even candy crush?Oddly people who say this often turn out to be mildly addicted to some of the very worst loot box games and unhappy about it. I think if you think of playing games like reading a novel or watching a sports event one can have a more healthy relationship to the medium.
(DIR) Post #ArqVEJE8ZUheDNVCUq by platypus@glammr.us
2025-03-08T13:18:57Z
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@futurebird I shall ask my husband. He’s a high school teacher with a philosophy PhD and he uses videos games as a way to connect with students… Especially around video games that are not the call of duty kind of thing… Which he doesn’t play. But like story and exploration and puzzles. And I know he reads and has written a bit about philosophy of games.
(DIR) Post #ArqVIluXrocUKpSxuq by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-03-08T13:19:44Z
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@spacehobo Yeah. I don't enjoy reaction time stress games much at all either and I also dislike the strain of video game fans and designers who think that those kinds of skills define the medium.
(DIR) Post #ArqVYhVY0PfzJPMx7Y by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-03-08T13:22:36Z
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@zoy To be fair I don't really watch TV series at all. But... I know about them. I understand why people like them. I know the major ones and have seen one or two that I thought were worthwhile.And I don't go in much for sports but I can talk a little about baseball or go to a game with friends and have a nice time. Video games are art and recreation and a part of culture and I'm just asking for MINIMAL literacy here.
(DIR) Post #ArqW9vQ1FScxAcX7w0 by david_chisnall@infosec.exchange
2025-03-08T13:29:21Z
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@futurebird Sometimes the interesting things in games are the flaws. For example, Transport Tycoon’s model of economics has a lot of quite serious flaws that are obvious even to a child, and that makes you think about how you could build a better model.Anyone who has played Railroad Tycoon 3 doesn’t need to be told why regulating the stock market is a good idea: you can’t win without doing a bunch of thing that the SEC would put you in prison for today.Even FPS games help improve reactions and spatial awareness. And Candy Crush requires you to practice pattern recognition and forward planning. Most games can teach you something.
(DIR) Post #ArqWht5GR3NDm71HyC by mhoye@mastodon.social
2025-03-08T13:35:27Z
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@futurebird it was Eliza Gauger who said once, the question is not “are video games art”. Of course they’re art. The real question is, why are so many of them so bad?One of the penny arcade guys once said about Shadow Of The Colossus, that everyone should experience that game, and if you have to play it to do that that’s your cross to bear. I think there is a genuine truth in there, that an art that we need to engage with both as a text and as a sport to fully appreciate is a new thing.
(DIR) Post #ArqXM7Hv2nO5Pa7bwu by mduvekot@vis.social
2025-03-08T13:42:47Z
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@futurebird but I think about it this way: all video games are shit interfaces to fake problems that would be easy to solve with adequate tools.
(DIR) Post #ArqXXwYEmyybaSOUeO by mina@berlin.social
2025-03-08T13:44:53Z
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@futurebird I'm one of these persons:I have poor reflexes, so shooting games are not for me and I hate complicated rules (Chess and Monopoly are the limit).So my favourite video games are Tetris, Sudokus on my phone and the Flight Simulator and SecondLife (if you can call the latter two "games").
(DIR) Post #ArqYc6pmbCLcak9QUy by irina@wandering.shop
2025-03-08T13:56:47Z
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@futurebird I do know people (not many, granted) who don't read books. Not because they're illiterate, but because that's not a medium they enjoy. After having to read X books at school they're completely done with it.
(DIR) Post #ArqZ0dQt3BBWdzCWMS by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-03-08T14:01:20Z
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@irina Like that's fine, but they aren't just unfamiliar with the concept of a book or why anyone would read one, right?
(DIR) Post #Arqf2gWP8UHiWp8tBA by baibold@mastodon.social
2025-03-08T15:08:54Z
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@futurebird Some random thoughts that could probably be gelled into a narrative:Games have been around for as long as people. Video games are just games on screens. We could call Excel a "Video Ledger" and it would be no less accurate.Ancestors who did nothing but play Mankala probably starved. Moderation is key.Video games are unique in that they let us make games that transcend the limits of physical realities.
(DIR) Post #Arqhkx1zJc3oNi9PjU by teixi@mastodon.social
2025-03-08T15:39:18Z
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@futurebird game engines boost developers creativity.game mods hacks boost players creativity.game simulators software engineering, started for arcane games to keep playing in modern hardware and software platforms, then provided the means for curators to showcase old programs in museums, then also for reproduce and keeping running old programs in academia and industrial needs.
(DIR) Post #Arqi9ZNiNgA8H03JSa by Datenegassie@mastodon.gamedev.place
2025-03-08T15:43:45Z
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@futurebird Games can be educational!And I'm not just saying this because the company I work at makes educational games— I'm saying this because I loved playing them as a kid. In my opinion they're much more engaging than only reading from a textbook.Even when games aren't intended to be educational, they can still be that. Others in this thread have already mentioned communication and spatial reasoning, I would like to add that I learned a lot of English through Minecraft.
(DIR) Post #Arql4FXd1C7n9eqP8i by irina@wandering.shop
2025-03-08T16:14:51Z
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@futurebird No, they absolutely know what books are! And that's why they won't read any.
(DIR) Post #Arqo9arfSxwQb8SPs8 by dan613@ottawa.place
2025-03-08T16:50:58Z
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@futurebird There's a lot of narrative content in video games, and some inspire a significant amount of fan fiction. My two stepkids spend a day each weekend writing Zelda fan fiction together. They spend hours discussing how each game has problematic elements and one writes modifications (mods) to fix them.Many show the problems of authoritarianism, capitalism, and racism (see Cyberpunk 2027 and BioShock Infinite), and that war is hell.
(DIR) Post #ArqrVKL3tCvjZqGFF2 by catmisgivings@stranger.social
2025-03-08T17:28:32Z
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@futurebird oh, self regulation while playing games? One thing that messes this up for me is games are designed to be more and more immersive. I can barely get my wristwatch in my field of vision let alone the computer clock, and game time is this elastic dream time, so unless I remember to set a vibrating phone timer or something before I start playing, I can't just say "oh I'll play this game for half an hour or an hour, " I'm lost to the game, physically and emotionally
(DIR) Post #ArquPhkaET5WJPD26y by leroy@indiehackers.social
2025-03-08T18:01:05Z
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@futurebird some of them are very good at promoting system thinking. They can do so in a method unique among all artistic media.
(DIR) Post #ArqyAwBqfAmCZLAzA0 by DamonWakes@mastodon.sdf.org
2025-03-08T18:42:48Z
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@futurebird I think it's worth highlighting that games involve a lot of active participation (plus typically a substantial amount of reading). People who have no personal experience with games often seem to assume that players are just sitting there passively taking them in like movies, but there's a lot of thought involved. Even something like Fortnite requires a strategy from the start (Where am I dropping?) and adjust it on the fly (How can I best use the tools I now have?).
(DIR) Post #ArrRxkUJrCdV8URWoS by readyandnot@mastodon.online
2025-03-09T00:16:48Z
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@futurebird What I haven't read in the replies so far & catering to educators specifically:- Good games are excellent at feedback and making learning fun. Even very complex matters/routines can be broken down, varied, spaced out and thus conveyed more easily. - Alibis, scenarios & a magic circle can help with that.- Also, games have been the largest cultural industry by far now for a while now. Understanding games will help you understand broader culture e.g. references, memes (think: "NPC").
(DIR) Post #ArrULqybaIe67NEMng by jessamyn@glammr.us
2025-03-09T00:43:43Z
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@futurebird Are they on social media? It might be interesting to talk a bit about the "gamification" of social media (i.e. accumulating faves/likes/boosts) and how compelling that can be while it also feels like it's just kinda fun and/or using skills. Like anything, you can use social media in moderation, or you can overdo it and get parasocially involved with strangers and stay up too late.Maybe talk about a game you like and why you like it, and get a few others to do the same?
(DIR) Post #ArrVK9XxfZyv5UWNsG by RonniesaurusHex@disabled.social
2025-03-09T00:54:43Z
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@futurebirdVideo games are not a new thing or just for kids. The first home consoles were available in the 70s meaning people in their 40s and 50s could have been gaming their entire lives.As somebody that has been gaming my entire life its been a way I can connect with my niblings.
(DIR) Post #ArrWClnHgS8lLXjQqu by barrygoldman1@sauropods.win
2025-03-09T01:04:33Z
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@futurebird by middle school round here... there's hardly even recess so th kids don't get to play ANY games for 7 hours.yeah... probly not great for child developmental processes! I don't recall a lot of GAME in phys ed either. during some months. and the kids are mostly very unstrategic!
(DIR) Post #ArrWdJCK6ybETZ69lQ by barrygoldman1@sauropods.win
2025-03-09T01:09:23Z
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@futurebird hav u ever seen the klutz book of classic games? 15 games, each on a stiff board page and enuf playin peices. games like backgammon, checkers, go, 9 mens morris... sadly out of printi can imagine spending an entire semester having kids read it and figure out the rules and the strategy, playing them. would education the hell out of em. maybe thre's a video game equivelent? tho some of those games are HUNDREDS of years old. shouldn't throw thm away.https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2883/the-book-of-classic-board-games
(DIR) Post #ArsB6O7orooEK2Pdnk by rlcw@ecoevo.social
2025-03-09T08:42:50Z
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@futurebirdI would love for them to know about diversity in games. There are far more games than Shoot em ups that make the news - and even those will often foster cooperation and communication. The aesthetics of a game and the behaviour it fosters can differ a lot.
(DIR) Post #ArvSGe5AfsD5P5WxCy by TheyOfHIShirts@glammr.us
2025-03-10T22:39:19Z
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@futurebird One thing I haven't seen in the replies available to me is: well-designed games teach players the rules of the game and the tools they have available to them, and clearly signal when either rules or tools change. (This is for more than video games, but video games have an easier time of building narratives and gameplay around the use of tools and allowing rules to be bent, broken, or changed through the use of tools.)The corollary is: not every game makes the teaching obvious.