Applause for gamers by Jason Engerman

Rebellious 15-year-old boys playing mind-numbing games for hours on end. A lazy 19-year-old in his parents’ basement, parked on the couch for days and trash talking with friends as they hunt the enemy in Call of Duty. These are common identities we associate with video game culture. Although these identities have some validity, as 60% of all gamers are male, current trends and data on gaming show that these common conceptions have become misguided stereotypes. These stereotypes, along with traditional notions of teaching and learning, have set up roadblocks for the potential of gaming culture within education. This article offers a new conception for gaming culture and argues for educators to develop an alternative view of gamers that would require educational professionals to reconsider their own identities within the classroom.

According to the Entertainment Software Association (2012):

• The average video game player was 34 years old, with 49% between the ages of 18-49
• 67% of American households play games
• 40% of gamers are girls
• 64% of parents believe games are positive parts of their child’s lives
• 97% of the time parents report always or sometimes monitoring their children’s games
• 83% of parents place time limits on video game play

These statistics imply that gaming culture, in the United States, stretches across age groups and includes a relatively steady female population. This data also suggests that parents are highly involved in how their children participate in gaming. Even if this data debunks notions of what the common video game player looks like, however, it does not discredit the perception that video games are useless activities. Generally, we hold that video gaming is mere entertainment where nothing of any value results. However, there is evidence that gamers have gained skills that make them better in several areas than non-gamers. Furthermore, this evidence implies that games have the potential to help improve the quality of human life.

Utilizing MRI machines German researchers found that “Super Mario 64” gamers had an increase in gray matter in several areas of the brain responsible for spatial navigation, memory formation, strategic planning, and fine manual dexterity. Head researcher Simone Kühn claims that, “While previous studies have shown differences in brain structure of video gamers, the present study can demonstrate the direct causal link between video gaming and a volumetric brain increase…This proves that specific brain regions can be trained by means of video games” (Guarini, 2013). Along these lines, a University of Rochester study revealed that expert action gamers who played first-person shooting games such as Unreal Tournament 2004 and Call of Duty saw increases in their ability to differentiate subtle changes in the brightness of images. According to experts this is considered to be one of the first visual skills to diminish over time. Contrast sensitivity function, as it is known, has great value in the ability to drive at night. The implications of this study allow video games to possibly serve as a method for correcting bad eyesight (Guarini, 2013).

The medical profession also recognizes the potential of gaming for medical professionals. Training benefits for surgeons showed that those who were video game players made 32% fewer errors, performed 24% faster, and scored 26% better overall (time and errors) than their nonplaying colleagues (Rosser et al., 2007). Gamers have also helped solve medical mysteries. Using Foldit, a computer game, gamers solved a protein-sniping enzyme problem critical for fighting the AIDs virus within three weeks (Cooper, 2013). This problem had been under investigation by the medical community for decades, but when gamers were allowed to operate in a familiar environment, they were able to use their problem solving capabilities towards a monumental medical advancement.

What’s more is that the video game generation has made a considerable impact on the business world as well. The book Got Game: How the Gamer Generation is Reshaping Business Forever speaks to how gamers are better in several key areas of business when compared to their non-gamer counterparts. They tend to be more successful in business because they succeed at collaborative problem solving, are committed to professional excellence, put high premium on skill and adding value, have strong sense of competence, see the world through the lens of competition, have both highly developed teamwork skills and the desire to be a part of team, care about their organization, love data, are comfortable taking measured risks, multi-task well, learn on the fly, think globally, don’t count on fixed organizational structures, and expect themselves to actually deliver (Beck & Wade, 2004). These talents make gamers more likely to be considered “high potentials” for real world management training. In a complementary article in the Harvard Business Review, the authors imply that implementing gaming qualities could make it easier to lead people in today’s 21^st century companies. Further implications could be to consider altering the leadership environment to heighten these valuable assets within business environments (Reeves, Malone, & Driscoll, 2008).

Although there has been a push to incorporate games in the classrooms, there are still hurdles for the gaming movement in education. Among the reasons preventing teachers from incorporating video games in their classes are issues with access as well as teacher preparation and training to operate these advanced technological devices (Mader, 2013). These roadblocks are based on teachers maintaining their identities as sole deliverers of knowledge (Carr-Chellman, 2013). Leveraging the incredible skills and talents of the gaming culture may provide a way to alleviate such roadblocks. Instead of trying to change video game culture to fit our desires and needs to pass tests, maybe we need to change our own conceptions of the value that video game culture affords us. That is, to recognize that our students are increasingly a part of a culture with a rich knowledge base. They are already good problem solvers, critical thinkers, multi-taskers, collaborators, and have high expectations of themselves. Gaming culture has the ability to develop a variety of talents and abilities that are valuable in their own right.

Researchers such as Ali Carr-Chellman and Constance Steinkuehler advocate for utilizing these strengths, as educators become facilitators of the valuable skills students already possess (Carr-Chellman, 2013; Steinkuehler, 2013). Rather than treating gamers’ interest as a means toward our educational goals, we should seek to treat our educational materials as a means toward their goals, linking them to other applicable tasks that are valuable to the community. This takes redefining the teacher’s role and identity in the current classrooms from knowledge dispenser to learning designer; that is, one who organizes and designs learning environments to fit the needs of the students by utilizing students’ strengths. As a result, we would have a much more engaged student population that would be driven to dive deeper into content areas than we could take them on our own.

References

Beck, J. C., Wade, M. (2004). Got Game: How a New Generation of Gamers is Reshaping Business Forever. Harvard Business Press.

Carr-Chellman, A. (2013). We need more games in schools. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ali-carrchellman/we-need-more-games-in- schools_b_3882406.html

Cooper, S. (2013). The Science Behind Foldit. Retrieved from http://fold.it/portal/info/science

Entertainment Software Association (2012). Essential Facts about the computer and video game industry. Retrieved from http://www.theesa.com/facts/pdfs/esa_ef_2012.pdf

Guarini, D. (2013). 9 Ways video games can actually be good for us. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/07/video-games-good-for- us_n_4164723.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

Mader, J. (2013). Education Nation: Why educators are sold on video games. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/25/education-nation-why-educ_n_1912506.html

Steinkuehler, C. (2013) Constance Steinkuehler on interest-driven learning. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wMk8SqFoEk

Reeves, B., Malone, T. W., & O Driscoll, T. (2008). Leadership’s online labs. Harvard Business Review, 86(5), 58.

Rosser Jr, J. C., Lynch, P. J., Cuddihy, L., Gentile, D. A., Klonsky, J., & Merrell, R. (2007). The impact of video games on training surgeons in the 21st century. Archives of Surgery, 142(2), 181.