Game On

The percentage of male computer gamers is way higher than the percentage of female players. Moreover, the genders are playing completely different games (Hepsøe, 2012). Have these factors had a significant impact to why our teachers chose Civilization IV instead of other games?

Last Thursday my class and I went to a gaming seminar where politicians, researchers, media and computer gamers where presenting and discussing their thoughts about computer games.

One of the persons there, Thomas Hepsøe, senior adviser in Mediatilsynet, showed us the statistics of the most played computer games.
Girls’ top three played games are The Sims, Tetris and Draw Something, while the most played games by boys are Call of Duty, also known as CoD, Fifa and MineCraft.
People who have played these games know how different the “girl games” are from the “boy games”.
Hepsøe referred to several researches showing that boys choose games that makes the adrenalin pump harder, has better graffiti and a little more than a handful of violence, while girls on the other hand, often choose simpler games without violence (Hepsøe, 2012).

Ragnhild Bjørnebekk, scientist at the police Academy, said that computer games with extreme violence make her uncomfortable, and so does it make many other girls feel, including me.

Even though girls and boys prefer different qualities in a computer game, some habits in playing can be the same. Both genders are primarily playing to have a good time. A computer game can be a relief from the real life, and a place where you can set your mind to something else. You can achieve success and accomplish goals, which is clearly good for your self-esteem.

As I mentioned earlier, a huge majority of computer gamers are boys.
Are there norms in the society saying that playing computer games is something only guys should do and not girls, or could it be our genes and boys´ testosterone?
I think it is a mixture of both.
Testosterone is a hormone the male body produces.  This hormone makes the competitive instinct and the eager to win, higher (Høidal, 2012). I think this has a big effect to the feelings you have during and after the game. The feelings and impressions they are left with might be stronger than girls´, and therefore their interest for playing will increase.
In addition, the norms in our society have a huge influence on us. Guys can not wear lipstick and girls should definitely not burp or fart, that is just the way it is! These norms are so common to us that we do not even question them. Computer games have now been joining the “guy-list”, and most people have accepted it.

As you all know, we are playing the game Civilization IV at school. This game is not completely free from violence; however, it contains a very small amount compared to many other computer games.
I think our teachers have considered this game to contain a tolerable amount of violence. Civilization IV has a lot more to offer than just blood, pain and death, which are my thoughts of for example CoD.   The game gives you knowledge, it is interesting, you achieve goals while playing, and it is fun at the same time. It is not a high-speed, too advanced bloodbath-game with load noises, which can be repellent to girls, and it still has the excitement most boys like.
In my opinion, Civilization IV is a game which can be interesting for both girls and boys.

Bibliography

Hepsøe, T (2012, October) Konsoll Konferansen.

Høidal, K (2012, October) Lecture in science.

Can games teach?

I am writing this in response to the question; what can people learn from playing games? People of all ages play games, but is gaming purely for entertainment and fun, or does it have educational assets as well? Everything that follows is based on my opinions and experiences.

First and foremost it must be said that the educational sides and assets of games varies vastly between different kinds of games. For instance, I believe that puzzle games and such will have a stronger intellectual effect than mindless shooting games such as “Call of Duty” and other similar games. But even what I choose to call mindless shooting games can teach you things. Using “Call of Duty” as an example once more, playing that game can actually help people develop better eye-hand coordination. So my point here is that while puzzle games might help you become better at noticing small things and draw connections and so on, a first-person shooter can help you with how your body interacts with your mind.
Another thing games can teach is language. If you are Norwegian and you are playing a game which uses a lot of English language in-game, then the player will most likely pick up on phrases and words.

The question I was asked questioned if games were purely for fun and entertainment, or if it had an educational side as well. I have already written about things people learn from playing games, but most of that teaching goes unnoticed by the player. Most gamers play games for fun. They play the games because playing games is fun, so I would say that the question asked is flawed. It is formulated in a way that insinuates that it is got to be either fun or educational. Personally I have learned things from games myself, for instance “Civilization” has taught me how history and technology evolved. I think that games are played mostly for fun and entertainment, but they still teach the players at least a little bit. So the question asks whether games are educational or just entertainment, but I disagree with both of those and instead I say that players learn from games no matter what their reason is for playing. Whether people play for fun, or if they intend to try and learn something, the player will always pick up on things in-game. One could call it subconscious learning. So in the end my conclusion is that the question is wrong, because people learn no matter why they play the games they play.

 

A new way of learning!

My expectations of playing this game are quite good. The amount of knowledge this game contains are pretty impressing. I can see why the teachers wanted us to play this at school. You will be learning several, different, exciting topics such as: Imperialism, geography, strategy, a bit of history, and how to build a well-organized, rock-solid civilization that will be capable to stand the supreme test of time.

Throughout this project, you will also learn how to act as a respected world-leader. You will have to balance your economy, expand your empire and create politely trade relations. I think the most educational side of the game is that you are starting in the ancient time as a fresh, new civilization that is under a constant development. As the games goes on, you will receive new awesome technologies like Bronze working, Pottery, and map making. If you play a little bit longer you will master the knowledge of plastics, nuclear weapons, and radio.

You will learn how incredible important these events were and in which era they were founded. You will gain some military strategy experience as-well, and once you get some kind of clue of your advantages and how your opponents army works, you will be an intelligent, strategic, emperor compared to napoleon Napoleon. In the game you will also meet a lot of well-recognized faces such as great, Old Persian leaders or respected English leaders. Throughout the game you will also have to be considering participation in several different issues.

“Ludere vel non ludere”

Good afternoon gamers, blog readers, intellectual and other over the average interesting people from all over the world! I am pleased that so many of you take the time to read my blog, and in return I promise I shall make it worth your while.

My class just started using the game Civilization IV as a learning tool. We are part of an experiment using Computer games as a learning tool. The game we are playing is a strategy game where the goal is to reach several different stages of development.

I do not have any extensive experience with either video games or this particular one. Of course I have some experience with the most common FPS games like COD or similar games its’ not sufficient to call myself an experienced player. I’ve never tried out the particular game we are going to play before, but I’m looking forward to see the results after the project.

Other than that I think it can develop to be a quite interesting and possibly useful learning tool, but I do believe that we will meet a few obstacles in the beginning before everyone has learned to use the game properly. It is obvious that the game has a lot of potential, especially in the subjects of English and Social studies.

One of the problems I predict will occur is that there won’t be any routine over it, and the game may easily float into simple entertainment, other than a useful learning tool. The students are all young, and many of us do not have to same sense of self control to be able to get any valuable academic outcomes out of this project.

I think you have chosen to use a computer game as a learning tool because you are willing to and interested in trying new ways of learning. It is already a tool that is widely integrated into our everyday lives, and this just makes it even more interesting to experiment with. I have to admit that I myself probably would have considered the opportunity to try out computer games as a learning tool if I were a teacher, especially on this highly updated digital one.

Erlend Søraas, Nordahl Grieg videregående skole, 16.10.2012

Civilization 4 Beyond the Sword

Hi gamers. My name is Lars Erik and I am going to blog a bit about the game Civilization IV Beyond the Sword. I have been playing this game for 2 days now, and have quite a bit to tell.

Previous Experience
My previous experience with gaming is quite a long story. I have been playing games since second grade, but only in short terms. Today, I only have one game I play on my spare time, and it is the extremely popular football game, FIFA13 on Playstation3. In my opinion there is no relation between FIFA13 and Civilization IV, so I would not say I got some sort of an advantage from my pervious gaming.

The game as a learning tool
I believe that Civilization itself might not be that useful, but the way I have understood the project, we are going to complete tasks outside the game like for example writing a blog assignment like this. We are actually talking about traditional education through gaming. Right now, I think It might be a motivating way to learn both English, Norwegian and Social studies, but when we use as much time as we are going to the next month I believe that the yield we are going to get is the most important.

Why computer game?
I think the reason why our teachers have chosen to use a computer game as a learning tool is because it would be the most modern type of education so far, something that is very important on this school. It is a leading and very exciting project, which have gotten a lot of attention all over Norway and therefor I believe Nordahl Grieg possibly felt it like their duty (as one of the most modern schools) to attend on this. I just hope the teachers have thought this through so we don’t lose valuable English lessons for nothing.

School Project on Nordahl Grieg

I think it’s very interesting to be a part of this project because it’s something new. We are used to only use a pencil and paper sheets, so for us this will be very different from our experiences with school earlier.
When I first played the game I didn’t like it at all, but after a few days playing I started to like it. The game is very addictive and it’s easy to play for several hours straight.
I must say that I’m sceptical to the learning part.When it comes to learning I’m not sure if this is the best way to do it, but I’m curious to find out if it’s possible to learn from a computer game.

Do you have previous computer game experience?

Yes I have. I have played many RPG games and FPS games. When I was younger I mostly played RPG-games, but when I got older I started to play FPS-games. The last year I have been playing for about 350 hours on pc, and have also played a lot ps3 and Xbox 360.

Revolutionized education

As a learning method we are going to play a game, Civilization VII: Beyond the Sword. It is a strategy game, and it is pretty advanced.

I have played this game before, but I gave up before it got any fun, because I had no idea what I was doing and it just did not seem that fun to me at the time.

I usually play games with more action, combos and speed,

like Final Fantasy and MMORPG’s and other game which are more simple.

And I’m not a very hardcore gamer, I play more games on the web-browser than the kind of games you buy and get on a disk or download.

I have also made simple games on my computer before, so I think games are pretty interesting and I like imagining someone designed a game and how they did something that looked cool.

But after playing this for a while at school I think I enjoy it more, especially since we are gaming at school, instead of doing the normal tasks.

I think it is a good way to make us think of “work” differently, and it gets much easier if you actually enjoy it and even want to do more than necessary.

That might be the reason why we are told to game in our lessons.

And it’s also cool to be one of the first classes to try this new method for education.

Plus, right now I find it easier writing about something that I really care about, instead of just writing on pure willpower.

On the other side, I think it could be distracting in other classes, when we are not supposed to play, but when it comes to computers, they can be pretty distracting anyway.

This is going to be a good project and I think it could very well be successful.

A new age of education

Hello, my name is Henrik. I am 16 years old. My class and I are part of a project where we are going to play Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword as a part of our education. This has almost never been done before, so I feel like a pioneer of some sort. I am really excited about this, because I have never been playing video games at school with permission from the teachers. It is true that I am a video game player, also known as a “gamer”. I have been playing games pretty much every day since I was five years old. At first I played games on consoles that are connected to a TV. Then two years ago, I switched to PC as my primary gaming platform. Video games have been a big part of my life, and they still are. Why do I love video games so much? They are fun, they often tell a good story and I can play them with my friends. There are a lot of genres in gaming. The ones I play the most are First Person Shooters, Adventure Games, Massively Multiplayer Online Games and Platformers.  I would call myself experienced, and I am skilled in most competitive games.

When I first heard about this project I had a few expectations. I was expecting to play the game very often and that the teacher would give us tasks and goals to complete in the game. I also expected us to play together using Multiplayer. As it is now, most of my expectations have been fulfilled. We are playing the game pretty often and we have just been given goals to accomplish. I was a little disappointed when I found out that we are not going to use the Multiplayer feature, because I really enjoy playing games with others online and work together to accomplish something and have a good time. The pairing with another student made up for it though, at least to a certain degree. Right now, I am still learning how to play the game and how to be good at it. There are several tactics and strategies as well as techniques that I need to use in order to be successful in the game. I will just have to keep trying and learning new things. So far, I am really enjoying this!

Student Experiences Using Civilization IV in the Classroom

For a month from the 15th of October, students in Mr. Husoy’s English and Social Science class will be blogging about their experiences using the Civilization IV computer game as an educational tool.