13_Games

Games

Why are games so important in the developmental process?
What safety factors should parents and teachers consider when children play online games?
Best practice
Facts and figures
For further information
Links

Game-playing is much more than entertainment, it is an enriching collaborative activity enjoyed by children and adults of all ages.
It is the most popular activity on the Internet, and for the industry an even bigger money-spinner than cinema
Online game-playing is expected to increase tenfold over the next five years, due to wider broadband access, new mobile electronic platforms and the increasingly lifelike quality of graphics and imagery
One out of two children in Europe play online or off-line electronic games almost everyday
e-games come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from board and arcade games to adventure, sports, role-playing and quests.
They can be played alone or with partners, in groups or even with thousands of strangers playing together, either synchronously or asynchronously
Games foster creativity and interaction and play an important role in social and intellectual development
Because all games are structured on social rule sets, they offer children practice in handling situations in the real world.

Why are games so important in the developmental process?

Games can be adapted to meet the needs of learners of all ages in formal, informal and non-formal learning situations. They can be integrated into almost any area of the curriculum, from mathematics to social and language studies. They are useful in developing:

Intergenerational communication: they represent one of the rare occasions when adults and children can exchange ideas on an equal footing, allowing for adult accompaniment as the child articulates thoughts and structures reflection processes.
Democracy: they provide enjoyable, motivating, low-stress situations in which children can experiment with different social structures in an environment bordered by clearly announced rule sets and parameters.
Social skills: games often involve sharing and respecting the rights and property of others, sometimes even bringing players into contact with other cultures and intercultural practices. They offer a ‘safe’ environment where children can practice social skills without any fear of failure and with a real sense of being in control.
Autonomy: because games require children to obey rules and follow directions, they increase their capacity for self-discipline.
Higher cognitive skills: puzzle and board games, adventures and quests offer opportunities for players to develop strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
Motor coordination: other games can be used to increase fine motor and spatial skills in younger children and for therapeutic purposes with the physically disabled.
Increasing operation literacy: online games are useful for introducing newcomers to technology and generally fostering interest in ICT.

What safety factors should parents and teachers consider when children play online games?

As with any learning or playing activity, the importance is to take an interest in what children are doing, and how much time they spend doing it.
Electronic game-playing should not take up an excessive amount of a child’s time, to the detriment of other important social or developmental activities such as reading or playing with friends.
In the course of their city-building, treasure-gathering or monster-slaying missions in certain games, players meet up with online partners. They should be reminded of the risks of forming relationships with strangers and of the difference between real and virtual relationships, as vulnerability is greater during childhood and adolescence.
Be interested and selective about the environment children play in, particularly with role-playing games where they may be led to experiment with characters and ideologies that will not necessarily correspond to your world-view.
Games tend to reflect the world-view of their creators, which are not always in step with the human values and ideals of mainstream society. Check out the content of the games children are playing. Labeling and rating systems give lists of content descriptors that can guide you.
Other websites give access to online games, or keep you posted on game trends and safety tips for parents and teachers.

Best practice

1. The European programme Educaunet uses on- and off-line games such as dominos, role play, memory, board and card games to raise critical awareness of Internet risks through media education. Games can open the dialogue between young people and help them discuss their viewpoints and experience with adults.

Tests conducted on 13-16 year-olds in a game called Race on the Web, for example, show that youth develop a better understanding of the functioning of the Internet because games work as structuring tools leading players to compare game situations encountered with those already experienced online.
The role-play game Who’s who initiates youngsters in rules of Chat and issues concerning the transparency of identities and relationships between fellow surfers online.

2. A history class of high school children in Finland played the online game Civilisation 2 twice a week for a month. Set in Greek and Roman times, topics range from ‘living in a town’ to ‘building an empire’. The pedagogical objective is to illustrate the influence certain phenomena have in the success stories of nations, the relationship between cause and consequence in democratic development and the concepts of change and continuity in social life. Because pupils are working in pairs and discussing their every move, they sharpen collaboration skills, social communication and negotiating, problem solving, decision making and setting up rule sets. Every move is illustrated with graphics and audio files which, beyond being motivating, allow pupils to grasp visual and spatial concepts about clothing, houses, street-life and architecture of that era. They learn that every decision their national or local leader makes (for example, building an aqueduct, maintaining an army, trading with foreign towns or farming wine and olive oil) will have a direct effect on the happiness and well-being of their people and could change the course of events and history.

Facts and figures

58% of children online play games on the Internet
30% of children online play online games at least one day a week, some up to seven days a week
5% of children online play games for ten hours or more per week

For further information

http://www.icra.org (English/French/German/Italian)
DiGRA is a non-profit organisation dedicated to study of digital games www.digra.com
What do you know about your children’s Internet use? Test your knowledge and better understand their online activities at www.websmartkids.org/quiz.htm and at http://www.surfopsafe.nl
See hit parades and games news, including game descriptions, research reports and legislation reviews, at http://www.elspa.com

Links

Online games at www.amicgames.com and at http://dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Games/

Arcade games: http://www.videotopia.com/control.htm

Quests are inquiry-oriented activities that lead players to gather, analyse and synthesise information from Internet or from a combination of on- and off-line resources, for an end project. For quest-based classroom activities see http://www.harwich.edu/depts/lmcelm/wbqstwhere.htm
For more information on quest games, see http://nickyee.com/eqt/report.html

Adventure games: see http://www.adventure-hall.com/ for a summary list of adventure games of all types, from sightseeing cultural tours to escapades with aliens on another planet.

Board games: can help in developing strategic thinking, spatial and mathematical skills; http://www.boardgamesstudies.org/ offers insight into underlying educational concepts. See http://www.csun.edu/~vceed009/games.html for a list of games that may be useful in class.

Role-playing: involves a group of people interacting in a continually developing story that takes place in a mythical or fantasy world. Try http://www.sambal.net/wowee/factory.php?template=links_list to learn more about role-playing games.

Detriment of other important social or developmental activities: If you are concerned about your child’s online behavior, see http://www.computeraddiction.com/

Labeling and rating systems encourage the game industry to act responsibly by defining their products through the use of content descriptors. Labels and rating systems enable game-buyers to see the content and age suitability of games and therefore to navigate the game market more safely.
See http://www.pegi.info/pegi.jsp?content=pegi
http://www.kijkwijzer.nl/engels/ekijkwijzer.html
http://www.videostandards.org.uk/games.htm#VOLUNTARY%20SELF-REGULATION%20SYSTEM

PEGI: The PEGI self-regulatory system is a European system for labelling video-games, and is, among others, a response to the EU Resolution 2002/C65/02 where self-regulation is promoted as the way forward. Also, the co-operation between the game industry and national regulatory bodies is emphasised.

Educaunet at http://www.Educaunet.org