Ask HN: Could addictive video games be the future of higher education?

2 points·owenpalmer··3 comments

What percentage of education is replaceable by genuinely engaging video games?

What parts of education cannot be replaced?

I'm especially interesting in how the social aspect of games alone could affect the qualify of a learning experience.

Check out this talk by Jonathan Blow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWFScmtiC44

I think social studies is a wildly under-imagined subject in middle and high school. Imagine being put into Civ 5 or Assassin’s Creed style games with a far stronger emphasis on historical accuracy. “What would you do in this historical situation?” Books might work for some people, but books didn’t make my brain light up until I was an adult. I don’t understand how kids are expected to not know what words mean but still have books show them interesting worlds.

This feels like one of those "How much sawdust can you put in a cookie before people notice?" questions. No matter what the answer is, it's probably not going to make anyone happy. Sitting through a 30 minute lecture is probably more enriching than being drip-fed an answer over a 10-hour sidequest in your college's "World Of Warcraft: University" portal.

I think you're missing the point. The goal is not to manipulate the player into learning information through gamification. Transmitting information is not the challenging part of education. Conceptual knowledge and engagement are. Unfortunately, most educational games are terrible. However, I think if done correctly, games can be a more efficient, engaging, and motivating method of understanding a concept. I wouldn't call it "adding sawdust to a cookie". I think you can have your cookie and eat it too.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com