Summer school? Reading books? Camp? Computer games might be a better choice | Hacker News Reader

Summer school? Reading books? Camp? Computer games might be a better choice

trueslant.com

For the child who plays games throughout the school year, a summer program in which the child meets a new peer group face to face is a very good idea. At some summer programs, computer games will be banned, but they will be a topic of conversation anyway. Many math summer programs

http://www.ams.org/employment/mathcamps.html

are essentially free to participants, as they have heavily discounted list prices for everyone, and lavish need-based financial aid.

My favourite subject in school is history. I love it in (almost) all its facets, the military, the diplomacy, the politics, the study of what people did. You can say that my interest began at a young age, reading lots of children's books on castles or the Romans, but what really got me into the subject was a game: Age of Empires II.

I was nine, and a friend had given me a pirated copy of the game. I was instantly fascinated by the campaigns and the background to the actual gameplay (at which I was pretty bad). I learned a lot about history in general, I loved playing around with castlebuilding or crushing an enemy with a huge army. I loved the evolving and changing missions, reflecting a real battle, more a long, progressing struggle with sudden interruptions and changes than a simple fight. I spent ages creating my own scenarios. I loved playing the game, and it shaped me.

Fast foward to the present day. I'm 17, and going to choose the specialist subjects for my final exams in 2 years. History is definitely going to be one of them.

:-( One of my pet peeves is that Civ gives a very wrong idea of history and the way cultures evolve.

Personally I find Civilization 4 to give striking insights into the development of world history, with diplomacy being one of the key elements. I remember playing, with the USA no-less, and sitting on a piece of land void of any oil. With time ticking on I sought the weakest opponent I could find and built a large, though somewhat outdated, fleet. I strategically planned a shock-and-awe tactic and managed to conquer the target city in a single turn. Then all the world hated me and the most powerful Civ declared war, wiping out my fleet in a single round with his well-fueled destroyers.

Such is history.

I lost that game.

My issues are primarily with the "tech tree" (including cultural advances). I would recommend to at least read "Guns, Germs and Steel" alongside playing Civ ;-)

It isn't so important that Civ gives a very wrong idea. What matters is: Would it give a better or worse idea than a book or some conversation?

Which of these is best probably depends on the child: the game is likely to be less factual, and probably less insightful, but it will typically hold the child's attention better. That counts for something.

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