Smart Bomb, by Heather Champs and Aaron Rudy, explores the history of the video game industry,
virtual worlds, and the impact of video games
on society. This is an informative and interesting look at the evolution of
video games from a relatively unknown field of computer science into a billion dollar industry.
In a recent interview, Rudy addressed pundits who claim that video games have had a
detrimental effect on kids. Video games, he points out, provide opportunities for kids to examine
cause and effect, develop problem solving skills, and become engaged in the story. Gaming, like learning, is an inherently
social activity.
Early games were clunky and lacked interaction, emotion, or a story. Think about
Pong. What type of emotional response did that elicit? Not much. The shift came once developers were able to build games around a storyline and thereby interject emotion into the virtual space.
Now think about
The Sims. Here you have a story, interaction, characters, voices, color, problem solving, and improved graphics. All of these elements work in tandem to provide an environment for users to develop an emotional connection to the characters and create their own story.
Why is emotion such an important component of video games? Rudy and Champs contend that "emotion is critical to learning, and one of the key aspects of eliciting emotion is being able to provide a story."
And conversely, stories are an "important tool for humans to understand, absorb, encapsulate, and retain information." In many ways, video games are a modern extension of the
storytelling traditions found in virtually every culture in the world.
SmartBomb provides an an interesting and in-depth look at an industry poised to broaden and deepen its impact on the way we
fight wars,
cure disease,
learn, and
entertain ourselves in the digital age.
The
video game revolution has just begun.
Links
Technorati Tags: learning education education+technology video+yahoo ICT video+games smartbombs yahoo
