*Videogames…Helping Kids With History since the 1980s*

Posted on January 25, 2013 by
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How many videogames have you played that the information has appeared again later in life… I know RPGS and fantasy themes always did this for me….

What games helped you learn "real life things" :)

#videogames   #assassinscreed  

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314 comments on “*Videogames…Helping Kids With History since the 1980s*”

  16. Assassin's Creed…Titan Quest (mythology), even Age of Mythology spin-off of Age of Empires did wonders for me :) . I really could go on and on… Skyrim in itself can even make people go brush up on Norse mythology.

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  17. I read an article where a 12 year old boy and his sister were hiking and came across a moose. They played dead to avoid the moose. Where attain this knowledge? World of Warcraft…level 30 Hunter feign death skill.

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  21. They may easily get some historical facts wrong in the games, but sometimes it is enough to throw some spark, awaken the interest – and you can go on from there yourself: Google, Wikipedia, anything…

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  28. Alpha Centauri, SimCity, Civilization, Sid Meier's Pirates, … my whole childhood was filled with games, and they taught me a lot. They made me curious and interested on a variety of subjects that I don't think I would otherwise.

    Games with great music make young music students to try and replay those tunes; and some reproductions on Youtube are very good! Others create upon those pieces, expanding them.

    And even the new games that put a greater emphasis on "action", like Mirror's Edge and Assassin's Creed … they are inspiring kids to try out physical activities like Parkour.

    Video games help kids because they're fun. And they make learning fun.

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  46. The point is not really about learning from games, but more about playfully/unconciously learn about things from games. Which gives more impact to the brain ? Sitting down memorizing names of characters in a historical event, or you unconciosly remember because you reenacted the assasination event in a video game.

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  47. Xenogears.  Xenosaga.  Lots of science and physics, religion and philsophy, psychology and eschatology in both the original (Xenogears) and it's three "Pre"quels (Xenosaga).

    People hated Xenosaga because there was more plot than gameplay (A lot of passive cutscene watching).  I love games that are nose deep in lore.

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  59. Just wanted to say how awesome it is to hear people saying this stuff.

    My dev team brought in 4 PhDs for our #scibehindscifi panel in hopes of using our games sci-fi to do the same with science that assassin's creed did with history (fingers crossed).

    lol btw – how has no one mentioned Oregon Trial?! Building hatred for dysentery and cholera since 1981. :)

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  65. +Ramón González G4C is pretty cool.  Something else to check out if you're into the entertainment that strives for getting the facts right – check out the 'Science and Entertainment Exchange'.  Its an organization that pairs the ent industry up with scientists, etc.

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  70. I credit rpgs for having developed higher reading and writing skills growing up!

    I can't read anything without the FF1 battle tune playing in my head as a side effect, though!

    There is always something to learn, as long as one doesn't believe he already knows it all.

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  79. Final Fantasy VII taught me the most important lesson about marriage.

    No matter how much materia you try to add to your armor & sword, you will ALWAYS lose to an angry wife. I used to call my ex "Sephi-Wife" after the game's main baddie, Sephiroth.

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  116. When I was 7 or so, I remember getting "Kid Icarus" for Nintendo.  Instead of calling your life "health" or "life", it was called endurance. I had no idea what that meant, so I learned what the word was. Kid Icarus also taught me what an eggplant was. That's when I learned they are just as horrible as pickles!

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  122. Actually, games aren't that good at teaching you facts. To dispute Skyrim guy first: Skyrim? That aren't dragons, that are wyverns. Not to mention overly simplified magic, which is even greater moot point:  If magic actually existed IRL, it would be more like Java in the best case scenario (regarding simplicity), but it's more likely that it would be like C and most likely something like BASIC or Assembly. Skyrim got everything wrong.

    Anyway, Sim City (4 Deluxe) was pretty awesome — I figure people don't like having an army base or a federal prison in their city. Minecraft taught me that punching a tree few times will get you a cubic meter of wood a few things, too (Although it's mostly trollscience). Eragon taught that in unlikely case that game maker approaches me with an offer to make a game after my story (if I ever finish it) I should refuse it.

    Also — that's a bit off-topic — Assassin's Creed increased my eagerness for reading Alamut (book on which AC is really vaguely based on).

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  123. Some games do have good history in it.. Ac3 L.A Noire etc. Because in school history, I know for a "fact" they don't teach u all history. America is full of lies & twists. = fact.

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  136. Video games & history… I'd say Medieval Total War II. It would show screens as you progressed through the campaign that mentioned a historical event for that year. Also the map showed the different regions of Western Europe, some of which I still remember.

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  168. This goes way back before video games. I developed a serious interest I medieval Europe and feudal Japan from playing Dungeons & Dragons in the 1970s, for example. That said … Sid Myer is my hero. :)

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  174. Never fight a ninja turtle, wacko drivers get even crazier when you stick you head out the window, "stoP ITTT!", then ramming parts off their car.  Tech tree's only go so far, and then your star trek 6.

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  178. It's because of the gnaws we love to play, we want to learn more about it. For example, I read all there is to read on Italy from people to buildings in AC2/B/R and about the Revolutionary war in AC3. Even out of the game I'm interested in some non-fiction TV programmes about that era because of the games I play because I want to know more about it. (I also like to learn about other games I play but the AC series was the best example).

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  180. Railroad Tycoon 2 taught me basic corporate finance (stocks, bonds, when to issue each, when to get out of debt, when to buy back stock). It also taught me to draw really straight lines. The trains went faster that way.

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  184. Oregon Trail, learned lots from that game. Was actually my main motivating factor behind learning to read. Lots of good memories. Much of what I learned from Oregon Trail was something I saw again in American History.

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  201. Learned tons about 3D Modeling, Texturing, Rigging, and animation from Second Life (if you can call that a game) and all of the above have helped me immensely in my day to day work.

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  212. I learned a ton of history from video games! I think the leading contributors were Civilization, Uncharted Waters, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. These games have helped me many times in life.

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  237. Freddi Fish, Putt Putt, and the rest of the Humongous gang taught my daughter pattern recognition and critical thinking. To this day she credits those games with helping her become valedictorian in 8th grade AND high school, honors college at her Uni. BTW she's going to law school next year.

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  243. I can think of several new vocabulary words I learned through playing video games. Later, when I came across them in "real life" I'd have some sort of epiphany once I realized the significance of the terms or context in the game.

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  262. they need to put manuals back in games, i mean the madden 13 user manual is in the game now i mean !?!? D:<. Now I can't even sit around and read the manual like I used too like I could with madden 11

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  290. RPG called Lionhart for Renaissance. A nintendo game Legends of Arcadia with Greek Mythology. 'Caesar' a very early 90's RTS about roman history and military tactics. Anno about history and economics. All games in ethics, philosophy and language (english

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  294. I believe, +Christopher Li-Reid and +Nicoletta Degli Innocenti, that the real point is that often video games can ignite a spark of curiosity about something we would have never payed attention to. This may lead to buy books and gather information about that topic thus learning to discern fictional facts from the actual events and, why not, we could even become fans of that very topic. And it all started witha a video game. I mean…today I am a big fan of the "Arthurian cycle", I've read many books about it (including Thomas' Malory "Le mort d'Arthur") and it all began with an old point and click game from Sierra :D

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