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August ‘08 Round Table — Updated 08/28
By Corvus | August 28, 2008
Every month I think we can’t top the last and you all consistently prove me wrong. There have been points in the history of the Round Table where people have suggested I preview posts for quality before adding them to the official roster. Although I briefly entertained the idea, the consistently high level of discourse has persuaded me that it’s completely unnecessary. I may suggest each month’s topic, but it’s your work that makes the Round Table a triumph and a “must read.” Thank you all again (and again) for making this such a successful feature.
August ‘08
That’ll Larn Me Do video games teach socially responsible lessons? There is a commonly held belief that videogames are not the equal of literature and film. One conservative acquaintance of mine on Facebook doesn’t even consider them on par with “public speech and music.” On the other hand, we have anti-video game activists claiming that video games have the power to train children to be emotionless assassins. Even within the video game community I’ve often heard the reaction, “they’re just video games.” This month’s Round Table invites you to prove all of these positions wrong by sharing something positive you’ve learned from a video game. It can be something you learned about yourself, a friend, your culture, history, science, or something completely different. It can be a direct and intentional lesson presented by the game itself (Oregon Trail and Carmen Sandiego come to mind), or something in a video game that inspired you to do some research on your own. It can also be an inferred lesson from a gameplay experience, video game plot, or discussion you’ve had about the medium. Conversely, you could argue from one of the opposing perspectives and try to convince us that video games can’t really teach us anything positive at all.
As always, check out the FAQ to find out how to submit your post to the Round Table and if you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact me. Please don’t submit your posts in the comments, but email links to me (if you already have my address) or use the contact form linked above. And, if you’re going to link directly to this month’s Round Table, please don’t link to this post, but to the entry on the Round Table page at http://blog.pjsattic.com/corvus/round-table/#0808.
Aug. 1 - Drugstore Space Cowboy of Mahogany Finish not only closed out July’s Round Table, he’s launched August’s with a decade of lesson learned from video games in Games I Learned Stuff From.
Aug. 1 - Keira of Write the Game takes a look at two different perspectives on a video game city and talks about what do we learn, don’t learn, and maybe ought to learn in That’ll Larn Me.
Aug. 3 - Max of Worldmaker shares a bit of his personal history and relationship with video games in I Survived the Edutainment Boom of the 90s.
Aug. 4 - David of the blog Davidus has submitted his first entry to the Round Table! In his post he discusses both the positive and negative lessons video games have taught him and his friends. Be sure to stop by his Round Table entry and welcome him to the discussion.
Aug. 9 - Josh of Mind’s Eye shares with us a few lessons video games have inspired him to learn in Because fighting aliens can’t be applied to real life… yet.
Aug. 9 - William of H.T. Parnell’s discusses the true “socially responsible” benefits of video games in Common Thread
Aug. 11 - Line of All Right All Ready! challenges the need for games that teach socially responsible lessons in Questioning Edifying Games.
Aug. 11 - Denis of Vorpal Bunny Ranch talks about the game that sparked his ongoing quest for knowledge in Ewigkeit.
Aug. 12 - Diego of Indigo Static talks about the game that first set its hooks in him and what her learned from it in The Adventure of Learning.
Aug. 12 - Dan of Cruise Elroy hits The Oregon Trhttp://onlyagame.typepad.com/only_a_game/2008/08/what-i-learned-from-not-playing-civ.htmlail and talks about the lesson he didn’t learn from this educational game in Learning.
Aug 12 - I posted my entry–titled Internal Lessons Turned Outward
Aug. 13 - Chris of Only a Game weighs in with a unique perspective in What I Learned From Not playing Civ.
Aug. 14 - Jason of ProbablyNot.com talks about the lessons, both real and imaginary, that he’s learned from video games in Everything I Needed to Know I Learned from Video Games.
Aug. 17th - Dierdra Kiai has joined in with a post that breaks down this month’s topic into three questions and answers each of them quite satisfactorily in Deirdra, you’re overthinking again!
Aug. 23 - Julia of The Interactive Quill takes a humorous, but heartfelt walk down memory lane in All I Learned, I Learned from Tentacles.
Aug. 21 - Suzie at Girls Don’t Game talks about the myriad of influences games might have in Window to the World
UPDATE
Jason of Unfettered Blather allows that he’s learned things from games in I Can Be Taught.
Tagged:education, Round Table, videogames. |
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Before I finish my post, Corvus, it it really called “That’ll Larn Me” this month? If it is intentional I don’t get the reference to the Larn rougelike from my investigations of the word. Care to explain?
(I would have thought it an error but Keira uses it too?)
August 2nd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
It’s a contraction of “learn” and a reference to concept of southern discipline and/or ironic acknowledgment of negative consequences.
“Wahl, that’ll larn ya t’ force feed them thar polecats any darn hot peppahs.”
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Okay. You crazy American’s with ya crazy dialects. I’ll never understand half of it
(I wonder why Google doesn’t help with respect to finding it out actually though
).
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Google is either protecting you or only recognizes the “broadcast neutral” American accent.
August 3rd, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Bah, “Adam Tiler” is still the default post author on MF. I can’t figure out how to change it, and sometimes I forget to change it on individual posts. So DSC is the correct author for that one.
August 4th, 2008 at 4:09 am
Ack, sorry, I’m going to end up missing this one as well. This long absence from the Round Table pains me, but needs must…
I’m off on holiday with my wife next week, then I have the Game Convention in Leipzig… my August blogging is going to be slight.
I know, I know, it’s a totally voluntary thing and I should be in whichever ones I want to be in, but I still feel conspicuously absent from the Round Table since my international move, and I wanted to explain why, alas, I will end up missing another one.
Best wishes!
August 4th, 2008 at 5:16 am
…and then I remembered that I can schedule posts to go live while I’m away.
I’ve drafted a quick Round Table contribution - it will go live on Wednesday 13th August. I’ll be away, so you’ll have to pick it up and link it yourself - sorry about this niggle.
I would put it up this week, but this Wednesday’s piece is a discussion, and it makes far more sense to have that go live while I am here to engage in the debate!
Best wishes!
August 4th, 2008 at 5:22 am
@DSC–Fixed! I thought perhaps you’d decided to drop your anonymity.
@Chris–Excellent! I look forward to reading it.
August 9th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Great topic! I’ll get round to a post sometime soon, but in the mean time you must play Braid. YOU MUST PLAY BRAID. Once you’ve played the last few levels you’ll see what I mean, and why I’ve made that recommendation in this thread.
August 9th, 2008 at 7:47 am
@GregT I played a bit of the pre-release, but I do need to purchase the full thing and play it. Maybe this week.
August 9th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
I agree about Braid, I’m just waiting until tomorrow for a deal on MS points so that I can get it. I’ve been playing the trial and I just love the gameplay and visuals. Also my round table entry is up now, a list of short stories about how games have inspired me and what I’ve learn from some games..
August 18th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
This round table has been Kotaku’d.
Not, perhaps, as server-killing as being ./’d, but it’s nice to be aggregated.