Video games and learning

In a quote by Vint Cerf (Creator of the Internet, 64,) he states, “It may seem like sort of a waste of time to play World of Warcraft with your son. But you’re actually interacting with each other. You’re solving problems. They may seem like simple problems, but you’re solving them. You’re posed with challenges that you have to overcome. You’re on a quest to gain certain capabilities. I haven’t spent a lot of time playing World of Warcraft, because my impression is that it takes a serious amount of time to play it well.”
I know that there is and always will be tons of controversy over videogames-helpful or harmful. This is such a hot topic among everyone-teachers, parents, news anchors, and now librarians. At a conference I recently attended, I listened to many librarians speak about learning from video games. Their statements are similar to Cerf’s. In most situations, kids and teens-heck even adults would most likely choose playing games over doing work. Why is this? Simple. Games are fun, they offer an outlet for us to explore, and to be someone else for a little while. If we can present the information as fun or as a game, kids are more likely to pay attention and take something away from the lesson. It is too bad that coming up with games and activities for every single subject is tiresome and daunting, but then again parents would complain that all their kids were doing was playing, I probably would! But at least the kids are learning and doing something that they like. And for those who say video games don’t provide anything but entertainment, think about this: One of the game systems controllers contain over 17 buttons that a player must memorize so they can control their video game character. They must remember what button goes to what tool or action and when to use it. They must strategize how they will beat a certain level, if they lose they have to try something new and keep trying until they get it right. So as a past educator, it sounds to me like there is some learning going on, it might not be what we want them to be learning, but at least they are using their brain!