Okay, I already know I'm going to get a lot of eye rolls for this one. Bear with me and hold your exasperation for just 4 minutes and about 16 seconds, which is about the amount of time you'll need to read this article.
English teachers should play video games. Yep. I said it again. Don't get me wrong: I love books. I love books so much that I will engross myself in a good book obsessively until I turn the last page. I started reading books on my phone so I could read them faster and use apps like Cloud Library to dive into genres I don't normally frequent. I can reread all the Harry Potter books in the same month in the summer (and do!). But there is something magical about full immersion. When you play a video game with a great story, you get to experience a story in a way you can only pretend when you read, and more and more video games offer high-quality narratives that meet the standards of even the most esteemed literature.
Video games fully immerse players in complex worlds with diverse characters and unique storylines. As educators, we all probably know about the cognitive and motor benefits of playing some types of video games, and truly, many video games offer complex problems that players need to think through critically to solve - see Limbo, Contrast, and Prey. Story-heavy titles like the Assassin's Creed franchise, Batman, Horizon, and Fallout (if I keep listing this article will just become a list of video games, which is not the point) all excel at telling gripping and emotional tales that would make Shakespeare proud. Learning through interactive storytelling provides an interactive lesson in empathy, perspective-taking, and cultural awareness. It would be embarrassing to tell you how many times a video game has made me cry.
We can't count video games out of the literature conversation. If we do that, we are doing our students a damaging disservice. Incorporating video games in the classroom can mend the gap between students and literacy. Kids are already keen on pressing buttons and participating in interactive experiences, so why not harness this energy? Video games get students to think critically and analytically in ways that transcend traditional academic methods. Even the colorful switch and match time sap games on our phones have a story. We need to encourage kids to see and engage in Story of all kinds. Reconstructing digital environments allows students to imagine and articulate fictional concepts that they may struggle with otherwise.
And I can't tell you how many times we find ways in my classroom to relate our learning to video games. Yes, a lot of these moments are spurred by a student attempting to distract the class with a comment they believe is irrelevant. Little do they know that I know their game better than they do, and I can turn their attempt at distraction into a valuable connection to our content. And yes, my kids groan and roll their eyes, but I have to believe that the holistic passion I show them rubs off by the end of our 9 months together (of course, they'd never give me the satisfaction of knowing I actually changed their paradigms).
Ultimately, through playing video games with rich narratives, learners can explore different themes, analyze character development, and discuss ethical issues. As teachers, our aim is to enhance the student’s understanding of literature and allow them to view the world from different perspectives, whether real or imagined. Video games – interactive and immersive as they are – provide opportunities for learning and personal growth that are often overlooked. In this day in age, we need all the help with engagement that we can get.
So, why not embrace this fun and engaging way of teaching? As Shakespeare himself said in Twelfth Night, “If music be the food of love, play on.” So, if stories in video games can feed the mind with literature, then game on!
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