My Brain Through Consoles

In order to create a clear and concise space for explaining my long past with video games, I created a table expressing my history with video games in relation to my age, grade level, and educational institution level I was at while playing the video games discussed in this inquiry. Due to the number of video games and consoles I used in my twenty-five year gamer history, it is necessary to refer to a wide variety of consoles and games at any time. This table helps to examine how my ever-changing identity has evolved with the ever-changing technology of video games. This table will be used in the future to further investigate in detail what consoles and games I played during my childhood years in comparison with what I was supposed to be learning, and what I was learning. I will be able to match my real world identity up with the specific experiences I had with video games in the virtual world. This will allow me to juxtapose my two experiences through the lens of a researcher. I will be able to simultaneously research my identities as a learner in both the real and virtual world. By reflecting on my experiences as a younger student and comparing them to my experiences as a young gamer, I can look at my identity as a learner in both worlds to explain and isolate what I am making up as (e-dentity), and its components of construction. All of this in hopes of getting a better idea about what good learning looks like in video games, and why identity matters in all of this.

The Politcal Side of Play & Learning

Gonzalo Frasca is a video game designer and theorist whose research considers the potential of games as tools to raise social consciousness. His work is highlighted in the book, Video Games and Eduation, but I left the book and read Frasca's article titled, “Video Games of the Oppressed”. His work is tied to the idea that critical theories of pedagogy can be used as best practice in our current state of education. (Frasca 2004) says, “videogames could indeed deal with human relationships and social issues, while encouraging critical thinking” (p.85). 

How can your content area tap into issues of human consciousness? This is getting practical. For example, students do not learn about just the concepts in science, but the biology of those concepts at play in the real world. There are thousands of games out there for many systems both new and old that employ scientific concepts in its fundamental game play. In those, many contain other hidden teaching elements that are just waiting to be used as a teaching resource. Depending on the educational context, sometimes the virtual world is the best place to experience certain types of learning.

As I read through the political, persuasion, and propaganda section of this book, I keep thinking about how our rights as free and equal citizens in the U.S. have shaped so much of the current state of education and video games today. Starting off in the 50’s with Brown v. Board of Education (1954), educational equity and equality have been hot issues for concern. 

Brown v. Board of Education changed education in the United States. After this court case came to decision in favor of educational equity, it would set forth the dominoes for other similar issues to be heard. During the time of the case, education was in a rough spot. Education and schooling, like many other socially constructed things were hinged between rising tensions of inequity and social justice among racial minorities in most parts of the country. Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark case that would create a ripple in the paradigm of thought that fueled much of the effort to change how "schooling" is delivered to whom, why, and where.
 
On the other end, simultaneous growth in the area of video game development has been propelled by legal battles starting in the early 80’s. “In 1983, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts likewise decided that “any communication or expression of ideas that occurs during the playing of a video game is purely inconsequential.” This led to odd laws around the nation like in Illinois for example. There, it became illegal to play video games under the age of twenty-one in an arcade without a parent. Food for thought. We have changed a lot in thirty some odd years. What is next?

Teach Students to Question!

I have been thinking a lot about how video games can influence a student's consciousness. It is my belief that all things around us influence who we are. This happens on many levels of our lives. Think of any way you can be influenced: radio, television, movies, social media, internet, video games, books, newspapers, news stations, podcasts, education, and the list goes on and on. Let us focus on education and video games for now. These are both some of the most influential contexts, especially for learners. 

When I think of the word influence, I think of people and history. I wanted to share an example of a recent trend in video games with something found in many history classes where students investigate all different types of propaganda from various media. Reading events and making meaning from them is like comprehending a text, which is to say, we make connections and meaning from whatever we take in from the world through our senses. This can be done in video games too.

“The dissolution of the Soviet Union has forced Herman and Chomsky to revise their ideas, but the principles of their propaganda model remain relevant. Since 1991, Islamic terrorism has replaced communism as our dominant anti-ideology, reflected in video games even more conspicuously than in the news. In the wake of the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, anti-terrorism games have flourished. Red storm has defined the genre with their Tom Clancy franchises, Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, and Ghost Recon” (p.72).

 

“Although these games have superficially distinct narratives and pit us against a colorful range of real and imagined rogue states and terrorist organizations, their essential drama is the same: Some barbarian, bent on toppling a friendly government or wrecking anarchic genocide, compels quick, covert action from a U.S. –led multinational force. Inserting behind enemy lines, a small, highly trained team uses their discipline, cooperation, and the most advanced military technology to defeat a larger though undisciplined enemy force. Covert operations rule out any public recognition of the team’s heroism, but they are not in it for glory – it’s all in day’s work.” (p.73).

Getting practical here with this is easy. Teachers can use trends in video games as stated above to teach a specific concept or point. This is much like teaching theme or motifs to students. It is a matter of reading connections between different things. In the example of above, making connections to propaganda and the themes behind many best-selling video games will teach students to question their environment for deeper meaning and understanding. This is reading the situation at its finest. Now, that is reading using video games in the classroom. Remember, you don’t always have to play a video game to use it in the classroom.

On that note, I am going to play some Call of Duty 4 on my PS4. My gamer tag is Thebull450 if you ever want to play. This conversation has me thinking about Call of Duty 4, which can be played in “paintball mode” so there is no blood or gore while still getting the benefits from playing the game.