14 DAY TRIAL // One of the main criticism that has been hurled at video gaming since the early '90's is that they only serve as time wasters, especially for young players, and that they do not impart any skills in return and do not teach them anything.
Time wasted on video games is often pitted against the time that could be used to deliver more information to young minds and train them in skills they might need during life.
Fate of the World, a game I recently gave a Quick Look, is the perfect example of how video games can teach us about the world.
The game is concerned with the future of humanity and of the planet we live on, tasking the player with recruiting agents, setting policies and reacting to world wide and regional events as he tries to meet certain goals, like limiting global warming, keeping energy production stable or getting governments to adopt a set of greener policies.
Fate of the World manages to deliver a lot of information about topics ranging from agricultural policies to how an uranium shortage might limit energy generation but also links disparate info and statistics to teach a player how to look at the big picture and how to act locally in order to get global effects.
Video games do teach about other subjects, too, often without making a statement that they intend to do so.
Both Portal titles from Valve, especially the second one, are built around complex puzzles and they show a lot about spatial relations and causality.
And almost all history based games I have played, from the Paradox Interactive made Hearts of Iron series to the Creative Assembly developer Total War franchise, have led me to want to know more about history and be able to learn while already having an outline of concepts prepared in my head.
Of course, there are also studies that show how playing first person shooters allows one to improve his hand – eye coordination but, while it rates as game powered improvement, this is not actual learning.
There's a lot of potential for education in gaming and Fate of the World is one of the few games that manage to use very traditional mechanics to provide challenge and fun while also teaching the player about the world he lives in.