What makes games more interesting than school?

[7Deadly$ins]

Well gamificated learning would be much better.

First your brain emits dopamine when playing games.

Second that leads to addiction.

Third people would be addicted to learning:win.

Also games made my reflexes better.Typing 24/7 on a keyboard needs skill.

And probably school is boring because there isnt as much interaction there.And school manuals are getting more sour every schoolyear.In the 6th grade theres no more "solve the question to save the knight" thing.That makes the brain think we didnt acomplish anything without mr.knight.Thus not producing dopamine and making it boring.

I really don't think there's much of a brain difference between a story problem and a non story problem, in terms of dopamine.

[High Lord November]

We have a much more positive emotional attachement to games compared to school.

 

First of all, games have many things going for them that bring us back. They have a plotline (in most cases), puzzles, characters that we care about, fun gameplay, great music, new areas to explore, and offer an "escape" from our everyday lives (you can go kill aliens in Halo, be a glorious soldier in COD, explore an entire new region in Pokemon and discover new people and pokemon, meet, interact, get involved in other people's lives in Skyrim and Mass Effect, listen to the amusing yet occasionally disturbing quips of Glados and Wheatly in Portal 2, solve puzzles and a mystery in the Professor Layton series, become an italien Assassin in AC, etc.).

 

Games also have a combination of great visuals, achievements, mysteries, action, adventures... the lists are endless. It's like playing a book with bonuses on top. And even then, there are often multiple playthroughs with different endings (such as in Dishonoured), or plenty of extras to find (like in Skyrim), or a combination of both.

 

Even then, you can't really "fail" at a game (but you can win!). If you suck at a game, you can either put it away or keep on playing at it to improve your score. It isn't going to affect your future. There is no time limit. It isn't going to cause you to be the laughing stock of the class because you couldn't do something (i.e. failed a test, completely screwed up on a project). You can always go back and try something again, free of charge (and with that, you also see progression - if you struggle with a boss for a long time, and you finally succeed, it gives out a great feeling of accomplishment, something you can't really do in school). And there are guides and other people to help you. It's a high-reward, no consequence, immediate satisfaction activity.

 

They also involve the player. You become the protagonist. Bad decisions could have a bad payoff for you, so you'll carefully construct

 

Games also have an incredible community of people with similar interests. It's a great experience to discuss what would happen is x character did this to y, what the best "insert thing here" are, to share pictures, to play competitively, to argue who is better, to speculate on upcoming games, share your favorite music, and find similar games to it. There is also roleplaying and fanfiction (like my friend - in Skyrim, she completely constructed her character right down to where he was born, what he liked or disliked and why, and ensured that her playthrough followed his personality and history as exactly as possible). Again, the emotional investment is huge. You also have an interest in the game (an interest is something extremely important to keep you coming back, or to get you to invest your time in something).

 

It's also a choice.

 

 

 

School, on the other hand, is almost like a do-or-die thing. If you are bad at something, it will show, and it will count. In most cases, you can't go back and fix it, or wait for improvement, like in games. There are no multiple playthroughs, and few retries.

 

You also might hate your class, the subject, or your teacher (or your teacher might hate you) (also, it's important to note that teachers have a very large effect on how well you do in a course, a fact that I hate).

 

If you happen to mess up on a project, it can be a huge disappointment. If you don't really like the subject, you won't see a point in doing it and you wont want to, either. In the minds of some of my fellow students, it has a very small payoff for putting so much effort in. If you put so much effort in for a bad mark, what is the point in even trying something? You're going to do badly just the same. Also, you could see school as something to do just to pass your final exam, which is the outright wrong way of viewing it. It's still quite a popular view, however, which is a shame.

 

Not to mention, the people who surround you aren't as carefully constructed as people in videogames. There is bullying and peer pressure (in Skyrim, no one cares what I wear. The only comments I'll get is if I'm naked, and even then it's "shouldn't you put some clothes on...?), disappointments, and stress (exams, anyone?) No pause button or revert to another save option here.

 

School is also forced in some situations and can be outright boring. It's a high effort, high time investment, and depending on the person, a high risk situation.

 

There isn't really a community for school in general, either. Clubs are there for that, but if a club doesn't offer your interests, you are pretty much limited to your friends. You can always go online to find a community (such as Conceptual Evolution for all of my xenobiolody needs), though.

 

 

I personally adore school, but that's because I love learning, I'm really good at it, I have great peers and friends, great parents, and I have fantastic teachers (I seriously haven't had a single teacher that I've disliked or hated during my three years at highschool). I also put a lot of effort and pride in my work, and anything below an 84 is something I consider pretty bad (on the flip side of the coin, I get pleasure from getting 90's and 100's). This isn't the situation for everyone on the planet, though, and I can see how it can easily become something tedious and boring.

 

 

 

To answer your questions:

 

I like to play and learn equally. I adore school, but I also adore playing, but sometimes procrastination can get the better of me (also, procrastination is another reason why we love games so much!)

 

I don't really find that I learn via playing personally (I, in fact, really do not like it in school situations when we are forced to play a game to figure something out, as I see it as a waste of time. Some experiments to demonstrate what is happening is fine, though). I do need some questions and examples to solidify the idea in my head, though, but I prefer the copying down notes method.

 

I spend a huge amount of my time gaming. It's usually either that, schoolwork, reading, internet, or exercising. I usually play Pokemon on the bus and at home, and larger, new games such as Dishonoured and Assassin's Creed 3 for an hour or more almost every day if I have the time for it.

 

It really, really depends on the person. I don't learn that way (writing things down and trying things out is the way I go), and I don't really know one of my friends or family members that would benefit from that. There might be several people in my school that would, though.

 

 

I'm in grade 11, if it has any effect.

Edited October 27, 2012 by High Lord November

[Amberfly]

I'm a college student, and I agree with what people have said about the difference between wanting to do something and having to do something. My classes are a lot more enjoyable now that I get to choose them than they were in public school, when I had far fewer options. However, no amount of class choices will make me like biology. But a good game might do it.

 

I think for learning games to be effective, they have to be designed first as games and second as learning tools. Want to teach kids about US history, for example? How about a well-done RPG about the civil war? Want to teach them a new language? Give them a storyline and good characters, but have all the dialogue be in the other language, with varying degrees of difficulty (and it'd be nice if it was the actual spoken language, by the way. It annoyed me when I found out the Spanish I was taught in high school is highly formal Spanish, not the way people actually talk to each other. But that's just a pet peeve of mine).

 

Games don't even have to be complicated to teach things. I learned deduction from Minesweeper, economics from Magistream, and strategy from Plants vs. Zombies and Spore (and patience from Dragon Cave). They just need to be fun.

[Arwen17]

Games are usually really easy to learn so you end up playing them a lot. School can be very hard so you're not as eager to learn it.

 

Also, if you don't like a game, all you have to do is stop playing. Gaming is a choice.

School is not a choice. You have to go no matter what, unless you want to be homeless.

 

However, I think this also depends on what kind of school we're talking about. I found K-12 to be really boring and stupid most of the time. But I really like college! It is difficult, but I feel like I'm finally learning something that actually matters in the real world!

They don't try to control you like high school and lower does, "You have to learn this because it's a state standard...blah...because I said so...blah....because you're not allowed to work ahead....blah!"

College encourages to go the distance and do your own research about things you're interested in. They don't tell you "it's not allowed."

 

 

 

[ana3]

I dont remember When and wherei read this, but in the middle ages you Would learn your Job When you were Quite Young. You Would Face responcibility being a Teen, Not Full responcibility but you Would have your Own small area...Being an Aprentice of an blacksmith you Would Produce your First Tools being a teenager, you Would learn by Doing. Then if you could Aufford it you Would go travelling, or Fight for Food on a Daily Base. You Would have a Wörth of your Own, Based on your skills.

 

In School you live in an World that is Tuning only around , you dont learn by Doing and you dont Producesomething of Importance for Society. Your Life Centers just around School, its a Bit like the Court of france before the Revolution. Away from Real Life, but centering around itself canibalicing itself. You fit in or you dont, you dont and you learn but you dont use what you learn on a Daily Base. You dont Produce or acomplish Anything but abstrakt Marks. Its Easy to rise in Social ranks by putting other People Down. Your Wörth is Not Based on your skills.

 

In a Lot of Games you use what you learn, you Need ist repeatedly... I know Pupils that learn douzends of Game words just in One Session, i know Parents that buy their Kids game Time if they Play on englisch or french Servers..and that dös improve their languge skills. The reward is direct. In RPG you are of direct use in a Team, you are Not only reproducing answers or Opinions. And People are Nicer. In School you cant just Walk away and Joint other People or Subjekts if you have Problems with them. Here you can, you can Choose the People you Play with. That Way its more difficult to rise in Social Ranks by putting People Down, Mayer thats why its Not done that often.

 

Imagine a School Wehre you Would use what you learn, that can be done for languges, and Science. And Wehre you can Walk away and Choose with Whom you learn. If you do Good there is a direct reward, and the Level does rise constantly.

[Moonkitti]

Strangely enough, RPGs (and the people who played them) have helped me with grammar almost more than school has. Edited October 29, 2012 by Moonkitti

[sparkdragon]

Not going to read the topic because loooong So I'll just answer some OP questions.

 

Do you learn something by playing and what would that be?

 

It really depends on the type of game. If I played shooting games, obviously I will learn more about gun models, things like recoil etc etc. Should I play word games (which I do! I enjoy boggle and scrabble), my vocabulary is going to expand. It's more a matter of whether what knowledge we acquire is useful or mostly irrelevant in our lives. Like, like trivia!

 

What makes gaming so much more interesting than school or learning?

 

It's...fun? It's enjoyable and so we play. If it's not our cup of tea, well, we just don't play; games aren't stressful that way whereas school, whether we like it or not, is something that is compulsory. While I do find most of my subjects interesting, I play games because I may have an interest but it isn't my only interest. Also, assessments are bleugh. Isn't it natural to want to do something that will not remind us of them?

 

And finally: Do you thing a gamificated learning would be a better learning?

 

It's hard to say. That would depend on the game itself and also depend on whether the knowledge one is trying to impart would translate well. I mean, genetics can be taught by creating a breeding game because the very concept itself IS what gameplay is based on. But sometimes facts are facts and one has to sit down and study. Say Literature, all the gaming in the world won't help you much in text analysis and quoting from sources; you'd still have to read the book :S Gameplay might help in retaining info but it is also just as likely to distract us from it.

Edited October 31, 2012 by sparkdragon

[Sylviadragon]

I started playing strategy games like age of empires and StarCraft when I was six. It gave me good reflexes, a love for strategy and also taught me to plan ahead as well as how to spend things wiesly. It also sparked my interest in futuristic science and history. I remember being taught about Joan of Arc in school and realizing I already knew a lot about her through playing through her storyline in Age of Empires and it made me want to know more about her. StarCraft got me interested in science and outer space which led to watching a lot of documentaries and reading some really interesting science books.

World of Warcraft got me interested in different medieval weapons, further improved my strategy and helped my imagination to grow. It also taught me patience and honestly (don’t laugh) It taught me some social skills.

 

Why do I think gaming is more fun than “learning?”

Its more rewarding. You are the captain of your own ship. You get to choose to peruse what interests you the most and if you try and fail the penalties are light and you are encouraged to try again. You can see things unfolding around you and can impact that world. Things seem more real in a game verses reading some stats in a text book. In school you can be overcome by the assumption that if you can’t do something by using the same methods as everyone else and you are not good at doing it- then you’re doing it wrong. You must not be as smart as everyone else. But in gaming you can do things in a way that works for you. Don’t like the game? Find a more interesting one. This strategy doesn’t make sense to you? You can create a new plan of attack. It’s all about finding new ways to reach your goals and there usually isn’t one strict way that you HAVE to do it. When you get there by using your own ideas then things become more rewarding and you get to experience the journey of doing it yourself.

 

[StormWizard212]

Well, I don't have to think when I'm playing on DC. That makes it a lot better than uni immediately.

 

I do enjoy learning though if it's a topic that interests me and I'm happy to go all day reading up on it or listening to lectures, etc. But unfortunately, a lot of the things that I'm taught at uni aren't the things that I'd find the most interesting to learn.

 

And I wouldn't say that I always have fun while I'm on DC... Sometimes I'm just doing it because I'm bored and have nothing else to do and it's a great way to kill time. I also enjoy having little goals that I can make and then feel accomplished afterwards.

 

Hahaha. Probably not much of an answer to what you're asking, but eh. My thoughts anyway.

[renlacarne]

i prefer to learn on my own time in my own ways versus school to be honest

im not actually into 'gaming' like most people since i dont have the patience for it but i adore learning just not necessarily how the educational system in america requires it to be taught or impressed on students

[Meg_752]

Why do you rather play than learn? Do you learn something by playing and what would that be? What makes gaming so much more interesting than school or learning? And - if you like - how much time do you spend on games in a week?

And finally: Do you thing a gamificated learning would be a better learning?

 

I personally would rather play than learn because it is more of a choice, as others have said. Living in America, the further you get through school, the more choices in classes you often get. Unlike games, however, there are limited options and even if the class seems like it would be fun, there's no guarantee. The worst part about that is that you're usually stuck with it for half a year. Games are probably more fun because you are more in control. Most games are customizable in some form or fashion, so you can change it to what suits you best.

 

I have also noticed I retain information better from games. For example, I still know biomes from when I used to play Minecraft. I believe this is because games require you to pay more attention to them than school, where you can almost zone out and miss something.

 

I think gamified learning would be better than regular learning. At my school, we do Kahoots, which are online quizzes in which each person completes to answer correctly in the shortest time. Though learning could be more like games than that, it still makes it much more fun.

[Twyro]

I like playing games more, of course, only because games (even though they may have patterns), they show me an interactive way to learn something and understand the sequence of things and how they work. Unlike school and sometimes college, where some things have such a concept that forces you to learn by heart (such as anatomy which was 750 pages of boredom and terms), but it doesn't always have to be that way. I loved human genetics because I had examples for everything, and it was just super interesting for me to finally know why my hair is brown, why I hold my hands in a certain way, why my tongue can't curl and so on. If I have an interactive way of learning, whether in a game or at college, count me in! That's the main way that I can.

[georgexu94]

Learning and gaming go hand in hand. Most games can give some learning insights if you just draw it out. An example is math. It's always math, yes. Most games with in-game money teach about simple arithmetic and balancing your budget. An example is a racing game. There are different unlockable stages and vehicles as well as upgrades for each vehicle. You must allocate your money well to get efficient results like getting a vehicle to suit your needs. Plants vs. Zombies teach strategy and budgeting resources (in the form of sun). And so on. For games that are simulators, like driving and the like, it prepares you for real driving, I suppose.

 

Well, my opinion on mindless clicking games though are not necessarily negative but it's not much of learning. I think it's more of enjoyment of the art, yes.

[orrrangeee]

I think there's nothing wrong with gaming if you don't let it take over your life. Same goes with gambling. If you're just investing say, ten dollars a month, whatever. An hour a day after you've finished your work, whatever. But if you're ignoring other aspects of your life, the people around you, your family, friends, I think that's where it gets unhealthy.

[TraheCreations]

What is easy over what is right is always going to win.

 

Also games are fun, learning you get a headache after a while more so if you don't understand it.

 

Games you can become someone new and pretend you live an exciting life without the injury to self.

 

Also you can kill, destroy, and just be plain horrible and face no troubles from such behavior.

Edited February 19, 2015 by TraheCreations

[Ribombee]

I actually love school, but that does not mean I want to be studying for the rest of my life. Studying is one of the most boring ways to learn, but it's what some countries (USA being one) promote as 'learning'. I teach college level labs and discussion groups, and most of the students have no idea how to think critically or do anything other than rote memorization. Because they were never trained in it, they find it difficult and hate it.

 

Gaming, on the other hand, is neither forced nor considered to be work. It is an escape from the everyday. It provides me with the same thing that books do: a different world in which to live an entirely different life for a short while.

[S0ren]

I'm in my mid-twenties and about half of that in experience with videogames, more like 18 years playing card and board games, and I think the main thing that makes gaming more interesting--and gratifying--is largely interactivity. In videogames in general, there's a high level of the player interacting with the characters in the game or even with other players. There can be immediate consequences to what you do and do not do in the game, while in school the consequences are more abstract and distant.

 

In casual games, a lot of the point is in, well, getting points. You want to get a high score so you can beat your own records or compare with your friends, making it a competition. For example, playing Candy Crush--you can both play it to beat yourself and post your scores to Facebook so your friends can see what they have to beat if they play. They facilitate quick thinking and constantly changing strategy, both things that have real-life applications, but it's done in a way that makes it interesting because the moving objects and bright colors make it more engaging than say reading a textbook and then trying to emulate something from the text.

 

Shooters, while typically only marginally plot-driven, are also still interactive in many of the same ways casual games are, but are even more heavily dependent on quick-reflexes and, often times, cooperation with others. Team-driven shooters like HALO or Call of Duty can end up relying on teams of players working together to reach their objective because, if it's every person for themself, it's easy to get picked off. This is often more interesting than group projects in school because your choices and your complying with the group's plans take effect immediately, on top of the rapid movement of everyone involved, while sitting at a desk doing a group activity is much more limited in what gets done, whether it's because of the topic at hand or just plain feeling forced rather than choosing to do it on your own.

 

RPGs, including MMOs, are probably the most story-driven of any game genre. It's easy to get swept away into a long-term plot while also having side-objectives when you need a break from the main story. Or many RPGs require you to perform at least a certain number of side quests in order to reach the next stage of the main plot. This part can get tedious, if the number of required side quests is high. For example, World of Warcraft. WoW if heavily dependent on completing minor quests so you can reach the level necessary to complete the next major quest objective. Other games are leveled, like Skyrim, so that you can complete the main quest at really whatever level you feel like, so if you want to you can complete the main story right away and do all the side quests later. Or, if you play it like me, there's a bit of this and a bit of that however makes the story feel like it's progressing naturally with the personality I ascribe the character I've made.

 

There, are, of course, many other genres, but the three I covered feel like they achieve the idea I'm trying to convey. In all of these, they're highly interactive. The player is engaged, whether by a story, a cooperative objective, a high score, or whatever.

 

School, on the other hand, is largely driven by lectures, reading, and extremely repetitive activities that quickly lose their meaning, especially if the teacher isn't that great at making the activities interesting. While it can be fun to just sit and listen about a topic, or read about it, or do an activity related to the application of an idea, it's very easy to get bored. Especially if the teacher speaks in a monotone or doesn't make the lecture interactive! Reading can get boring because the mind can wander after a bit if the text isn't very engaging or feels dry like a lot of textbooks do. As mentioned before, class activities can get...repetitive. You're doing the same thing over and over and over and over again, worksheet after worksheet, drilling into your head something you probably already understand long before you're done having to go over the material.

 

And, a frequent issue with school, is providing practical application of the skills you're being taught. This was my problem in many classes, especially in maths and sciences. Why did I need to learn Algebra? In what way was I logically going to ever need it in the real world if I wasn't going to be an engineer, play the stock market, or own a business? I was never given a real reason beyond "well you'll need it to pass your college maths!"

 

If that was all Algebra was good for, then why bother spending two years learning it when a remedial college class would teach me all that material and more in a mere semester?

 

In sciences, what real reason did I have to need to know how various chemicals I would never realistically have access to interacted? In reality, I knew I probably wouldn't ever handle much more than baking soda, vinegar, bleach, and ammonia. Beyond knowing what of those were safe to combine and, more importantly, not to and why not to, there didn't seem much of a point to things like Chemistry I.

 

At least biology made sense because, as an artist, it's absolutely vital to have an understanding of what makes anatomy work versus not, in order to make the animals and people I draw look like they're not trying to survive with shattered skeletons. I had a reason to know how bones and joints worked, how muscles lay over each other and interact, where tendons can logically connect, and when the number of bulky muscles in a figure just starts getting silly.

 

In the same vein, at least some of the basics of Geometry made a little sense, for the purpose of drawing architecture and technology, but beyond the absolute basics, it just lost all meaning to me.

 

If schools can make learning feel more applicable to reality, make the work more interactive, make people feel more involved without feeling like they're being forced, then learning is much more easily facilitated! But a problem I foresee in gamificating schoolwork is that it will be all too easy to ruin the games by making them feel forced. Once something is required, it stops being fun very quickly. To make the gamification of school function, it will absolutely have to be heavily optional. Otherwise, it's going to run into the same problems that worksheets have--it'll become dull, feel forced upon the students, and become repetitive.

 

Perhaps, though, if more games were made for outside of school and were mainly just for fun with more educational bits put in, they just might succeed. Portions of certain games could start to require knowledge of topics found in school, such as item crafting needing some basic geometry before your materials are ready to make the item. Things like alchemy or potions could start needing a basic understanding of how the chemicals put in them might interact or functional understanding of what plants in real life are toxic versus beneficial and how much to use in a given mixture.

 

Even more, the difficulty settings of the game could also influence how detailed the information you need to learn and know is. Easy mode could cover just the absolute basics, while Moderate could require more like Sophomore and Junior grade knowledge, while Hard mode could require early university level work.

 

It would play like the games we've had the opportunity to grow up with, at least in passing, but include enough educational material to grasp the concepts we're learning in class and give them a purpose that, while they function pretty realistically in the game, are similar enough to easily convert into the real world with functional life skills.

 

To reach a balance is going to be key if this idea is to move forward and thrive, but handled properly, it could make the pleasure of learning explode and make educational situations feel more important to the global student body.