from acm technews - the research focuses on both adults and children
Calit2 Looks Into the Games People Play
California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology
(07/09/07)
Research into computer gaming conducted by the California Institute of
Technology (Calit2) and UC Irvine indicates that games offer far more than
mere entertainment value to children and adults; they are being used as
tools for learning, socialization, business, and even improvement of the
world. Certain researchers believe computer games help nurture
socialization skills by rewarding collaboration and linking people of
diverse cultural backgrounds, and UCI professor Bonnie Nardi says the World
of Warcraft massively multiplayer online game prepares participants for the
cultivation of relationships and collaboration with strangers through the
mastery of various tasks or quests. She notes that the game's
community-based operating principles are "actually the opposite of what
traditional culture does, which is cut us off from people who are different
from us." Calit2 researchers Bill Tomlinson and Lynn Carpenter have
designed a computer game that educates children about restoration ecology
by enabling them to virtually eradicate species to determine extinction's
ecological impact. "One wonderful possibility for games is the ways in
which they can be used to change the world," notes Tomlinson. "They can
help bring communities together, and help people learn about new concepts
and engage with new topics in new fields." Virtual-world games such as
Second Life enable real-world business applications, with some players
earning a livelihood by designing, purchasing, and selling actual products
in the simulated environment. UCI professor Patricia Seed teaches a course
in which students research and design games around specific historical
periods.
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