Interesting read. I learned a lot more about what is available, but this book is really more for my parent's generation. I'll probably pass it on to my mom. ( )

I finished reading Marc Prensky’s “Don’t Bother me Mom – I’m Learning!”, and I’d give it a 5 out of 5 stars and would highly recommend it to parents, educators, and anyone who thinks gaming is a frivolous pursuit.

I am, at best, a casual gamer myself, and after reading Prensky’s book, I’m thinking that I should make more of an effort to increase my game time. As a psychologist, I was already aware of the benefits of escapism and such of games on stress management as well as the fact that most games today are complex puzzles and require problem solving and strategy skills which keep one’s brain in shape. But Marc showed me a side of video games I had never before considered, probably because I had never played them.

I think the game was called Rollercoaster Tycoon, where you design and run your own amusement park. Kids as young as 7 were playing this and understanding economic, customer service, and design issues and then applying it to real-world situations. For example, the aforementioned 7-year-old looked around a park with playground equipment and made the observation that the place still cost money and cost more money because the equipment was nicer.

Another twenty-something business exec commented on how his parents always criticized him for playing online MMORPGs when he was in high school and college. He attributes his success to those games because managing his division in the company was easy compared to managing a guild of over 200 other players.

Something I need to check into is “modding,” where you can create your own levels of a game or even create a spin-off game entirely, and supposedly these modding tools are built into the game program. I’m not sure if this is just for PC games or if platform games have some way to do this, too. But this is an example where the games are teaching kids basic programming by enticing them to have even greater control of their gaming environment. Other examples of games teaching programming would be where players use macros to accomplish tasks faster.

As for cheat codes… A bit of a misnomer. This is still something I’m contemplating, as some would argue that using cheat codes teaches kids to cheat in real life. Yet we all will do what we can to get a leg up in the real world, such as making sure we get noticed at work, by a member of the opposite sex, or even on the dance floor or in sports. If we take a course in college that would be perfect to help us land a great job, is that cheating? It could be an unfair advantage over someone who can’t afford said course but is just as passionate about the subject matter. It’s kind of making me wonder if I’ve been playing too fair in this life so far…

I also liked how he dealt with the idea of video game addiction, pointing out that not everyone get’s “addicted” to games. Furthermore, I agree with his argument that “addiction” is a term that is over-used and creating a fear reaction to anything that someone happens to really enjoy doing. Some people play video games for two or three hours after work, and could be said to be addicted, yet someone else who reads for three or four hours after work isn’t said to be addicted to books. The fact is, serious gamers are also doing research on the game and even on the subject matter of the game. Not only are gamers seeking out sourcebooks and such, but they’re reading books on mythology, archaeology, history, biology, physics, and so on all to better understand the game they play and discover and develop a “real-world” interest.

On a final note, Marc discusses the role of technology overall, how it’s here to stay, and how people who refuse to adapt to it will be left by the wayside. Rather than complaining about kids and their smartphones, their games, their computers, their jargon, and so on, people need to start understanding these things, or else they will be forever outside looking in. Technology as a tool can be a wonderful thing, and we need to realize that if we are going to survive in the 21st Century. I liked one of his examples about how laparoscopic and microsurgical tools had controls similar to video game controls, and that surgeons who played video games tended to be better, more precise surgeons with significantly fewer errors, and how some hospitals are have surgeons warm up on video games before beginning surgery.

In conclusion, games are not the trivial distractions they once were, but are now complex, cognitively-challenging, artificially intelligent pieces of software that will push a child’s (and adult’s) mind into new directions. They should be embraced, not shunned. They should be given the recognition due them for their role in our digital, 21st-Century society. ( )

Prensky presents a comprehensive and convincing arguement for the value of video games to 21st century learning, and he provides tools for parenting digital kids. ( )

6 copies

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1557788588/ref=nosim/002-5906936-5820853?n=2831... ( )