Microsoft explores educational link to video games.

[kandrathe]

It would be interesting if they could draw a correlation between WoW playing and higher math scores. I think it is quite possible, and for the same reasons IMHO that Mozart listeners probably have higher average math scores; they have well educated parents to learn from, a roof over their head, 3 square meals, a good school district, etc. I doubt that there are many WoW players or Mozart listeners in Gary or Compton.

The types of benefits described with regards to FPS gaming can mostly be reaped by playing hide and go seek, capture the flag, or trying to remember where you put all of your toys. Hand-eye coordination and response time seems a bigger benefit from such twitch games, but then kids used to swing at curve balls. Kids also used to calculate the stats of their favorite ball players, make lineups for those spin-o-matic games, play chess, etc. Gaming in general is an important part of development and having fun is probably pretty important to mental health, but I don't think video games specifically bring that much that is unique, and they are lacking in some areas like physical exercise and face-to-face social interaction. So, you know, all things in moderation.

When I first began programming professionally (1980), I wrote educational software. I worked on projects like "The Oregon Trail", "Odell Lake", and "Math Blasters". There were two camps at the place I worked (MECC), the former educators turned into curriculum designers, and the programmers (all between the ages of 17 and 23). Most of the programmers were part time, who were also students at the University, and we began to bring obscure (and often rejected) concepts into our work, like game theory, ergonomics, and psychology (esp. man machine interfaces). Many of our "hits" (like math blasters) were skunk works projects that we (the programmers) did on our own time without input from the other camp, until we'd unveil it and they would then see it's pedagogical value. Anyway, a long story short, we spent much time working with Alan E. Klietz on an early multi player adventure game (zork like at first) called "Milieu", and we intentionally added problem solving and intellectually difficult puzzles to the game.

So, yes, I think there are ways to add more pedagogical content seamlessly to existing games, where math, science and reading skills would be enhanced and required to advance to "higher levels".