Overly Positive

I’m piggybacking off of an article written by Unenlightened English’s Kelly about Scribblenauts and how its veritable potpourri of dictionary words and fun gameplay have firmly put educational gaming back into the spotlight.

Really, the secret behind Scribblenauts and the educational value of the game is in the blend of fun factor and teaching technique. When we think about educational video games these days, we don’t typically think about an FPS like Halo or an RPG like any of the Final Fantasies. It’s been argued many times that games like these have some sort of educational value to (appropriately aged) teens and kids, but the real reason why few take those kinds of arguments at face value is a matter of function. It isn’t the primary function of Halo or FF to educate you, but rather to engage you in a gameplay experience that is fun. In that respect, educational arguments of the improvement of hand-eye coordination/reaction time, or the ability to read complex walls of text is more of a happenstance than an intent by the developer.

5th Cell takes a step forward towards creating a balance between education and gameplay with Scribblenauts. The puzzle game makes an attempt to expand your vocabulary by encouraging you to use different words to solve things, but it also has a cutesy, gamer-y element of using those words in a video game manner. We haven’t seen something like that since the typing games of old like Mavis Beacon, who blend game activities with letter-typing reflex.

Don’t get me wrong – Scribblenauts is still a game first and education second. But the bar of education is raised ever so slightly by the fact that players are made to learn something in order to get ahead in the game itself. You can go through the game in one mode using the same words, but to really finish properly the mode where you aren’t allowed to recycle well-known words needs to be beaten. Even though this is only slightly forced, it becomes such a natural element of the gameplay that players aren’t really bothered by it.  The key that developers should take note of when looking at the critical success of 5th Cell’s title is that the educational part is masked and made to be logical to the player to engage in without being contrived.

If Oregon Trail can teach us about the dangers of caulking wagons and dysentery, Guitar Hero/Rock Band/DDR can show us rhythm, and Scribblenauts can expand our word count, I can’t wait to see what the next semi-educational game brings us. I hold out hope that a game that teaches adult gamers about the wonders of beer will someday be made.