For Your Consideration: Should We Assign Value to Video Game Literacy in Our Classrooms?
Many public schools have a very narrow view of literacy. And it’s hard not to. After the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, school accountability changed drastically. The problem was what they were accountable for, namely the scores their students received on standardized tests. This led to a hard-drilling specifically for those tests, which ended up teaching children not much of anything. And even if you were to look at the numbers with the attitude that only being good at taking these tests is fine, according to Dee and Jacob (2010) the only noted jump in achievement from 2001 to 2010 was a small jump in mathematics for younger children. There was not notable improvement in reading, the other major target area of No Child Left Behind.
Regardless of how it got here, we certainly live in a climate of standardized testing, and therefore a standardized (and many would argue narrow) field of what we find important for students to know; we only truly care about a very narrow scope of literacies. However, the world is always changing. We still seem to be settling into some of our more recent technological breakthroughs. Several times a year you hear some huge act or movement which has to do with how we should handle the internet, for instance. And with this ever-widening world the ways in which we are literate are exploding and flourishing. But what is literacy? David Kirkland wrote in 2013, “I now understood that the acquisition of literacies is a construct of memory formed of the fibers of the many voices that fill our stories. I understood that it is linked to ideologies, systems of belief that manufacture particular relations to knowledge, truth, and desire. I understood that reflects the social myths and illusions of society as much or more so than it does society itself. “(pp. 148)This can be displayed in games, as well. The initialisms “HP,” and “PvP” may not mean anything to someone who is gaming illiterate, for a simple example. (HP stands for “hit points,” or your life total, which PvP stands for “player-versus-player,” which are games or situations where two players are made to fight one another.)
So given this widened view of literacy, should this be one form that we care about? Obviously you can be literate in many ways in which school would have no real reason to value, or have reasons to devalue. This brings in the debate around sex education, for instance. Some would argue for abstinence education, denying students that literacy, while some would argue that you should actually teach students the truths and risks of sex. In this instance it is almost the same. Some people would say that schools should either ignore video gaming, or discourage it as a waste of time. However, gaming is a growing world. Not only do games lend themselves to a student’s growth in a number of ways, but more recently it’s also become a way to earn a living. Perhaps, considering some of the reasons that we tell students that they should value something in the first place, these new facts might change the way we look at video gaming. No one is saying that there should be anything along the lines of a “gaming major” quite yet. But at the very least, perhaps we shouldn’t just brush them off as a complete waste of time.
So how do games directly benefit the individual? There is actually quite the wealth of research on just that. Griffiths (2002) did a very comprehensive study on the benefits of videos games to a person. Among the most prevalent were things such as reduced reaction times, improved hand-eyes coordination, and increased self-esteem. Griffiths also points out that video games are a very powerful means of enforcing positive development in special needs individuals. Video games can provide the needed visual stimuli and storylines to hold many of their attentions. There are also known social benefits. There is a pervasive stereotype of the socially isolated gamer, but this is not necessarily true. In fact, I would say it is untrue most of the time. Many people balance gaming with their normal lives. In addition, online multiplayer games develop large communities with a wealth of player-player interaction. Nauert (2015) stated that these communities teach us important skills, like learning how to gauge someone’s trustworthiness, cooperation, and competitiveness. And lastly, tying back into Griffiths’ point about self-esteem, games just make people happy. Vendatam (2009) stated that games can help us relax, directly relieve stress, and even simply find an inner calm. And the diversity of video games lends itself to the breadth of their usefulness.
But let’s not forget, we are coming into a world where you can make a living off of gaming, and not only the obvious way of taking part in game development. Game development is nothing to shake a stick at, however! According to Graft (2014), the average salaried game developer made over $83,000 a year in 2013. However, there are three main ways to make a living my playing games (and they aren’t mutually exclusive). There are by being a “professional/tournament gamer,” a “streamer,” or by making “Let’s Plays.”
Going down the list, first let’s talk about professional gamers. As you might infer, they make money by being recognized for their talents, being picked up by an e-sports (electronic sports) team (funded largely through sponsorships), competing in tournaments, and being paid for their performance. It’s a familiar scenario. It’s difficult to live off of this, however. According to Russell (2013), as of 2013 only 60 people had been reported to have earned over $100,000 this way. However, next we have “streaming.” Streaming is when you play a game live and people tune in to watch you. You get paid through donations , ad revenue, and people paying $5 a month to subscribe to your channel. Streaming is only growing, with Twitch.tv being the juggernaut behind its growth. Keng (2014) stated that it is not uncommon to make $100,000 a year on Twitch.tv, although this is probably closer to the ceiling. And lastly, “Let’s Plays.” The idea is simple. You record yourself playing a game and upload it to a video site like YouTube. People watch your videos and you get paid through ad revenue and being a “partner” with the website (where you get paid based on your views). The largest and most-famous person who does this is PewDiePie, whose net worth is, according to the USA News and World Report (2015), has earned over $12 million to date. Everyone that tries this out doesn’t turn out so well, though. There are issues with this kind of living. You have to get lucky and job security is an awkward subject. But certainly these opportunities are only growing as time goes on. +
So how do we assign this value? It could be small, like letting a student design his own storyboard for a game as a school project, or letting someone do a presentation on their favorite (non-violent) game. But there are also larger ideas. Schools are starting to integrate video-game-relevant coursework into their classes and even hold video-game-relevant classes. It is an ongoing conversation, but I would say we’re moving in the right direction.
Before I finish I would like to shortly address the issue of violent games promoting violent behaviors in people. This is a hotly debated topic. A large study by the American Psychological Association Task Force (2015) led by Dr. Mark Appelbaum concluded after much research that games alone cannot cause this behavior. However, this behavior is triggered from a buildup of multiple risk factors, one of which can be violent games. Simply, there are some people who, when exposed to violence, will be negatively affected by it. However, these games will not necessarily affect any person.
References:
APA Task Force on Violent Media. (2015). Technical report on the review of the violent video game literature. Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/pi/families/violent-media.aspx
Dee, T.S.. Jacob, B.A.. (2010). The Impact of No Child Left Behind on Students, Teachers, and Schools. Brooking Papers on Economic Activity, (Fall 2010), pp. 149–207. Retrieved from: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Projects/BPEA/Fall%202010/2010b_bpea_dee.PDF
Graft, K.. (2014, July 22). Game Developer Survey 2014: The results are in! Retrieved from: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/221533/Game_Developer_Salary_Survey_2014_The_results_are_in.php
Griffiths, M.. (2002). The educational benefits of video games. Education and Heatlth, 20 (3). Pp. 47–51. Retrieved from: http://sheu.org.uk/sites/sheu.org.uk/files/imagepicker/1/eh203mg.pdf
Keng, C.. (2014, April 21). Online Streaming And Professional Gaming Is A 300,000 Career Choice. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/cameronkeng/2014/04/21/online-streaming-professional-gaming-is-a-300000-career-choice/#7d201b321d99
Kirkland, D.E.. (2013). A Search Past Silence: The Literacy of Young Black Men. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Nauert PhD, R. (2015, November 26). Video Games Can Help Boost Social, Memory & Cognitive Skills. Retrieved from: http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/11/26/video-games-help-boost-social-memory-cognitive-skills/62537.html
Russell, K.. (2013, July 15). The Highest-Paid Profesisonal Video Gamers in the World. Retrieved from: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-highest-paid-professional-gamers-2013-7?op=1
Vendantam, S.. (2009, August 18). Researchers Explore Mental Health Benefits of Video Games. Retrieved from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/17/AR2009081702114.html.
Video game star ‘PewDiePie’ takes in $12 million, heads Forbes list of top YouTube earners. (2015, October 15). Retrieved from: http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2015/10/15/forbes-lists-video-gamer-pewdiepie-as-top-youtube-earner
