Learn Something New

So you might have noticed I haven’t really posted anything of substance for about a week and....well...the reason for that is because (cue the dramatic music). I’ve been cheating on this blog with another blog (gasp). I know it’s horrible and I feel terrible, but I’ll make it up to you somehow my sweet blog. Dramatics aside I’ve been working on articles for a site called Lunchlearning.com. It’s basically a place where business people (who have real jobs and actually get an hour lunch break) can go on their lunches and learn something new. It’s a really cool idea if you think about it. Feel free to go there and poke around. While you’re there you can check out my articles, they’re not hard to find, they’re the only articles about video games.

So anyways, while I was writing an article for Lunchlearning.com I ran into a really funny video about the potential video games have for teaching. I would have written a post about it on Lunchlearning, but the video was too short, had no real business application, and well, didn’t look professional. It might not have been a good fit for my mistress site, but it’s an excellent addition to this one. If you’ve never heard the argument for games as teaching tools Daniel Floyd (the robust stick figure in a green tie) basically breaks it down for you. He explains the rift between games created expressly for fun and the games specifically created to teach. Floyd explains the pros and cons of both sides and offers suggestions on how to fuse both fun and education into one rewarding experience. While I doubt there will be a game that lets me beat people into submission while teaching me the fundamentals of trigonometry (what a weird game that would be) our tiny sketched friend has a point. Lets see if developers take the hint and use video games for something other than cheap thrills and one night stands.....[breaks down in tears] Oh I’m sooooo sorry my beautiful blog, I’ll never leave you again. Can you ever forgive me?