Video Games Blah

Can Video Games Teach? Yes.

Oh, I guess you want more information than that. Well, I need 400 more words, so here we go. While I do think that video games can teach, I do not in any way shape or form think that all video games do good, nor do I believe that video games teach good things necessarily.

And before I go any further, I am not going to be one to say "video games can help teach because of >insert dumb reason here that obviously has nothing to do with anything<" or "video games help save people from boredom, and without video games we would all be stuck doing other boring things and" yada yada yada see, I'm already bored just typing this nonsense. And I'm especially not going to go on about "video games teach absolutely nothing" because I'm so sick of hearing that from people who hate video games. You know what else sucks? Hearing "video games help promote violence in young people because >insert dumb reason that really doesn't mean anything whatsoever."

Anyways, onto what I think. So, video games can teach because of they sometimes have puzzles and other strategies that players use to advance through them. While not many video games have very obvious ones, even games like Call of Duty allow a player a chance to take cover, switch weapons, and use a knife for quick thinking if they are low on ammo or performing a sneak attack. The player isn't simply sitting there shooting mindlessly and hoping that their bullets hit something. I'm sure that's what many parents think happens, and it's just not right. With all that said, there are other games that are pure strategy, such as League of Legends (a wonderful game full of idiots and ragers who complain about anyone who may be slightly less skilled than they are. Good ol' internet for ya) Yes, there's violence in the game. Sue Riot Games. But on top of that, players have to actually have an IQ above 50 and the thought process of a human being if they wish to not die foolishly repeatedly and have any hope of winning the game. Know how to play? You're put in a team with 4 other players and as a team of five your goal is to take the enemy's base. You can kill enemies for more gold for items and take turrets to make it easier to actually get to the freakin' base.

With that said, I also think that video games can teach by having people pay more attention to minor detail. For instance, in call of Duty a player may have to target an enemy which is many yards away in the game for any hope of killing htem. While this may not seem like much, this can help increase a player's focus and attention to small details.