This is about Alex Ely's article [a]http://mygamer.com/index.php?platform=&publisher=&developer=&game=&page=articles&mode=viewarticles&id=101[aa]The School of Gaming[/a] -- if you haven't read it, you should do so, or none of this will make sense.
I think Alex had good intentions with this article. It's hard to turn around these days without hearing about some state legislator trying to ban sales of games to minors or games being blamed for some tragedy involving youth. However, I think the execution of his article was sloppy.
The first half focuses on children, specifically kindergarteners. But instead of doing a little research, he "would venture" to say what the importance of kindergarten is. That's a nice way of saying he guessed. There is a ton of information out there on early childhood and childhood development, and it shouldn't take much time or effort to either find this information or get in touch with someone who knows something about the field and ask a couple of questions.
Unfortunately, Alex's lack of understanding of this topic colors this part of the article. While his suggestions aren't necessarily wrong, they ignore the fact that developing children need to practice gross motor skills as well as the fine motor skills that games would focus on. Sitting a six year old in front of a videogame as part of a curriculum solely for the benefit of fine motor skill is just a bad idea; there are other ways for children to develop fine motor skill simultaneously with other important developmental attributes such as social skills. However, if we were talking about games that fit into a broad curriculum -- like educational games -- we would be getting somewhere. And, in fact, educational video and computer games are fairly popular these days.
On the other hand, the suggestion of tools such as the Eye Toy and, I would add, games like Dance Dance Revolution is an excellent idea, and one that has not been ignored, at least by the media.
In the second part of his article, Alex speculates about possible positive effects of gaming for the elderly. I think this is a good idea, but again I think he should have done more than just think about the subject. There is some research showing benefits of games for various illnesses -- recent work with stroke patients comes to mind -- and including any of this information. What I think is worse is that Alex's article is teetering on the brink of a trap that many people fall into: equating the elderly with children. I can't quite tell if he's limiting his comments to those suffering from senility and Alzheimer's Disease, however, so that gets a pass.
yet, what I would have liked to see, again, is more personal research in the area he's talking about. Nearly ever city in America has a hospital with an elderly ward or a nursing home, any of which Alex could visit to donate his time. A few hours of visiting and interacting with the people he's writing about would most likely have removed his article from mere speculation to knowledgeable insight.
Now, I say these things not to rag on Alex, but because I feel they need to be said. I have no beef with Alex, and everything by him that I've read here has been excellent. In fact, this is exactly why I'm bringing all of this up; as an excellent writing and, I believe, thinker, Alex represents a voice in the gaming community. In the rare instance that I think this voice is going astray, I think it's necessary to point this out for the sake of all of us. With power comes responsibility. So, I credit Alex for wrestling with a couple of unpopular and difficult subjects -- these are things that we as gamers tend to ignore -- but I think he could have put a little more research info this particular article and less guesswork.
I think Alex had good intentions with this article. It's hard to turn around these days without hearing about some state legislator trying to ban sales of games to minors or games being blamed for some tragedy involving youth. However, I think the execution of his article was sloppy.
The first half focuses on children, specifically kindergarteners. But instead of doing a little research, he "would venture" to say what the importance of kindergarten is. That's a nice way of saying he guessed. There is a ton of information out there on early childhood and childhood development, and it shouldn't take much time or effort to either find this information or get in touch with someone who knows something about the field and ask a couple of questions.
Unfortunately, Alex's lack of understanding of this topic colors this part of the article. While his suggestions aren't necessarily wrong, they ignore the fact that developing children need to practice gross motor skills as well as the fine motor skills that games would focus on. Sitting a six year old in front of a videogame as part of a curriculum solely for the benefit of fine motor skill is just a bad idea; there are other ways for children to develop fine motor skill simultaneously with other important developmental attributes such as social skills. However, if we were talking about games that fit into a broad curriculum -- like educational games -- we would be getting somewhere. And, in fact, educational video and computer games are fairly popular these days.
On the other hand, the suggestion of tools such as the Eye Toy and, I would add, games like Dance Dance Revolution is an excellent idea, and one that has not been ignored, at least by the media.
In the second part of his article, Alex speculates about possible positive effects of gaming for the elderly. I think this is a good idea, but again I think he should have done more than just think about the subject. There is some research showing benefits of games for various illnesses -- recent work with stroke patients comes to mind -- and including any of this information. What I think is worse is that Alex's article is teetering on the brink of a trap that many people fall into: equating the elderly with children. I can't quite tell if he's limiting his comments to those suffering from senility and Alzheimer's Disease, however, so that gets a pass.
yet, what I would have liked to see, again, is more personal research in the area he's talking about. Nearly ever city in America has a hospital with an elderly ward or a nursing home, any of which Alex could visit to donate his time. A few hours of visiting and interacting with the people he's writing about would most likely have removed his article from mere speculation to knowledgeable insight.
Now, I say these things not to rag on Alex, but because I feel they need to be said. I have no beef with Alex, and everything by him that I've read here has been excellent. In fact, this is exactly why I'm bringing all of this up; as an excellent writing and, I believe, thinker, Alex represents a voice in the gaming community. In the rare instance that I think this voice is going astray, I think it's necessary to point this out for the sake of all of us. With power comes responsibility. So, I credit Alex for wrestling with a couple of unpopular and difficult subjects -- these are things that we as gamers tend to ignore -- but I think he could have put a little more research info this particular article and less guesswork.
