WEBVTT - Could video games be good for your brain? 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.200 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:14.560 Forward Thinking. Be there, and welcome to Forward Thinking. The 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:16.720 podcast that Looks at the Future says, I have a 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:19.040 pocket full of quarters and I'm headed to the arcade. 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:24.599 I'm Jonathan Strickland, and I'm Joe McCormick and people. Yeah, 0:00:26.040 --> 0:00:29.760 it is just pretty much acknowledged by everyone that video 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:33.120 games are brain suck, right, Yeah, they just they kill 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:36.279 brain cells. They make you stupid that you might as 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:38.760 well just stick a screwdriver in your ear. I mean, 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:42.600 I just quoted the song pac Man Fever, which that 0:00:42.720 --> 0:00:45.760 alone proves that my intelligence has suffered as a result 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:49.640 of playing video games. Right after I am done playing 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:53.000 a video game, I can't even remember my own name. Right. 0:00:53.000 --> 0:00:55.440 I have gotten to the point where I will try 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:57.000 and make a sandwich and I put the meat on 0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:59.600 the outside of it. Yeah. I mean sometimes when I'm 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:02.800 playing low, I just randomly yell at people outside of 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:06.080 the game for absolutely no reason, in really immature ways. Yeah. 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:08.080 The worst is when you're yelling at all the ten 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:10.800 or twelve year olds that are in your apartment company. Yeah, yeah, 0:01:10.840 --> 0:01:12.679 I just I just I just walk outside and I'm 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:18.040 like you goat Hugger, shut up right, right. Obviously we're 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:21.240 being a little a little silly, mostly because we we've 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:24.959 already gotten punchy today. Well, we are echoing some sentiments 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:29.399 that probably are fairly widespread in the society that say that, 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:33.560 you know, video games are just stupid. I mean, you 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:38.000 might as well be watching Jersey Shore, you might as 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:42.440 well be just just completely I mean, it's mindless. It 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:46.000 numbs your brain. At worst, it might even make you violent, 0:01:47.040 --> 0:01:51.160 teaches you to be violent, Yeah, because correlation and causation 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:53.760 are the same thing. Best, it just dulls your mind 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:56.240 and makes you stupid. Well, here's the thing is there 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:59.360 is there any scientific basis for all this nation. The 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:04.600 scientific basis seems to suggest a completely opposite uh conclusion, 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:08.359 not that video games are in fact dulling the senses 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.400 and making us bad at at being able to think 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:14.399 or make decisions, but in fact that they can help 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:18.519 boost those abilities. So that's what we wanted to concentrate 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:22.440 on today was can we use video games to improve 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:25.960 our cognitive functions? Can we actually use them not just 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:30.799 to improve basic functions, but to actually learn new stuff? Right, 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:33.560 So there's a twofold approach here, can we get smarter 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:37.320 via video games? And can we learn better via video games? 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.079 And uh and spoiler alert, I think the answer to 0:02:40.120 --> 0:02:43.240 both of those questions is yes. But of course just 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:45.840 saying that means nothing. We need to back that up 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:49.960 because because science, because science. So what kind of research 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:51.680 do we have about this? How about how about the 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:57.079 actual cognitive ability things? Sure? So you know, there have 0:02:57.120 --> 0:03:00.000 been a lot of studies, actually a lot of study 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:03.400 have looked at video games and cognitive function in different 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:09.560 and different specific uh perspectives, right, not just overall cognitive function, 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:12.560 but sometimes very specific types of cognitive function. Yeah, And 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:14.600 I think that's a good method to go about in 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:16.440 in science. So it's not just like you play some 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:18.720 Mario and then you take an i Q test, right, 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:23.760 They're testing usually how specific cognitive tasks can be changed 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:26.800 via video gameplay. Yeah. So there was a study that 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:28.919 was published in the Public Library of Science that was 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:33.400 partly funded by the Air Force, which obviously yet they 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:34.960 want they want to they want to make sure that 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:39.440 they have people who are really good at handling lots 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:42.400 of things going on at once. So in this case, 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:47.720 they were looking at the ability for people to manage. Uh, well, 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:49.920 it's really to see mental flexibility to be able to 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:53.840 cognitive flexibility, right, all different kinds of tasks that are happening, 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:56.160 and being able to manage multiple ones, all all at 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:58.960 the same time and at a fast pace. Yeah. So 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:01.240 in this case, they are looking at things like real 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:03.080 time strategy games where you have to manage all the 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:06.440 resources that you have while still trying to achieve certain 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:08.920 goals whatever the goal of that particular game happens to 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:11.920 be and or prevent other people from achieving their goals. Right. 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:14.120 So that means that you have to handle lots of 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:17.159 different things all at once, and as it turns out, uh, 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:20.440 you know, that sort of skill perhaps could translate to 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:23.480 real life skill. That's what they were really interested in seeing. Yeah, 0:04:23.480 --> 0:04:27.360 they found that games that quote emphasized maintenance and rapid 0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:31.520 switching between multiple information and action sources were the ones 0:04:31.560 --> 0:04:35.200 that led to the biggest increase in cognitive flexibility. Right. 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:37.240 So that's sort of like having to flip back and 0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:40.359 forth between lots of different kinds of jobs and pieces 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:43.440 of information. Having having to manage all this at once 0:04:43.560 --> 0:04:46.440 means that you actually train yourself in how to do that. 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:49.560 In general, not just in a video game exactly. So 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.080 you could have someone who is really adept at this 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:57.760 game try and and adapt those skills to a new task, 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:01.800 and it was something that was transferable. It's not necessarily 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:04.440 means that. It doesn't necessarily mean that someone's really good 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.359 at real time strategy game is automatically going to be 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:09.719 awesome at this brand new task you give them, but 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.479 that they can adapt much much more quickly and be 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:15.000 able to handle that kind of thing faster than someone 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:19.400 who's just doing that without the benefit of increasing those skills. 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:23.400 I can see the Air Forces plan. Mr gamer. Here, 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:26.120 we're gonna put you in the cockpit of a stealth bomber, 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.560 right you were you were so good at Warcraft two 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:31.839 that now we're going to make you in charge of 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:34.520 this entire group of people. Yeah, that's not quite the 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.200 way it works, okay. But also there's a lot more 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:40.320 than this, right. Studies have shown that that video games 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:44.560 can help speed decision making, like accurate decision making. Right. 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.640 That's the University of Rochester study you're talking about. It 0:05:47.720 --> 0:05:50.599 was done with the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:55.200 a very a very fun department. I'm sure the dpcs. Yeah. 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:58.080 So anyway, that this particular study was looking at how 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:02.800 video games could help make a person's reaction time shorter 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.000 and shorter, that they're able to react faster to changing 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:10.120 situations and make quick decisions. And then also see are 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.880 those decisions still good decisions or are they trigger happy 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:17.640 just getting hasty right, the idea being that that you 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:21.560 are not reacting without having all the information. That was 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.760 the prevailing kind of hypothesis was that people who were 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.120 really good at these games, it wasn't necessarily that they 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:29.920 were making good decisions. They were making decisions, and they 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.720 were doing it faster than than normal people, but perhaps 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:35.640 they were doing so without all the pertinent information they 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:39.280 would need to make a good decision. This study ended 0:06:39.360 --> 0:06:41.680 up looking at a lot of different things, and it 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:44.960 suggested that perhaps that's not true. It was actually a 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:48.400 meta analysis, meaning that it looked at numerous other studies 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:51.760 and drew conclusions based upon the outcomes of those other studies. 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.200 And based on those other studies, it looked like the 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:58.360 trend was that video game players or v gps as 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:02.760 they called them, uh seemed to have a better performance 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:07.200 at making fast, accurate decisions than non video game players 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:11.440 or in v GPS so and they say it bore 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.200 out when they looked study after study, like they plotted 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:17.760 all the different results and showed that according to that 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:21.560 meta analysis, this seems to be a thing that playing 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:24.520 these sort of games hones those skills and in fact 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:28.200 allows you to make these decisions faster and with no 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:32.000 loss and accuracy. Uh, skills like like pattern recognition for example, 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:33.840 that's a big one. And of course you know in 0:07:33.880 --> 0:07:36.560 the in the case of any sort of military operation, 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:39.600 a fast decision could mean the difference between life and death. 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:43.000 But you obviously still want to have that accuracy there 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:45.920 because that could also mean the difference between life and death. Okay, 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:47.720 so these last couple of things we talked about, we're 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:52.680 kind of these minutely focused different aspects of cognition, fast 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:57.040 decision making, based on visual cues, and cognitive flexibility. Is 0:07:57.040 --> 0:08:01.280 there anything sort of more broader and more abstractly measured 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.720 that video games could affect, Like, how about creativity? That's 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:08.360 pretty abstract, right, So creativity. This is an interesting study 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:11.440 of Michigan State University study that looked at creativity in 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:14.800 the relationship between that and activities like playing video games, 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:17.680 using a computer, using the internet, and cell phone use. 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.800 And so the study looked at four hundred ninety one 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:24.000 twelve year olds across all demographics. I think there were 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:28.120 something like of them were girls. Uh. And then they 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:32.120 had you know, demographics pulled from different social status as, 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:36.080 different ethnic backgrounds, that kind of thing. And they said 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:40.520 that across all demographics, the that playing video games was 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:43.760 a great predictor for creativity, that the kids who enjoyed 0:08:43.760 --> 0:08:46.719 playing video games more also were the ones who were 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:51.680 more creative. Uh. Now, I'm really cautious about citing the 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:54.680 study for more than that, because this could just be 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:58.200 a correlation, not a causal relationship. It may not be 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:01.400 that if you play more video games you become more creative, 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:04.800 but rather that creative people are drawn to video games. 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:06.400 This is the same sort of thing we have to 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.040 be cautious about with all those stories about video games 0:09:09.040 --> 0:09:13.120 and violence. It's not necessarily true that video games promote 0:09:13.160 --> 0:09:16.560 actual violent behavior. It maybe people who are who tend 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.880 toward violent behavior are also drawn to video games. You 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:23.839 can't say that one causes the other. Correlation causation are 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:27.200 two different things. However, it does bear more study. The 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:30.320 idea of are their video games that can promote the 0:09:30.400 --> 0:09:35.600 sort of creative thinking that could perhaps inspire students who 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:40.360 are you know, already interested in exploring creativity. There are 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:42.080 certain games we can talk about and some that we 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:45.559 will talk about that already do this to some extent. 0:09:45.720 --> 0:09:48.160 Like Minecraft is a good one, right. Minecraft is one 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:52.640 where people have express creativity through numerous ways because you're 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:55.080 telling the story. There isn't already a story in the game. 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:56.840 You have to take one up for yourself. Yeah, and 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:59.680 you can build whatever you like, digital legos, you could, 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.560 you con box, you can make it a creative experience 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.440 where there's no other gameplay element other than the fact 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:09.400 that you are building stuff out of you know, digital materials. 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:12.880 Then there's also things like the game Trials. Trials is 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:16.240 a game where it's a motorcycle game. You're riding a 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.640 motorcycle through an obstacle course and your your goal is 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:22.640 to complete the course as quickly as possible with as 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:26.480 few faults as possible. It's generally the way the game works. 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:28.840 And you know, people get bragging, right, so I I 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:32.160 beat that level in X amount of time with zero faults. 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:34.319 That that's you know, something that gets bragged about. In 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:37.400 the gaming world. But there's also a level design element 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:40.360 with many of those trials games, and people have built 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:45.480 games that are not even remotely related to motorcycles using 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:49.960 the the game building elements in this game where I've 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:53.480 seen a pinball game re created where there actually was 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:56.559 a little motorcyclist inside a solid like an opaque ball, 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:59.719 so you don't see them, But they just used all 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:02.000 the the physics of the yeah, the physics and the 0:11:02.120 --> 0:11:06.600 and the different pieces that the developers put into the 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:10.960 game and reimagined it in some way. So it shows 0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:14.920 that by creating this outlet for creativity, people sees on 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:19.319 it and they make some pretty amazing stuff. So I think, 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:23.920 even if there isn't a direct causal relationship between creativity 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:28.480 and video game playing, this, uh, this trend of of 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:33.720 catering to creativity is really a positive one. Sure, Okay, 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:36.320 But but so far we've been talking about some of 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:39.640 these these deep, interesting sandbox games let you do whatever 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:43.679 you want. What about something really simple like Super Mario Brothers. Oh, 0:11:43.760 --> 0:11:46.280 I'm glad you asked. In two thousand thirty, and there 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:49.560 was a study conducted and forgive me, folks at the 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:53.880 Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Charity University Hey Medicine, 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:58.880 Saint Head vig Kranken House, which examined how video games 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:02.200 appear to aug meant brain function in certain regions of 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:07.359 the brain, including the regions responsible for spatial orientation, memory formation, 0:12:07.640 --> 0:12:11.480 and strategic planning. So what the study particularly did was 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:14.439 had a group of adults, So these are not kids, 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:18.360 these are adults who would play Super Mario sixty four 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:20.800 for thirty minutes every day for two months. I will, 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:24.480 I will make sure to reinforce the fact this was 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:30.520 a two thirteen study, so they got apparently Nintendo sixty 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:34.480 four was big in Germany in twenty thirteen. So they 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:38.559 actually measured brain volume. They used m r I scans, 0:12:38.640 --> 0:12:40.840 so this is kind of a Over the course of 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:44.199 the study, they would have the various participants go and 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:47.040 elect to be in an MRI machine and they would 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:50.040 have an MRI I performed, a scan performed, and then 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:53.000 they would look at the results over the course of 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:55.480 the study, and they found that by the end of 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:59.360 the study that people started to h get increases in 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:04.360 their gray matter, their brains got bigger, yeah, in these 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:10.200 specific regions particularly, and that uh, this seems to show 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:14.200 that the activity of the video games was one that 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:16.800 promoted this this growth in gray matter because it was 0:13:16.880 --> 0:13:19.160 it was engaging those parts of the brains of the 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:23.800 people who were participating UM. I would love to read 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:26.960 more about the study, to see their control group, to 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:30.480 see exactly what their methodology was, to make sure that 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:34.840 they were trying to UM to eliminate any other possible 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:38.240 factors that could have also resulted in an increase in 0:13:38.280 --> 0:13:40.400 gray matter, and maybe see if there are any other 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:44.640 studies that have attempted to replicate these results. But it 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:48.720 is really interesting this idea that perhaps because you're exercising 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:51.920 parts of your brain that you might not otherwise engage, 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.560 depending upon what your day to day activities are, could 0:13:55.640 --> 0:13:58.920 in fact make you, at least on some level smarter, 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:02.440 or at least make your brain function more effectively and 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:07.040 more better, more better. Yeah, so there you go. That's 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:10.040 really cool. But everything we've talked about so far has 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:14.679 sort of been aimed at the aptitude of the brain, 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:16.880 if that makes any sense. It's more kind of along 0:14:16.920 --> 0:14:19.920 the lines of your i Q and what your brain 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:23.240 can naturally do at its base level. But I'm interested 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:26.640 in talking about video games in the context of education 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:29.840 and learning, not not just not just increasing our our 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:32.560 abilities but actually imparting knowledge. But like we were talking 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:34.040 about at the top of the show, what's that other 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:36.600 half about? Yeah, can't can they make us learn more better? 0:14:37.200 --> 0:14:40.080 I think they can make us learn more better. There's 0:14:40.080 --> 0:14:42.720 certainly lots of games out there that have catered to this, 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:45.440 and it's not a new phenomenon at all. I mean, 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:49.200 I remember when I was going to school, when I 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:53.600 was in elementary school, and and personal computers were brand new. Um, 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:56.880 the Apple too was considered to be an amazing device 0:14:56.960 --> 0:14:59.520 that was going to change our future, and in many 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:01.960 ways it did just that. But there were games that 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:04.720 were coming out. There were for all sorts of of things. 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:07.360 There were you know, just the time wasters or whatever, 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:10.000 the type of stuff that people have dismissed in the past, 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:14.480 that kind of thing. But then there were also games that, yeah, 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:18.560 well that you're talking about presophisticated game by that point, actually, 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:22.320 and Mind Sweeper also engages your mental abilities because you 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:25.640 have to figure out the logic. But there were other 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:30.920 games that were specifically geared towards creating an educational experience. 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:34.200 And the one that I have to mention because I'm sure, 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.440 well I'm fairly sure both of you have experienced this 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:41.320 at some point. Oregon Trail. All right, So, Oregon Trail 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:45.080 was brand new when I when I was in elementary school. 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:48.280 I mean that was I remember playing technology. Yeah, I 0:15:48.320 --> 0:15:52.320 remember playing Oregon Trail the beta. No. Um, So, anyone 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.840 who hasn't played Oregon Trail, I'm sure there are versions 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:58.280 online that you can play right now. I know there 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:00.720 have to be lots supports of it. Uh And of 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:04.320 course I know that they've they've updated it multiple times 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:07.200 throughout the years too. Yeah, Like I played Oregon Trail 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:11.680 to which started to incorporate full motion video Wow, I'm 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:16.920 sorry the days of full motion video games. Well, Oregon Trail, obviously, 0:16:16.920 --> 0:16:19.360 it tells the story of maybe not obviously to paying 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.720 on where you're from, tells the story of the United 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:27.560 States during the the Great Expansion West, when pioneers were 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:32.720 forging new territory for anyone who wasn't a Native American, Uh, 0:16:32.800 --> 0:16:39.120 to and there exactly. Yeah, I mean the there's a 0:16:39.200 --> 0:16:42.000 dark side to this story that is not explored in 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:44.640 Oregon Trail, but they but you could get eaten by 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:48.360 a bear, certainly or you know, they their depiction, at 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:51.080 least the original original Oregon Trail, their depiction of Native 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:56.840 Americans was pretty simplistic and certainly not very uh so 0:16:57.120 --> 0:17:01.760 culturally Yeah, not culturally sensitive at all, but it also 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.719 would you know, you had consequences and sometimes like if 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:07.600 you wanted to keep pushing really hard as opposed to 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:12.240 letting your your pioneers rest occasionally, then you could see 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:15.320 pretty nasty consequences, like part of your party ends up 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:18.200 dying off in the process. They're there due to illness 0:17:18.240 --> 0:17:22.920 or injury or both. Usually dysenterry. Dysenterry was a big one. Yeah, 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:26.320 dysenterry was a big one. I put tuberculosis in the notes, 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:28.720 but then I don't think that necessarily hit Dysenterry was 0:17:28.760 --> 0:17:30.760 the one that you would usually run into. I also 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:34.320 remember playing an online port version where it was almost 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:36.760 guaranteed that you were going to break a bone or 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:38.680 someone was going to break a bone in the process 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:40.960 and possibly be need to let you don't have to 0:17:41.000 --> 0:17:42.720 leave them behind or something. I think there was a 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:45.880 lot of snake bite in the game. You could get 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:50.199 snake bite, so the interesting of the linguistics were not 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:52.639 necessarily it was it was certainly there to kind of 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:56.119 give you a historical view of the challenges that pioneers 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.159 faced during this whole process. Certainly, and lots of other games, 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:02.040 especially for um that time. I'm sure. I mean, I'm 0:18:02.040 --> 0:18:04.760 just out of the out of the children's educational gaming 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:07.280 culture at this particular moment. But I mean, but I played. 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:09.600 I played the heck out of some Carmen San Diego. 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:13.720 So yeah, learned a lot of geography from Karmen Sandy. 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:17.720 I forgot a lot of geography immediately after playing Carmen's. Well, 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:20.280 it's also problematic because, depending upon when you played at 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:23.159 geography has changed since then. Yeah, there are countries that 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:27.919 are no longer countries since when I played is in 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:33.560 the USSR? What is she doing in East Germany? Yeah? So, 0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:36.639 But there were also games obviously that promoted things like 0:18:36.840 --> 0:18:41.000 learning math skills, learning spelling, typing. Remember at school I 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:43.400 played a lot of like number crunchers or something like that. 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:46.679 But skipping ahead, I mean, besides those basic skills type 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:50.239 games that we've seen, there's some that are aiming at 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:55.240 even more sophisticated type of of topics. Topics. One that 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:58.320 I wanted to focus on is games that teach coding 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:02.000 like programming languages. Oh yeah, and there are a bunch 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:04.760 that are pretty exciting that are being developed now. But 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:07.200 but this is not a new concept at all. There 0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:09.560 was one called Logo that was created in the nine 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.840 seventies at M I t uh. It's actually a programming 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:15.560 language unto itself for like a family of languages, I guess, 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:18.240 because there's a few different versions. Um, But it's it's 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.880 designed to engage learners with graphical interfaces too, to show 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:26.480 how rewarding and fun programming can be. Um. If you've 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:28.800 ever seen like a little turtle being moved around a 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:32.400 screen to draw pictures, that that is logo. M that's 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:34.679 pretty cool. The example I wanted to talk about was 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:37.240 this thing I found on the internet, which I thought 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:40.600 was so cool, and it's kind of modest. I think 0:19:40.600 --> 0:19:43.199 it was just sort of a little demonstration, like they 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:44.960 didn't make a huge thing out of it. But it's 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:48.800 called code Spells, which was an experiment by the u C. 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:53.320 San Diego Jacob School of Engineering. And I love the 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.560 idea of it because the basic concept is it's it's 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:59.919 a game for beginning programmers, and you play a little 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:04.520 wizard who has to do magic spells, but you write 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:08.480 the spells in code in Java, right yeah, yeah, and 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:11.240 you're helping out these little gnomes and when you cast 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:13.600 a spell, it has little fire effects on the screen 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:16.280 and gefty stuff like that. It's really cute. Yeah, And 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:19.480 so beyond just this game itself, like the very the 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:23.800 concept behind it, the idea of writing magic spells in 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:27.640 code is great because that's actually what you do when 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.840 you write computer code, is you're doing magic. You're bending 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:34.280 physics to your will. You know, you get to say 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:37.359 what happens now, Yeah, you're bending the spoon totally. And 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:40.240 I just thought that, wow, I mean, what a great 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:43.119 way to teach people, to encourage people about the power 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:47.840 that they can have by writing code, and also to 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:51.639 to give them a skill in a game that translates 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:53.680 to a skill in a real world. You know, there 0:20:53.680 --> 0:20:55.440 are so many ways that you can play a game. 0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:57.320 Let's say, you know, back in the day when I 0:20:57.320 --> 0:20:59.679 was in high school, you'd see your friends just playing 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:03.600 every request and they're sitting there leveling up by hacking 0:21:03.640 --> 0:21:05.960 snakes to death in the forest for a long time 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:10.040 and their quote leveling up, but they're not actually like 0:21:10.200 --> 0:21:13.480 learning anything new they're they're just in a virtual way 0:21:13.520 --> 0:21:16.760 becoming more powerful. If you're talking about a game where 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.679 you're like playing as a wizard and you're learning to 0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:24.879 develop your coding skills to become more powerful. Power in 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:28.320 the games sort of scales to a real world power 0:21:28.400 --> 0:21:31.000 that you can use to get a career. And you 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:34.480 you do have those those small and continual achievements or 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:37.280 trophies or you know, just in game rewards saying like, 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:40.080 good job, dude, you did that thing right, Let's do 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:43.359 another thing. You get that reinforcement over and over again. 0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:45.240 There are other people who have tried to do this 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:47.800 in more this generation of games. I know there was 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:52.240 a whole Kickstarter to bacle about the proposed game Code Hero. 0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:54.520 I can actually talk about that a little bit. So 0:21:55.160 --> 0:21:57.520 this was a game that was supposed to teach uh 0:21:57.920 --> 0:22:00.720 here in the United States kindergarten through twelfth aid students 0:22:00.760 --> 0:22:03.240 how to code in a length and unity that was 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:06.320 going to be the learning language, the language specifically that 0:22:06.400 --> 0:22:09.600 this would be geared towards, and it had I think 0:22:10.119 --> 0:22:14.160 a hundred thousand dollar goal on Kickstarter ended up raising 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:18.040 a hundred seventy thousand dollars, So it was overfunded, um 0:22:18.359 --> 0:22:22.960 and then as a result the the the campaign, the 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:25.040 person running the campaign said that, all right, what we're 0:22:25.080 --> 0:22:28.240 also going to do is include an MMO element to 0:22:28.320 --> 0:22:30.680 this game, so it's not just gonna be a standalone 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:33.600 single player game, and we're also going to create a 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:38.320 documentary about the crowdfunding process. And uh, as is sometimes 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:42.679