Quote:
I think that video games MEANT to teach English or educate people on the English
language would not be very popular. But if the games are of a particular genre
but helps in the English proficiency of the gamers then it would help. It all
lies in the purpose of the product i think. If the game is indeed fun but what
lies as the hidden meaning or the indirect theme is to teach English then i
would have little doubt that it(the video game) would fail.
This is my personal suggestion. Have the game as fun as possible and incorporate
proper sentences. Then if possible have characters use explicit phrases that are
mind catching. Such exposure would help gamers to interact with English like it
is a real person.
Now i would say that i had choosen (3). Had i said it earlier you might not have
read through. Hahax.
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There is a good deal of confusion about what is the difference between an educational game and a game, and what is the difference between a game and a simulation.
Simply put, all games educate people to some extent, even if that education is just how to play a particular game or genre. What makes a game more educational or a better simulation lies in the pedagogical aspects of the game. For example, Microsoft Flight Simulator would be a fairly realistic flight simulator, but it's made a bit easier so that people can enjoy playing with it. First Flight was a flight simulator designed to educate people about the world's second powered flight by the Wright Brothers (as everyone knows, the first powered flight was by New Zealander Richard Pearse
http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/pearse1.html), and it used more realistic physics and controls -to the point where the pilot who was to fly a replica could use it to train on. In fact, the pilot who used this "game" to practice before flying the real thing had much more success than a pilot who hadn't. A still better flight simulator would of the type real pilots are required to train and practice on -which would also make for wicked fun home entertainment if they didn't cost millions of dollars.
So, an educational game is a game where the pedigogical aspects take priority over the entertainment aspects that are there to make the whole experience more fun and motivating. The great thing about computer software is that you can adjust the levels of entertainment/pedagogy dynamically as the learner plays. If the learning part is too difficult and taking away from the enjoyment of the activity, the game can lower the difficulty level and make itself more fun. Alternately, too much shooting zombies can be interupted by a quiz or a level up in the knowledge and skills required to play.
Another very useful aspect about real time games for education is that the game can collect data about how the player is doing and stastically map the learners progress. This data can be used to generate reports at the end of a session.
Currently, most educational software under utilises the potential of computers both at a pedagogical and entertainment level.