Saving Lives

Every good parent wants to know that their kids are going to a good school with a good learning environment so that they will learn and grow up into fantastic, clever adults earning lots of money, enabling the parents to live in luxurious retirement homes. Most good parents think that video games are something their kids should stay away from. “Video games are too violent and too distracting.” Parents want their kids to spend more time reading and learning, and less time gaming.




Every week, more and more studies and articles come out counteracting the stigma associated with video games. Researchers from the Institute of Education at the University of London have approached psychologists, critical theorists and educationalists to explore the idea of games in the classroom. Their research lead them to interesting and positive results. The key thing is that video games entertain while also promoting a positive learning experience. Not only will all our kiddies be entertained in class, but they will develop strong puzzle solving and literacy abilities, as well as other great life skills. BC published an article examining research with a group of street kids in Buenos Aires, Argentina whose game playing has instilled skills for conflict resolution, social inclusion and personal empowerment.

All these scientists and reserachers encourage parents to see that "Games are a cultural form that is just beginning to evolve and the evidence is they can be every bit as rich and complex and nuanced as a book or a film."

THE MOOSE STORY
Seriously, best story ever:

Parents want to know that their children are safe. Video games can help! Recently, a twelve-year-old Norwegian boy, Hans Jørgen Olsen reaped the benefits of video gaming when he saved his sister from a moose.

The two were taking a walk through the forest near their home with a moose decided to charge them. Realising it was a dangerous situation, Hans didn’t panic, in fact he knew exactly what to do thanks to Blizzards MMORPG, World of Warcraft. In this game, characters can taunt monsters off other players, drawing then attention to themselves and away from their lower armored team members. Apparently this works on real animals too.

Hans taunted the moose away from his sister, allowing her to escape, and then did another thing he learned off the game. He played dead. The moose then sniffed him disinterestedly and wandered away leaving Hans and his sister thankfully trampled free.





So not only do video games help your kids WANT to learn, and find enjoyment in it, it could quite possibly save their lives too.