Can we learn stuff from playing games? Sure we can, but for games to become a mode for teaching actual skills (or for teaching to seem more like a fun game), there's got to be more than bells and whistles. An IGN analysis talks about the potential of videogames to teach, mentioning both its strong points and its shortcomings in this day and age.

While "edutainment" videogames such as the Carmen Sandiego series have been out for a while now, they've gotten more and more boring when placed beside heavy hitters like action games and RPGs. In both cases, however, the same rules that get kids to learn apply:

1. Videogames are almost always instant motivators, driving kids to do their best to beat the game.
2. There's nothing like videogames to teach you how to follow instructions. A game will teach you basics before making you tackle tough stuff (Why else do you kill boars in WoW before you can take on dragons, right?)
3. Games make you read and understand things you normally wouldn't think about. How else can you get deep into a world simulation like Civilization IV unless you were quite literate and good at understanding the written word?
4. It's "safe." Only in games can you learn through trial and error without the feeling of being punished for messing up, unless you corrupt your save files. Definitely good for self-esteem and for practicing skills.
   
5. There's nothing more rewarding than that feeling of pushing yourself to the limit for something you find worthwhile and succeeding.
   

"The spectacular rise of the video game juggernaut is not hard to understand when you see the creativity, educational value, and fun the vast majority of games offer to gamers of every age," said the Honorable Cliff Stearns in a meeting with the Committee on Energy and Commerce. The opportunities now lie in making learning through play an affordable concept. For now, at least, while we can't make games part of the ways in which we learn stuff in school, teachers may want to think of how they can make their lessons feel more like videogames, with all the pleasures and successes it can bring. Besides, Brain Age can only take us so far, right?

What about you? What aspects of gaming might you want added to make you and other students more receptive to being taught in school? Do you have any ideas on making gaming fun and educational, or on making an educational game that people actually want to play? Comment with your ideas here! Just remember that any incentive of the Leisure Suit Larry nature will probably get deleted... that's too kinky for our tastes.

ESRB president Patricia Vance (pictured left) told the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection that "after a game ships, if disclosure [of content in the game] is found to have been incomplete, recent enhancements to the ESRB enforcement system will soon allow for the imposition of fines up to $1 million."

Vance hopes that the newly implemented fines combined with the enormous cost of recalling the re-rated product will "serve as a tremendous disincentive for any publisher to even consider not disclosing all pertinent content." These efforts were created to prevent another Hot Coffee fiasco.

Not all people at the meeting agreed with what Vance had to say. Cliff Stearns, the hearing's chair, challenged the fact that the ESRB is mostly made up of game publishers, a case which Stearns calls a "conflict of interest." Stearns also went on further, complaining that the organization did not completely play through the games before giving them a rating. Vance tried to defend the arguments as best as she could.