The game's the thing

I am not the best person to ask to comment on computer games. I appreciate what others find in them. But for me...

My generation had the first Atari consoles in elementary school. Pong! We grew up with the Video Arcade at the mall. Asteroids! PacMan! We watched games on computers take off...

Now I know that “video” games and games on the computer are not one and the same. But there is some overlap. I wonder how the two have informed each other over the years...

I remember playing video games at my friends' houses. As the kid with poor hand-eye coordination, I did not enjoy it much. Here's how it always went down: it would happen at a friend's house (never at mine, I never had any consoles or game systems. Never asked for one, I think). My turn to play: I would die. My friend's turn to play (It was their game; they played all the time): “here I am doing this; watch me do this; this spot is tricky; O, that was a close one.” I got to watch. I had not much incentive to watch and learn what happens on level X because I would never get beyond level 1)...

For this reason and a few others, I have never cared much for electronic games. I see people tuned out to other (real, non-virtual people) engrossed in their computers, tables, phones, and devices doing social media, this or that 'game” (and saying they're “working” usually!) I see my kids not playing outside or reading, I see my wife doing FB on her phone all evening... what does this have to do with educational games? Enough for me; I don't draw a very fine line. It's all staring at a screen...

Yes, I'm woefully backwards, uncool, a Luddite, a square (and whatever my teen-aged daughter can think up to call me). I don't get it. But I did try some games. The one I liked is called Topropa. It's a geography game. I kill at geography, so there is most of the attraction. And there's not much to learn (good for someone with an abysmally low frustration threshold when it comes to technology). Just match the river, or the city, or the battle, or whatever on the map and find out immediately if you're right. It is very probable that the reason I like it would also be the same reason most people would not...

So what about people who like computer games? (That's everybody but me, right?) I'm glad for them. This is the golden age of computer games, by all appearances. I'm glad there are some good games, some educational games. I'm glad to talk to people about games and why they think they are good. Tell me stories about a game! I will listen. Tell me if you think there is a place for your game in my classroom. Just don't ask me to play. Or to watch you play it for too long.