With the introduction and ever increasing popularity of narrative driven video games, discussions surrounding different uses for these video games have suddenly popped up. Of course, the normal use, simply playing the video game, is very lucrative and the popularity of these games is changing the video game world dramatically. However, with this increasing popularity, different uses for these games are being looked into. While virtual reality is being used for military training and certain therapeutic strategies, introducing narrative driven games into classrooms, specifically english classes, has recently been talked about amongst the video game world and among educators.

Bringing video games into the classroom, are you crazy? While academic games are typically used in elementary classrooms, the thought of implementing an actual video game into the curriculum of certain english classrooms has caused somewhat of an uproar amongst academics that don’t quite understand the idea. However, the introduction of narrative driven video games into english classrooms could actually help students be more creative in their academics.

Because narrative driven games are very heavy on the storyline and the player has the option to choose different dialogue options based on what kind of character they want to play, the player is basically creating their own story within the game. Argument has been made that in implementing these kinds of games in English curriculums, students can learn to become more creative and essentially create their own stories. In having these students pick different dialogues and observe the different outcomes for whatever dialogues they pick, teachers could use these storylines as examples of story creation and prompt students to write their own stories based on what they observe. The students could move from the video game to writing their own stories and display different ways that character creation and dialogue choice can dramatically change the way a storyline works.

While video games have traditionally been frowned upon in the academic community, that view is quickly beginning to change. Research on the effects of video games have shown that community game playing can help children become more social and more involved with others, while some games are used to teach certain skills, such as games designed to teach young kids coding. It now seems that video games can even be used in the classroom, teaching creativity and story writing skills. There is still a lot of pushback surrounding this idea, but I personally think that this would be a great new innovative way to teach students certain skills that can’t necessarily be taught simply through lectures.

Narrative driven video games in classrooms, what are your thoughts? A great way to engage students in story writing, or an overly complicated way to teach students something a teacher can do very effectively?