When War Meets Video Games

I think that war video games are so popular now because video games are all about competition, and that's what war generally focuses on. In fact, war video games have been around for a long time, ever since Space Invaders from the 70s.

It's true that the war game does have to be realistic, otherwise it takes you farther away from the experience. The whole idea of a war game is to be able to play without the downfalls, like death. So the game does have to be realistic. However, there are some games that are too realistic. One such war game is America's Army. This game is based on modern warfare but it is so realistic that you are able to be killed if in the game you try to spray (continuously shoot) at a target and your gun ends up jamming. Or when you use a sniper rifle and you must measure wind speed and set down your stand as well as make sure you have the right measurements before you shoot, while also timing your breathing. Then there are other games that aren't realistic enough. Games like Battlefield 1942. This game has barely any historical accuracy at all, yet it is still a fun game. Also, war games aren't meant to be sensitive. In a way they are, if your teamate dies in the story, but otherwise it's meant just for fun. Why wouldn't you play a game if it wasn't for fun?

Personally I think war games are the best games out there. It's not because it's just fun and it's not because it's so saddening, but it's because it's a real artform. It's like watching a good movie and being in it at the same time. I like it because you get to be the hero that you might not be able to be in real life. It allows you to experience something that you may not be able to experience.

An IPod Classroom?


IPods are meant as media players, to watch videos, and to play music. If the teachers decided to let all the kids in their classroom use their IPods to learn, there would be very little attention made towards the actual lesson. The reason I say this is because it's far to easy to be distracted when you're using something that can be used for entertainment as well as work. If work is introduced to an entertainment device, more people would tend to play rather than work, making it not such a great idea to learn through an IPod.

And so, it's easy to get tempted into watching a movie or playing some music while you're trying to concentrate on the lesson plan. Even in our school, we have access to computers. The computers are intended for work, but how many times do you see some kids playing some sort of Flash game like Line Rider or watching a video on video google? It's not a matter of it being self-directed it's a matter of whether or not to give kids a piece of paper they'll be able to concentrate on, or an entertainment device they'll be able to play with.