WHAT VIDEO GAMES HAVE TO TEACH US ABOUT LEARNING …

[Pages:232]WHAT VIDEO GAMES HAVE TO TEACH US ABOUT LEARNING AND LITERACY

James Paul Gee

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WHAT VIDEO GAMES H AV E T O T E A C H U S A B O U T LEARNING AND LITERACY

JAMES PAUL GEE

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WHAT VIDEO GAMES HAVE TO TEACH US ABOUT LEARNING AND LITERACY

Copyright ? James Paul Gee, 2003. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

First published in hardcover in 2003 by Palgrave Macmillan First PALGRAVE MACMILLANTM paperback edition: May 2004 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS. Companies and representatives throughout the world.

PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin's Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan? is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries.

ISBN 1-4039-6538-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gee, James Paul.

What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy / James Paul Gee.

p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-4039-6538-2 1. Video games--Psychological aspects. 2. Computer games-- Psychological aspects. 3. Learning, Psychology of. 4. Visual literacy. 5. Video games and children. I. Title: What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. II. Title.

GV1469.3 .G44 2003 794.8'01'9--dc21

2002038153

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Design by Letra Libre.

First PALGRAVE MACMILLAN paperback edition: May 2004

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America.

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I dedicate this book to my six-year-old son, Sam. I originally tried to play his computer games so I could teach him how to play them, but in the end, things worked out just the reverse and he taught me how to play. More, he taught me to take learning and playing games seriously, all the while having fun. I also dedicate the book to my twenty-two-year-old son, Justin. He didn't play computer or video games much as a kid, though he had no trouble thoroughly trouncing me when we last visited an arcade. Justin's early fascination with StarWars was my first guide, Sam's with Pokemon, my second guide, to the powerful and creative learning people can bring to the aspects of "popular culture" with which they choose to identify and which they often choose to transform for their own ends. The children, teenagers, and neotenic adults, including my identical twin brother, and now myself, who play computer and video games were my third.

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CONTENTS

1. Introduction: 36 Ways to Learn a Video Game

1

2. Semiotic Domains:

Is Playing Video Games a "Waste of Time"?

13

3. Learning and Identity:

What Does It Mean to Be a Half-Elf?

51

4. Situated Meaning and Learning:

What Should You Do After You Have

Destroyed the Global Conspiracy?

73

5. Telling and Doing:

Why Doesn't Lara Croft Obey Professor Von Croy?

113

6. Cultural Models:

Do You Want to Be the Blue Sonic or the Dark Sonic?

139

7. The Social Mind:

How Do You Get Your Corpse Back After You've Died?

169

8. Conclusion: Duped or Not?

199

Appendix: The 36 Learning Principles

207

References

213

Index

221

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1

INTRODUCTION: 36 WAYS TO LEARN A VIDEO GAME

I WANT TO TALK ABOUT VIDEO GAMES--YES, EVEN VIOLENT VIDEO games--and say some positive things about them. By "video games" I mean both games played on game platforms (such as the Sony PlayStation 2, the Nintendo GameCube, or Microsoft's XBox) and games played on computers. So as not to keep saying "video and computer games" all the time, I will just say "video games." I am mainly concerned with the sorts of video games in which the player takes on the role of a fantasy character moving through an elaborate world, solving various problems (violently or not), or in which the player builds and maintains some complex entity, like an army, a city, or even a whole civilization. There are, of course, lots of other types of video games.

But, first, I need to say something about my previous work and how and why I arrived here to discuss video games. In two earlier books, Social Linguistics and Literacies and The Social Mind, I argued that two things that, at first sight, look to be "mental" achievements, namely literacy and thinking, are, in reality, also and primarily social achievements. (See the Bibliographic Note at the end of this chapter for references to the literature relevant to this chapter.) When you read, you are always reading something in some way. You are never just reading "in general" but not reading anything in particular. For example, you can read the Bible as history or literature or as a self-help guide or in many other ways. So, too, with any other text, whether legal tract, comic book, essay, or novel. Different people can interpret each type of text differently.

When you think, you must think about something in some way. You are never just thinking "in general" but not thinking anything in particular. The

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