Outlook: Teaching vs. Video Games
Patrick Welsh
T.C. Williams High School English Teacher
Monday, December 06, 2004; 1:00 p.m. ET
Guys and video games -- what's the lure? When Microsoft's new video game, Halo 2, premiered last month, Alexandria English teacher Patrick Welsh watched with both bemusement and bafflement as the boys at T.C. Williams High School waited breathlessly for the first day of sales, then launched into a game-playing frenzy that had many skipping school and staying up late into the night trying to beat the game. The hours and hours guys spend pushing controller buttons is okay as long as they can maintain a balance between the games and school and other activities, Welsh says in his Sunday Outlook piece. But many apparently can't. They'd rather play video games than sports, connect with the Xbox than with girls, Welsh reports. And the obsession is lasting far beyond high school, as guys play on into college and beyond, organizing tournaments in dorms and workplaces. In the face of the video game juggernaut, what's a poor English teacher, trying to get his male students involved in mere books, to do?
Welsh has taught English at T.C. Williams for 30 years. He'll be online at 1 p.m. on Monday to discuss his article, It's No Contest, answer questions and dodge darts from readers and gamers alike.
Submit your questions and comments before or during the discussion.
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Springfield, Va.:
Thanks for the great article. I have huge fears for my 11-year-old son, because the only thing he seems to care about is electronic games. I limit them, which I'm afraid makes them all the more enticing, and his friends seem to have unlimited access. Last year at rehearsals for the church Christmas pageant, the director had to confiscate gameboys from many childen! As a parent, what can I do? Am I just fighting a losing battle? Patrick Welsh: You seem to be ahead of things because you see there is a potential problem and are willing to try to limit play time and push reading.
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Austin, Tex.:
I teach courses in the Computer Games Industry and found this article quite interesting. As an English grad myself, I think you have hit upon the core of modern game play. It is more about a good story in which the player becomes the protagonist (or perhaps antagonist) than just a way to "blow stuff up."
This is particularly important today as many game companies are frantically seeking qualified creative writers and artists to develop game play "literature" that is rich in character and fictional worlds to explore. An excellent example is a current multi-plauyer game on the marjket now, entitled, "City of Heroes."
My question,
Realizing this, how would you plan on teaching or incorporating the "literature" of game play into conventional English literature classes?
Patrick Welsh: That's my next project and I am going to have to get the help of younger colleagues who have been brought up on the games. Do you any ideas for me?
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Herndon, Va.:
Mr. Welsh: Your articles for The Post are outstanding and I hope they're collected some day in book form. As far as video games/reading, I'm afraid it's instant gratification to the Nth degree. The full "feedback" from a novel may not occur for years, while video games do it in split seconds.
Patrick Welsh: You're right. It is instant gratification, but as a teacher I am not willing to let the feedback from a novel take years - I want students to get it now, which obviously doesn't always happen especially when they use Spark Notes instead of reading the book.
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Alexandria, Va.:
Don't you think that, rather than the video games themselves being addictive, it's just that these boys have easily addicting personalities?
Patrick Welsh: I don't think so. I know a young teacher - a woman - who says that if she starts Halo II, several hours can go by and she will think she's only been playing for a few minutes. Every student who palys says the same thing - that you lose all track of time when playing. I think the designers have to know something about brain chemistry - about pushing the pleasure and reward buttons in us to be getting that same reaction from everyone who can play fairly well.
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Herndon, Va.:
Mr. Welsh: "Spark Notes?" Have Cliff's Notes died out? I view Cliff's nostalgically, since I hail from Lincoln, Nebraska, Cliff's home.
Patrick Welsh: Cliff Notes are still around - and online. There are so many "note" companies (most of them online) - even one called Pinkmonkey.com - that teachers have to tailor tests to beat them.
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Austsin, TX:
To follow up on the person's question from Herndon, I try to ask questions of gamers like:
What is the storyline of the game?
What is the plot?
What is the objective?
In the context of the game, why is that important?
What "character" do you "play" in the game?
etc.
Of course, this only works for games with a storline, which would exclude first person shooters, arcade games, etc.
Patrick Welsh: Thanks. I'll try that.
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Silver Spring, Md.:
I will confess that while in college I LOATHED and have happily axed any and all memories of "Clarissa" (the novel that would NOT die!).
That said, my kids have a total of four videogames that they play in my bedroom (can we say, not often) and some educational interactive type ones on the computer. I keep them pretty busy with their instruments, reading, the animals, and some sports though.
Sigh.
Patrick Welsh: As I recall I faked my way through Clarissa about 30 years ago. You seem to have things under control if you have the games in your bedroom. Some gusy tell me when they go home they retreat to their own bedrooms to play the games, emerging only for meals and bathroom breaks.
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Olney, Md.:
Researchers like Dr. Daniel Amen are doing pioneering
work using brain SPECT imaging to identify the impact on
brain functioning of various behaviors such as drug and
alcohol use. Has anyone done a study of the long-term
effect of video-game use on the brain? Given the massive
uncontrolled experiment going on with our children, it
seems such a study would be a wise investment.
Patrick Welsh: I don't know of a long term study. Let me know if you find one.
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Washington, D.C.:
I have noticed a crazy shift in the way young parents are raising their children. In the 80s and early 90s, young parents were likely to let their kids sit in front of a video game system for hours. Now the parents are busy playing games themselves and don't want their young kids to play them because they know the type of content in today's games.
Patrick Welsh: I think you are right. I've talked to some former students who were gamers but no make their kids play outside and get involved in sports to keep them from sitting in front of the TV playing games.
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Washington, D.C.:
It seems to me that part of the problem is that the gaming industry is still young. It reminds me of the early era of film when the medium was more of a novelty than a storytelling device. That said, it seems to me like there is a huge spectrum of games out there -- from old text based games, which were basically interactive books, to Shooter games, which give the user instant gratification.
I assume that the shooter games will stay around, just like the movie industry will still have movies like Rambo VII. But it seems like there is a lot more room in the industry for more reflective games.
Patrick Welsh: I agree, but many of the students I've talked to either don't know about the more reflective games or are not interested in them. If you want to see what appeals to so many of them take a look at Grand Theft Auto San Andreas where "players" - who have to assume black or Latino identities - can rape women and then stomp them to death - all with fairly realistic blood oozing all over.
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Austin, Tex.:
Regarding being addictive, game designers to focus on what they term as "immersive game play" where the player is so involved (in character) that they lose sense of the real world (time, other distractions, etc.) around them.
Patrick Welsh: Thanks. I hadn't heard that phrase before.
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Abingdon, Md.:
In all the debates on video games, I rarely see anyone point to the parents as part of the problem. Why do you think that is? Can a young adult's behavior in this regard not be partially attributed to the way in which he was raised?
Patrick Welsh: I am not sure. I think a lot of parents may rationalize andsay that at least their kids are safe playing in the house and not think too much about the time the games are taking away. Maybe it is a problem of expectations for teenagers
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USA:
One observation. I loved to read when I was a teenager, but I read exclusively for plot. I liked books that were fast-paced. I liked war stories and memoirs. So maybe teenagers today haven't changed in taste as much as we suspect. If excitement and action are what you're looking for, a book is going to have a hard time competing with a good videogame.
Then I got older. Kept reading. Learned to appreciate language, characters, etc. There, even today, a book would have the edge.
I'm not sure where that leaves people like you (and me), who would like to have kids read for all sorts of reasons. Learn vocabulary, learn to write, develop the habit, etc., etc.
But I do think that this explains what's going on to a large degree.
Patrick Welsh: You're right. I think that we teachers have to find more exciting reading material if we are going to compete. The stuff that some states are demanding to meet their phony "high standards" - a history of British literature, for instance - has no chance of competing with the games.
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Washington, D.C.:
Kevin Drum commented on your article on the Washington Monthly Web site. He said that much the same could have been written when TV or radio or some other things were invented. He claimed that many men become obsessed about all sorts of things. Is the video obsession worse than some other choices? washingtonpost.com:
Washington Monthly mention
Patrick Welsh: I watch more TV than I should - especailly since my son got me a TIVO subscription. But I have never had the same experience that the gamers tell me they have - losing all sense of time, sitting down for what they intend to be a half hour and looking at the clock and seeing that four hours have disappeared. Playing video games seems much more addictive than watching TV. Many of the guys who play say that TV is boring.
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Rockville, Md.:
When I was a child, my parents often forbid me to do certain things or reading certain books. I, of course, found ways to do them anyhow. However, there was always a sense that I was doing something a least slightly wrong and felt slightly guilty. I do not think parents are willing to give strong enough messages to their kids that games like Grand Theft Auto are wrong, that driving too fast or drinking and driving are wrong. Just because the behavior is "normal" doesn't mean we should not give strong messages to discourage it. Conversely, read good books and share them with your children. I always read the books my kids had to read in high school. I think it was fun for both of us.
Patrick Welsh: I would like to know how many parents have seen what goes on in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas and say nothing to their kids.
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Alexandria, Va.:
Two part:
I don't think all games are addictive. I play Halo 2 specifically for the purpose of being able to put it down after five minutes or five hours. It is an excellent game which makes the passage of time fly by. This is similar to a good book, next thing you know you have read 200 pages and the day is gone.
Great games are like great books, you don't note the passing of the time because you enjoy it.
Do you tailor you book reading list to your audience?
When I was in HS, '93, I was given a pretty heavy dose of books I had no desire to read. I personally was not emotionally developed enough to appreciate the character interaction as my female classmates seemed to enjoy. (better now) Thus when I went home I went back to King and Clancy. More plot, less dialogue. More imagination, fewer "issues."
Patrick Welsh: I try to tailor my books to my audience. If all my students hate a novel - like Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse which is one of my favorites - I will not teach it again. There is always the problem of trying to take them to new horizons but then overshooting and turning them off. Next week I am going to try Tim O'Brien's Vietnam novel The Things They Carried for the first time. I think students will like it, but I can't really be sure.
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Bethesda, Md.:
You made some unsupported claims in your article that have been repeated ad nausea since I was a child at the dawn of the video game era in the 1970s. Specifically, that gaming is leading to a couch potato generation and the implication that only boys play.
For the record, I'm a 35-year-old IT Director of a multinational company. The LAN parties I attend are filled with male and female professionals from all walks of life. We are all functioning members of society with post grad and even post doc educations who camp, run, cycle, ski and in one case even climb mountains like Kilimanjaro. What we don't do as a whole is watch much TV, especially sports. We're all readers and one of our game mates is a screenwriter with a movie in pre-production.
Two final notes:
The biggest game fanatic in my household is not a male but my wife, an English professor.
I am horrified by your student's lack of commitment. Six hours is a marathon to them? I fear for our future. (kidding!) A proper LAN party is at least 12 hours!
Steve
Patrick Welsh: You have a rare wife and rare friends. I only hope the guys I teach who worry me turn out as well. But don't you think that for the most part boys play much more than girls?
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Gaithersburg, Md.:
I read your Outlook piece with great interest, but would like to point out that not all videos are the same. And not all videogame addicts are young men.
My 63-year-old mother is addicted to role-playing games (RPGs), like Final Fantasy. They are the games that have become almost electronic interactive novels with complex characters (complete with backstory) and plot arcs. They force the player to make choices that affect the development of the plot, use problem-solving skills to solve puzzles to move the story ahead or open interesting subplots, and strategize, prioritizing the development of characters based on needs... not to mention working out the hand/eye coordination during battles.
I applaud my mother's obsession. My grandmother used crossword puzzles to exercise her mind and ward off the senile dementia that runs in our family. My mother uses RPGs.
Patrick Welsh: I have to check out final fantasy. Thanks
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Washington, D.C.:
I read your article with great interest, because while I'm not part of the typical demographic (I'm a women in my early 30s), I've definitley faced "game addiction." The lure for me is complex computer games (Civilization, Sim City, and the ilk) which present esentially infintite possible scenarios; sort of like the old "choose your own adventure" books optimized.
I think the feeling must be similar to what compulsive gamblers feel at a casino, gamers chase a perfect score or a breakthrough to a new level like gamblers chase the jackpot. Just like petty prizes from scratch-off games reward people just enough to keep their faith that one day they'll win big, vidoe games constantly "reward" players with acknowledgement of small improvements -- personal high scores, progressing just a little bit further along a level than before, finally timing a jump just right to get an extra point. They are engineered to keep players hooked.
In the end, even the most complex games are simpler and more fomulaic than even household chores in terms of brain use, but they are dressed up in seductive images of epic granduer or supercharged violence that let a coach potato be emporer or hitman for a day, adding to the allure.
Patrick Welsh: From what students tell me you are exactly right, especially about the small rewards built into the games so that no matter what your expertise you are give enough satisfaction to keep playing.
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Texas:
Is there fiction based on videogames the way some movies and TV shows spawn books?
Probably wouldn't be great literature, but such books might get kids to put down the joystick and read for a while.
Patrick Welsh: I undersatand there is a Halo novel.
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"Excludes First Person Shooters"?:
Many first-person shooter games do have actual storylines... the most popular now being Half-Life 2. Just like a book, don't be so quick to judge a game based on its genre.
Patrick Welsh: Thanks
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Washington, D.C.:
Honestly, Patrick, how different are the demographics of those that now play videogames that used to play Dungeons and Dragons? In my opinion, you take a bunch of boys who have difficulty socializing and are struggling academically in high school or college, you introduce them to some sort of escapism (be it D&D, video game, or drugs) and some will get hooked. Just goes to prove that there's nothing new in the world.
Patrick Welsh: I know many boys who have no trouble socializing who are vidoe fanatics. In fact one of the things they like about multi-player games is that they offer opportunities to be with other guys.
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Springfield, Va.:
It is true that many of the young men that I know (gamers) are more interested in the role playing aspect than the killing and shooting aspect. These are very bright young men, albeit they are throwing some of their lives away with their utter obsession and dedication to some of these games. My suggestion would be to create an employment opportunity for them, work with what you have got -- very bright young people -- and give them some hope for a future and perhaps then the obsession will become less of a problem and more of an opportunity. As it pertains to what you say -- interference with teaching or learning, I have NO suggestion other than to "go with it". I hated reading Moby Dick, but can you imagine the teaching element of a role playing game for that piece of literature? "Call me Ismael."
Patrick Welsh: I tried twice to get students interested in Moby Dick and failed so miserably I gave up on it. I would love a video game based on the book. But don't you think that most of the companies making the games are interested in the intense action games that bring in the money. The so-called educational video games I have seen have none of the excitement of Halo II.
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Washington, D.C.:
As a computer programmer, a literate adult reader, and a devout skeptic of everything, I believe you have failed to see your own naivete. Now having likely offended you, let me say that I admire your work as a devoted teacher. I beg you to hear me out.
Most computer games, like most computer programs, are awful. As are most of the novels, short stories, and other organized writings of humanity. Which is not to mention television, movies, and radio.
So let me be clear: Halo 2, like Halo, is an awful game. As are all the entries in the GTA series. They are the Danielle Steele novels of computer games. Try a game called "Out of This World" for something stylistic, immersive, and compelling... yet fun to play.
Realize that there is a level of hype to major game releases today that is only encouraged by uncritical examinations of mainstream outlets like the Post (uncritical bias: Anyone at the Post not running Windows on their PC? Does MS advertise in the post?) as well as reviews by enthusiast web sites that rely on game companies for advance products and sponsorship. So, there is no critical eye on these major games which could serve to damp enthusiasm in any way. Except for your sincere though, I'd argue, clichéd, bemusement. To that I say: kids will be kids. They're going to get involved with whatever fad or hobby that's cheap, easy, and popular. I doubt this will be the last time there's a disconnect between students' passionate interests and their teacher's ability to understand it.
No, most worrisome to me is the attitude of many games towards civil society. Patently offensive, yes, but the evidence that it causes any more harm than offensive lyrics, magazines, or reality television just isn't there. And evidence that exposure to any of this media causing harm does exist, but it's hard to describe is as more than limited.
The problem is not video games per se, but the immediacy and ubiquity of all the media, including the written word, saturating the lives of the impressionable. I applaud your effort to get inside the head of your students, but realize that the reasons Halo 2 sucks are the same that any novel sucks. Contrived plot, poor character development, repetitive gameplay. Oh. Ask them if they share a game's outlook on the opposite sex or on violence. Ask if the game would be any worse if it treated those things more realistically. Teach kids to look critically and intelligently at everything, whether it's a book or a game.
Patrick Welsh: I like the Danielle Steele comparison. And I am up for Out of This World. But as an English teacher I want to see kids read - even Danielle Steele - I want them to be able to be comfortable with the written word. I think fewer and fewer of them are. Video games, like TV and other electronic entertainment seems to making reading a lost art for many kids.
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