Using Video Games To Educate
- rebeccaphillips-iad
- Nov 15, 2014
- 2 min read
‘If you haven’t picked up a game controller since the days of Space Invaders or Pac-Man, you may be surprised to learn that modern-day video games are becoming known as vehicles for storytelling. This is not to say that there aren’t a fair number of games that let you mindlessly shoot, drive or jump your way to the finish. But in recent years, games like Bioshock Infinite and The Walking Dead have received critical acclaim and popularity in the gaming community as much for the characters’ stories as the settings in which they find themselves.’
‘A few pioneering photojournalists have begun to realize that video games can be used to tell the stories of the people and places they cover. The games can also be a great vehicle for reaching younger generations by educating and entertaining them on the tablets and smartphones they already use. The desire to reach the elusive 15-to-30-year-old demographic is one of the reasons photographer Marcus Bleasdale is working to create a video game about the impact of mining conflict minerals in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), an issue he’s been covering since 2001.’
‘Bleasdale recalls coming to the realization a couple of years ago that his niece and nephew, who were teenagers at the time, would likely never see the work he shot on assignment. “They never actually buy the magazines that I get published in or the newspapers I get published in, and they never appreciate what goes on in these places,” explains Bleasdale, who is represented by VII. “They’re focused on their world, which is fine, and they consume what goes on around them through platforms that they are comfortable with, which are now tablets and smartphones … If we [want] to educate them and get them to understand places like DRC, we have to take the issues that we are concerned about to them on the platforms they want to engage in.”’
- To move forward with technology instead of clinging to print?
- Is it more beneficial to educate on platforms that young people are comfortable in? Many schools already use tablets in classrooms and online revision programs.
DECEMBER 17, 2013
By Meghan Ahearn
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