edu-tainment: education in games
edu-tainment is a term which i discovered a few days ago on yaldi games' tiktok, the developers who are making 'wholesome - out and about' which is a chill foraging and life sim where you can learn to identify real world plants + the recipes you can make with them.
this made me wonder, what else could be learnt through gaming? gaming is an accessible mode of education that can be used by EVERYONE, and in my opinion as an ADHD person, is more engaging and better than regular sit down lessons. we have already seen the usage of gaming in schools - minecraft education edition is quite popular among american elementary and middle schools, vr in some of the british secondary schools, which has been further popularised by the past quarantine, where online learning begun to really be popular, with the inclusion of 'lab sim' games for science students with corrected mistakes, or even touch typing games which provide an incentive to learn.
from what i've heard, most people who hate learning/school don't actually hate the act of learning itself, but rather the setting/method in which its delivered, which could be easily changed by educational games, which are also available to anyone who would like to play. i think edu-tainment is a revolutionary idea, which will almost certainly grow more noticed in the coming years.
if you are interested, here are some games and ideas about edu-tainment:
heaven's vault - this is a narrative adventure/archeology game set in space, where along with social aspects. you explore ancient sites and discover lost ruins, find artifacts and translate their strange hieroglyphics, and piece together the history of the world + an entire ancient language. this game is really interesting in learning about cryptography and archeology, and could give you a basic insight into what archeologists do!!
while true: learn () - this is a puzzle game about machine learning, neural networks, big data and ai, with a fun objective about building a cat-to-human speech recognition system, when you discover your cat is amazing at coding. you will make this through machine learning + using visual programming. i love this idea bc it combines something we all love (cats) with more advanced ai knowledge, which is becoming especially prevalent with the popularisation of chat gpt and the snapchat ai bot. it looks fun and quirky, and i can't wait to try this out!!
grammarian ltd - this is a simulation game about grammar, set in a semi-dystopian future where grammar is law (my kinda place). you play as a worker who corrects grammar on documents, and you are provided daily briefs on grammar devices and how to use them. at the end of your work day, you are scored based on your corrections and how much work you did (there is a stamina bar...) which will then influence your daily pay which you can use to buy furniture for your apartment with perks. this is an interesting game as it could be for all ages, and most definitely could be used in a school english class, while also being fun to play on your own time.
the room - this is an intricate puzzle game centered around trying to unlock complicated safes with the help of an eyepiece that will reveal different clues and mechanisms, with a range of puzzles including perspective based, musical, hidden objects, riddles, and motor interactions. i used to play this as a child, and it is available on ipad!! it is great for building logic and observance skills while in a low pressure environment, and is easily accessible to all ages, with a slightly creepy feeling but no jumpscares or horror.
venba - this is a game which i've mentioned on my blog before, and it is a narrative cooking game with a focus on reconnecting with your family's heritage, where you play as an indian mom who decodes and experiments with recipes to find the right solutions to restore missing bits of family recipes. all the recipes used in this game are actually real, and you could cook them in real life. this game seems like it would be great to learn about indian cuisine and culture, and the charming art style really adds to the relaxation of the game. releasing on the 31st july 2023.
trolley problem, inc - this is a dark comedy narrative game based on the popular philosophical conundrum of the trolley problem, where you are asked to choose between different awful choices (not always the trolley problem) and then be challenged by 'the narrator' on your decisions, with questions based on genuine philosophical papers that cite their paper. this looks like it would be entertaining to play to learn about philosophy and moral implications of problems, with a fun but dark mood, and around 1 - 2 hours of gameplay.
so to speak - this is a japanese learning puzzle game with a pixel art style where you wander around japan using context clues to guess to meaning of words you see and hear, with a scaling difficulty to help you build on your knowledge, going from simple words to complex sentences. this is a game i will definitely be using while i prepare for my japanese gcse, and it seems fun to be able to prepare for navigation if you're visiting japan!! this is unreleased, but will be coming out in 2023.
