4. They Have No Educational Value
Video games are still stigmatized as mindless entertainment with no educational value, and while it is certainly true that the majority of titles offer little mental enlightenment, that doesnt mean that there are not games that do. As developers seek out new environments and settings, more turn to the past for inspiration then ever before. While the Assassins Creed games are by no means historically accurate, they do allow the player to observe and interact in a particular time period. All the games give the player a real sense of time and place, and it wouldnt surprise me one bit if the games inspire some players to learn more about these time periods on their own time. One could easily see a history teacher recommending
Assassins Creed III to their students as a means of inspiring interest in the Revolutionary War. There is also the Civilization and Total War series, allowing gamers to play out historys most famous conflicts and time periods with accurate attention to detail. Forget history though, and just look at the medium itself. When people proclaim video games to be lacking in educational value, they are looking at them in terms that dont apply. Video games do teach children to learn, just not in the same way a book does. Video games can hone observation and pattern recognition skills, among others. Most importantly however, they can teach kids how to persevere and reach a distinct objective. Video games teach in a way unique to them, so one cant expect them to achieve the same results as a book, as they are too different from each other. They may not be educational in the traditional sense, but video games have the potential to advance certain skills that can be very valuable.