Video games are seen by many as a source of entertainment and enjoyment to many in society. They are an easy way to help one calm down and lose track of time in the very busy world of today. On the other hand, however, there are some people who find them as pointless and unenjoyable for they only see the violent side to the games and do not give them a chance in the real world. Video games however provide a great resource for the writing and analyzation of gripping narratives, knowledge of programming complex codes in order to do whatever may be commanded of the player, or even the ability to excel in the retail of video games and video game products for the companies that have developed those products. They are an opportunity for educative purposes that are often looked over and considered to be nothing more than simple games with little or nothing to learn from, that they don’t inspire those that play them to do anything other than to play them continually and mindlessly when in actuality they are soaked with the ability to teach when those that play them choose to look at them in that way. 

Though many may understand that video games tell stories, the majority do not understand just how impactful or quite simply amazing many of the stories written can truly be. For example, take the triple A title “Mass Effect” and its two sequels “Mass Effect 2” and “Mass Effect 3”. This gaming series took the world by storm in 2008, however it was not known for its gripping narrative that it tells, it was known for its rather intensive sex scenes instead. It was quite controversial and still is to this day as it did it in its sequels as well. Now as they may have been controversial that will be addressed later on. The main issue with that was that it severely over shadowed the story and all of the decisions that the player was forced to make in game. As the story progressed the player was forced to make more difficult decisions in extremely deadly and complex situations that could lead to the death of a party member or a situation ending poorly for the player and their intentions. Much of the story also reflects on the world at the time it was made and what kind if issues, whether they be political, moral, or otherwise, they address them in ways that are either oblivious or blatant for those playing them. As many books reflect upon the world at the time they were written why could English classes not look at look at video games in the same way? Books have plots, climaxes, storylines, subplots, protagonists, antagonists, settings, character development and conclusions. Video games also have all of those requirements, with only one main difference and that’s how they are told. Books require that you read or listen intently whilst video games require a more attentive person because it adds, audio, visual, and even physical cues so you can progress through the game and play the way you would like to play. Jonathon Ostenson says “The games of today have come to rely more and more on the elements of fiction in their design, and they represent unexplored territory in studying the nature and impact of narrative.” (71). Even though many things are programmed into video games, from dialog options to destinations it still provides a new and cohesive universe that the player is introduced to as in many stories. When stories are written they are meant to tell a journey, a beginning, a climax and a conclusion that either leads to a sequel or finishes whatever story the writer meant to tell, and classes analyze those stories in book form, when they could be analyzed in many forms including movies therefore video games could also be analyzed and used in such a way as well. 

Another way that video games could be implemented in education would be through that of a business aspect. In that it is another business that has retail values, marketing projects and plans and multiple businesses that develop many products for the market. These products come in the forms of; disks for the games, controllers, headsets, consoles, and PCs, as well as many other devices and accessories. One could look at the production of these devices in order to gain an understanding of what a company can put into in terms of money, manpower, and time. Money fluctuates as many things do based on what is either being made or sold. Companies use many platforms to buy and sell games, whether for PC players that be something like Steam from the company Valve, or the Sony Marketplace for Playstations by Sony and the Xbox Marketplace for Xbox by Microsoft. These companies also develop things other than games and their accessories which could be seen by business students to understand how different companies produce a multitude of things to make profit and improve their margins. A student or their professor could also take a look at the markets of games themselves. Which games make the most profits, which developers have the best track record for their games or profits, how much time does it take to make a game that makes a decent or acceptable profit from a developer and consumer relationship stand point. Those are a few questions that would spark interest in the business aspect of the company. Stock value would also be something to consider based off of the stock market and comparing different companies with one another. Whilst one company may be a major competitor and making major profits and have a large stock then there could be another that would not be doing well based off of a poor sale or failure to release a product either in time or at all. In terms of time one could look at how long it takes to develop a game and what kind of prices it takes to pay the programmers. Also, they could look at the correspondence between the companies, the amount of time they put into a product, and the quality of the game set by how well its sold and its player base. Looking at retailing would be of use to understand the third party that has the products and what they do to capitalize their profits by selling games from all developers and companies and doing deals that competitors do not do. That would also be classified in the manpower category because even though the retailers are a separate company they make the games more easily accessible to the public. With manpower there is also the matter of transportation and development. It takes years to develop a game due to the matter of programming, the productions rate, any story writing that must be done and the voice acting that would be required to make the game come to life. 

Another educational aspect would be the technological and coding aspect. Technology is still a developing industry that requires intelligent minds in order to make decent progress. Games are now requiring better engines in order to run them properly, and to do this there must be better graphics cards, processors, internet speed and access as well as the proper cooling technology to ensure that overheating does not occur. The more the games improve the more technology is required to improve in a timely fashion to maintain the want for new and better equipped games and consoles. In universities computer science and programming are two majors that many take interest in. In courses involved in computer science and programming there is much to do with the inner workings of a computer as well as the languages that they are written in. Coding simple actions can take many hours and if a simple mistake is made then the programmer has to go back and recode everything in order for the final command to work with the simple press of a button. Coding is a practice that takes countless hours of practice in order to become fluent in this unspeakable but understandable language. After the hours of practice that it takes to become coherent in the field they still must undergo the projects themselves. Designing entirely new worlds to explore, characters to interact with and watch them develop, items, dialog options, cutscenes, as well as implementing the story with all previously mentioned. That is why coding takes so long, because of all the precise movements and commands that must be executed in order to designate the proper outcomes of whatever the game requires, whether it be movement, performing an action, or conversing with another character in that set world. Teaching students to do any of that is a necessity and teaching them to use their minds to further technology not only for the sake of the gaming industry but also to incorporate them in other fields that could require it other than the entertainment industry. With the improvement of technology will surely come new challenges that future generations of students will overcome these obstacles and improve the human way of life during the same time, when technology is improved so does humanity in the sense that the technology could be used in a multitude of ways even if it was intended for entertainment there could be benefits to the health field. Coding is already implemented in education and coding games would be a simple addition to add to curriculums and improve upon in schooling. There is a course already at the Rochester Institute of Technology that offers a course in video games and is described as such; “The course described is the culmination of a curriculum which offers students a concentration in video game design and development as part of a rigorous computer science undergraduate degree program.” (Bourdreaux, Etheridge, Kumar).

One final way to view games in an educational aspect would be a psychological approach. One could study the effects of video games on the human brain and what sort of stimulation it can give a person. Perhaps it could be an outlet for anger issues or a way to treat anxiety. Video games could also be used to help those struggling with depression, a way to get away from the world and have motivation if it something they care about. Another way to look at video games could be in how players and gamers would make decisions and what their thought process was while they were making those decisions. Seeing how games affect people would also be an intriguing way to educate. Take the horror genre for example, it can take the form of books, movies or video games, the purpose is to frighten their audience and students could see in what ways the authors, actors and directors and developers decide to do that. Jump scares are used often in order to always keep the audience on their toes but there are also more subtle ways to make the hairs stand on the back of someone’s neck such as the proper deliverance of a particularly terrifying line or visage. However, video games do have a correlation with obesity and other unhealthy activities and should be limited dependent on the person “The study focused largely on TV and movies as the basis for the first three, but specifically mentioned the effect of videogame violence as increasing the risks of violence in teens.” (Craton).  

In conclusion, with games continuously being hampered by governments around the world it is easy to see why many universities would be reluctant to introduce games into their courses, however if more would take steps and understand what it could do to the world then the industry would increase in value. Education must expand in order to keep up with the changing world and in order to do that there must be an acceptance of more forms of media in education, so students can understand how media affects the world. 
