Two highly contrasting pieces on how games affect behaviour have turned up this week. First, Sims creator Will Wright has written a rousing editorial for Wired in which he celebrates the creative thinking engendered by videogames, and how this generation are learning differently because they've grown up in front of PCs and consoles. From the article:
"In an era of structured education and standardized testing, this generational difference might not yet be evident. But the gamers' mindset - the fact that they are learning in a totally new way - means they'll treat the world as a place for creation, not consumption. This is the true impact videogames will have on our culture."
Did that make you feel all sunny and positive? Check this story on Rawfeed.com. Turns out that American soldiers in Iraq are excelling at using remote-controlled weapon systems, because they've grown up playing games:
"CROWS (Common Remotely Operated Weapons Systems) - which are big guns manned remotely by someone inside an armored vehicle with a joystick and live cam - have proved highly successful in Iraq because the soldiers operating them grew up playing (presumably first-person shooter) VIDEO GAMES. Experienced gamers have no difficulty gaining total situational awareness and whipping around the video camera on the guns, spotting hints of trouble and blasting anything that moves."
Indeed, this article suggests that, not only are soldiers better at using certain weapons because of their videogame experience, the weapons themselves could even have been inspired by in-game arms.
Games change the way people think and act - that's the shared message. Make of it what you will, but the new ideas generated by a gaming society aren't all going to fit into Wright's interesting but rose-tinted vision. Creativity, as we have always known, is amoral.
