What I've Always Wanted to Hear!

I was just browsing CNN.com and I came across THIS article under the "Education" section.

To sum it up, reputable scientists have concluded that video games can "reshape" the education industry. I'm sure they're not talking about adding "Def Jam: Fight for New York" into the ciriculum, but maybe parents and educators will finally realize the potential benefits of video games instead of using them as a scapegoat for the reason why kids are so angry today.

I just started playing Sim City 4 (and I'm about to start Civilization 4 too) and, let me tell you, it isn't as easy as it looks. I'm on my 5th city and I just finally balanced a budget where I'm making a few dollars instead of being in the red all the time. The game should be encoraged by parents, not shunned (well, as long as you don't play for 5 hours at a time like I did last night while I should have been doing some homework). Not only do you have to balance a budget with taxes and funding cuts, you have to create and make demand, keep your citizens happy with public services, manage traffic patterns, create and employ city to city business and the list goes on and on. You're not just running a single city and hoping a tornado doesn't come and tear it to pieces anymore; you're running multiple cities and intergrating them all to futher the society as a whole. It's pretty wild.

I did a speech last year on the positive effects of video games and it went off pretty well. There will always be Grand Theft Autos and Mortal Kombats, but the vast majority of video games, including the aforementioned one, provide incredible workouts for your brain. Some, like the Sims and Civilizations even have some historical and academic value to them as well.

Today's pop culture facinates me: South Park, video games, blogging, etc... So much that it even gets me to read about it. Check out this book if you're interested: Everything Bad is Good For You by Steven Johnson.