Alisha’s post has one of my same reactions as I was reading through the articles…which is that play and games didn’t really seem to be the theme (other than the MOO), yet the language was still there…and I actually find that reassuring. Too often we end up arguing about games being worthwhile learning experiences in spite of being fun–as if there is an invisible line at the classroom door where pleasurable experiences must stop and wait until the period is up. It ties in, too, with the difficulty of defining games and how much fun is required before they move from play to…something else. People get angry during games. They fight. They are hurt by loss. And, as Daisley points out, there are always people who take it too far or who end up cruel in their need to win. Fun isn’t always the essential component. That’s too simple.

As Patrick pointed out, games tend to have structures where the learning mechanisms are easy to find. They work well in classrooms because its easy to dissect the process and get students to see how they are learning, what they are learning, and why they should be learning it. The curtain is down and Oz is revealed. The perks and downfalls are exaggerated and clearly outlined because that’s what makes a game easy to learn, fun to play, and worth engaging with.

“Games” aren’t the only form of learning that use this, though, and I kept thinking of the way I use blogs in my class. I don’t use blogs in the strict classroom sense (not in the way I had to do them as a student, anyway). Instead, I have my students take the reigns and write blogs as…well…blogs. Open. Personal. Sometimes inappropriate. There is a lot of discussion about audience, purpose, and how I am not the person they are talking to. Every time I do this, I watch them groan….then I watch them start to write these fascinating little blurbs, and, sometimes, I watch them go too far.

Maybe that’s a better argument for having games in the classroom than I’d thought of before…because when my students push the limits in their blogs–when they say hurtful things, or cross the line into trolling–it’s a chance to talk about limits and purpose and why ethical behavior matters. And if games were the medium being used, that same conversation could happen. Right now, most people learn to play on their own. Video and computer games, especially, are solitary, even when they are digitally social, because a lot of people don’t necessarily learn to play from someone more responsible or knowledgeable who can tell them when they cross a line into trolling. The habits get ingrained before the discussion can take place, and that always makes things harder.