Educational Games
When I was growing up, I used to always look forward to playing educational games. My favorite ones were the educational board games. I was always pretty good at Scrabble. I was a very literate kid, and sometimes I could even beat the grown ups. At the time, I thought I was hot stuff. In retrospect I understand that they might have been letting me win, but I think I still could have given them a run for their money.
We didn’t have a lot of educational computer games when I was growing up, but we had a few. The Oregon Trail is a classic of my generation. Although current educational games are much more sophisticated, for the time it was pretty good. It really gave you a little bit of an idea of what life was like for the pioneers blazing a trail out west. The gameplay aspect was good enough to make it fun and entertaining.
Of course my favorite educational game of all time was where in the world is Carmen San Diego. Nowadays, it is quite a franchise. They have spun off into several different games, show, and movies. Back then, however, it was just one program with pretty primitive graphics. You had to solve riddles and puzzles to find Carmen Sandiego. The game would quiz you about geography, history, and any a number of other topics. It kept my on my toes and challenged me consistently. Best of all, it was always a thrill when I could actually track her down and win the game.
Today’s educational games are much more sophisticated. Some of them are fully immersive. There are educational computer games that will show you how an empire was built, give you detailed inside views of famous buildings, and teach you all kinds of fascinating science facts. As a matter of fact, educational games are even used in some of the top medical schools nowadays. Rather than doing dissections, many medical programs use educational programs which simulate dissection. This saves money, eliminates the necessity to sacrifice so many animal lives, and often provides a more useful illustration than cutting into real tissue would. Not all of these programs can be called games exactly, but I believe that they do build upon the humble beginnings of educational software. It is a testament to the quality of the early educational games that people still remember them.
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