The most educational game you've ever played.

Hello

One of my top passions for gaming is feeling mentally enlightened during and after playing a game. What would be the most educational game that enlightened your mind? Educational maybe prettyvague, but itcould relateto big things from learning valuable life lessons or sparking your inspiration to learning correct spelling or dexterous coordination. I'm asking this in the PC games section because I think pc gamers are the most outspoken of all gamers.

I'm mainly a pc gamer, but I would have to pick Final Fantasy VI. When I played it I was very young and very "stone-hearted" and knew very little English (English is my second language). This game made me feel emotions I had never had before playing it, it taught me valuable lessons and it kinda expanded my mind as if I had gone through unique experiences. And finally, I knew very little English, this game helped me a great deal with learning English.:D I know there are many other games that are truly educational, but to my weird experience this is the one.:)

Okie. I'm done with my long dumb memoir. Your turn.:P

Okie. I'm done with my long dumb memoir. Your turn.:P

NatalieGamer

I don't actually know how accurate the background history was but Broken Sword taught me quite alot about the Templars and medevil ways. Also, I became addicted toa Rayman maths when i was very young, but i played it so much that a knew all the answers off by heart :P

Nice thread.

People often don't think of games as being educational, but I'm sitting here trying to figure out from which game I have learned the most, and I'm struggling to come up with an answer.

It's probably Medieval II - or any of the Total War games. Firstly, looking at a fairly detailed map of the world is an education - I don't exactly have trouble finding just about any country on a map, but I also don't tend to sit and stare at my atlas. The campaign maps in the TW games have improved my familiarity with a very large amount of our planet.

Then there are many other things in there, too. Like which nations existed during the time period, and their borders during the beginning of the game (once the player takes over, it's obviously not true to life). Clothing and weaponry, I assume is accurate in design and appearance. And then there's the application of military strategy. The use of combined arms effectively. When I was younger (16-19) I had absolutely no idea how the paper-scissors-stone mechanic worked in an RTS. Games like AOE were, back then, way too much for me. It was from the TW series that I learned how to use units more effectively, and it was from the TW series that I learned how to think on a tactical and strategic level.

And of course there are all the quotes with the recent games. And I'm sure with Empire: Total War I will learn a lot about the world's colonial history, something I know very little about, excluding British history.

But I like to think most games carry some education value, however subtle.

well I leanred to be more creative with portal.

Broken Sword taught me quite alot about the Templars and medevil ways

Ricko1234

Same. There's also the Civilization series

well I leanred to be more creative with portal.

filmography

Hah, you should play more adventure games

This game made me feel emotions I had never had before playing it, it taught me valuable lessons and it kinda expanded my mind as if I had gone through unique experiences. And finally, I knew very little English, this game helped me a great deal with learning English.:D I know there are many other games that are truly educational, but to my weird experience this is the one.:)

NatalieGamer

You should play the Metal Gear series if you want valuable lessons and much more emotion (I cried at the ending of MGS3)

For me, FF 7 wasn't very emotional because there was no voice acting

I think I may just go about saying it differently.

Story Based RPG. Just like sitting down and reading a Novel only your playing out the story yourself.

Example: Baldur's Gate Series, By the time you finished it, it was probably the Equivilant of reading a Dozen or so Novels without even knowing it. and so many people in this day and age NEVER read anymore unless its on TV or in a Game.

And reading really keeps the mind sharp and the brain active more than almost any other activity on the planet.

This thread is really depressing. As a historian, I always cringe at the thought that so many of my past students actually believed that watching a Hollywood movie was in and of itself "learning history". The fact that people actually believe that games like Total War or Call of Duty are, when taken in isolation, somehow a useful educational tool is a sad, sad commentary.

It's great if a game inspires one to do some independant research like the one poster who sought out information about the Chernobyl disaster, but do not rely upon these games as reliable sources of information. With precious few exceptions in the simulation and wargaming genres, they aren't.

If they inspire you to learn more about the subject matter, that's fantastic, but please, please, PLEASE don't base your world view on what you "learned" from Company of Heroes.

WWII games such as CoH and pretty much every games based on true historical facts. Or based on myths & legends...

all games that i played.

they improve my english :D

Nice thread.

People often don't think of games as being educational, but I'm sitting here trying to figure out from which game I have learned the most, and I'm struggling to come up with an answer.

It's probably Medieval II - or any of the Total War games. Firstly, looking at a fairly detailed map of the world is an education - I don't exactly have trouble finding just about any country on a map, but I also don't tend to sit and stare at my atlas. The campaign maps in the TW games have improved my familiarity with a very large amount of our planet.

Then there are many other things in there, too. Like which nations existed during the time period, and their borders during the beginning of the game (once the player takes over, it's obviously not true to life). Clothing and weaponry, I assume is accurate in design and appearance. And then there's the application of military strategy. The use of combined arms effectively. When I was younger (16-19) I had absolutely no idea how the paper-scissors-stone mechanic worked in an RTS. Games like AOE were, back then, way too much for me. It was from the TW series that I learned how to use units more effectively, and it was from the TW series that I learned how to think on a tactical and strategic level.

And of course there are all the quotes with the recent games. And I'm sure with Empire: Total War I will learn a lot about the world's colonial history, something I know very little about, excluding British history.

But I like to think most games carry some education value, however subtle.

mfsa

Same RTW taught me alot with maps amd stuff.

Total War/Age of Empires series are very good at teaching histroy/War Tactics.

Age of Mythology is good for learning about Greek Myths too.

Some interesting choices out there and some very interesting replies. It's refreshing to think of games from this perspective and a lot of people here are proving that.:)

[QUOTE="NatalieGamer"]

This game made me feel emotions I had never had before playing it, it taught me valuable lessons and it kinda expanded my mind as if I had gone through unique experiences. And finally, I knew very little English, this game helped me a great deal with learning English.:D I know there are many other games that are truly educational, but to my weird experience this is the one.:)

Darth_Kane

You should play the Metal Gear series if you want valuable lessons and much more emotion (I cried at the ending of MGS3)

For me, FF 7 wasn't very emotional because there was no voice acting

Well...I mentioned FF6 not 7, but FF6 didn't have voice acting either. But I'd rather leave voice acting to my creative imagination and shape the characters and the world (to some extent) according to myself. Bad voice acting just ruins the realism andthe immesion of the game.And it just ruins the characters and richness of the story in my opinion.

But maybe I'll try the metal gear series. I've played the first one I think. Fun but not very fun for girls:P

This thread is really depressing. As a historian, I always cringe at the thought that so many of my past students actually believed that watching a Hollywood movie was in and of itself "learning history". The fact that people actually believe that games like Total War or Call of Duty are, when taken in isolation, somehow a useful educational tool is a sad, sad commentary.

It's great if a game inspires one to do some independant research like the one poster who sought out information about the Chernobyl disaster, but do not rely upon these games as reliable sources of information. With precious few exceptions in the simulation and wargaming genres, they aren't.

If they inspire you to learn more about the subject matter, that's fantastic, but please, please, PLEASE don't base your world view on what you "learned" from Company of Heroes.

bogaty

That's why I'm hesitant to mention games for purely educational purposes. But like someone said, just looking at the map of the world in these "Historic Games" is already eduational.

Civilization 4, like someone else mentioned, with all its technologies, wonders of the world and historical quotes was something I had in mind. The way the applied those quotes to the technologies was refreshing.

Well from Portal, I learned to think with Portals ;)

But seriously, I'd say I've learned the most from probably CivII or CivIV. Also, (and I know this will sound funny but) when I played Halo 2 and was introduced to the character "The Arbiter," it drove me to actually go look up the word "arbiter" and see what it means :D So some games like that have expanded my vocabulary :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1VNwBKjV4E&feature=related

well I have an in-depth knoweledge of firearms. couly

quite true, I would say CoD4 is educational.

rome total war. i learned alot about house scipio dominated rome and its empire for hundreds of years and expanded its empire from ireland to the hanging gardens of babylon :P

[/bad joke]

nah seriosuly there is alot of facts in the total war series....jsut the events are governed by the player so its not historically accurate in that sense.

Ya, I think just about every video game has taught me something. Unfortunately, its not all very useful...in the words of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes: "I'm not stupid, I just have a comprehensive knowledge of thoroughly useless information".

However, thanks to video games, I know:

-how tooperate many firearms
-how to identify said firearms
-the basic flight controls of airplanes (there was a point where I could problably fly an F16, thank you Falcon 4.0...)
-how to plan battles as a general would by strategically placing units so theyre utlized efficiently
-if I see a gecko, I should shoot it and sell its skin.
-if I come across a troll, I need to kill it with acid or fire since it will stop it from regenerating.

Seriously, there are so many neat things games can teach us.

All games are educatinal to me. Some more educational than others.

Some games are so bad though, that if you continue to play them, you actually lose brain cells. :)

Big Rigs.

I learned that a game can be THAT bad.

Big Rigs.

I learned that a game can be THAT bad.

Ps2stony