Games = Illiteracy, Says British Conservative

Many of the points raised above are questionable. One said that he learned some Japanese by playing a game. Another said that he learned to read by playing another game. A third argued that he learned "a thing or two" about World War II by playing a third game. One even argues that people don't want to read because they don't want to read. Another adds that he plays video games but is an honors student, which implies that he represents the population of students playing video games.

Jane Healey and other psychologists have shown that playing video games do not replace reading and other activities, and that they and other media (including television) impede learning. Also, there are many other activities, such as sports, which enhance hand-eye coordination, and board games, which encourage social skills. Why are all of these ignored in favor of video games?

Finally, I find it incredibly strange that many posters insist that video games helped them learn. And what about those who didn't grow up playing video games? What can you say about them?

That is why, in response to Terminator, I don't find it hilarious when old people say younger generations are not as educated because that is a fact.

http://www.desq.co.uk/doomed/

game+educational. if I had played it right after I got it, I would have learned stuff (we covered the subjects in class the week I first played it)

http://www.desq.co.uk/doomed/pdf/Making_the_case.pdf
hey, look, paper on games as educational.

plus, look at me. I was born the year of the SNES release, and when my hands were big enough to hold the controller, I was playing one. I"m an honour student, I am currently only not reading due to a TON of school work (exam time. hooray.) and I've been reading classic novels since I was 7 (I'll never forget staying up all night with a flashlight finishing that one chapter of Moby Dick, then reading more because I was so excited)

I still play games, and I've noticed since I became a serious gamer (last year) I have increased memory, decreased reaction time, and at least in my opinion, better problem solving skills than non-gamers/casual gamers of my age.

Don't worry Mister Johnson, I'm sure they'll figure out how to make video games try and humorless, just like the early British literature you invoke every time you hit us with one of those darling colloquialisms.

But if it is all the same to you, I'll stick with Terry Pratchett and Simon R. Green. I understand you might have trouble understanding my point of view, but please understand that your contemporaries, Eliza Haywood and Jane Austen, have somewhat fallen from favor.

I agree, has he even played a video game, does he know that video games actually do increase your concious reaction time and hand-eye coordination. He apparently hasnt done his research. Most people play video games to get away from reality and spark their imagination and creativity. The video game industry has given jobs to many people with high paying salaries. Video games are sometimes actually helpful in many cases.

"These machines teach (children) nothing. They stimulate no ratiocination, discovery or feat of memory - though some of them may cunningly pretend to be educational."

Try playing Zelda and then come talk to me about how games don't offer a sense of discovery.

Anyway, this is just another dumbass politician jumping aboard the anti-game train. People who blame poor literacy rates on video games aren't connected with reality.

me no unliterate person 'cause of vidya games. i unliterate 'cause me teacher not like to teach very much. me always on internet instead of reading stuff. me no like Boris Johnson hypothesis.

Partying, texting/calling, hanging out, internet, homework, television, sports. You can also blame these in addition to video games if you really want to understand why children have no desire to read these days. Yet again, another wannabe Jack tries to single out video games as the cause of societies problems.

I am amused by the notion that videogames cause illiteracy, considering I learned to read Japanese largerly from playing Japanese RPGs. Fact is, you need a solid reading comprehension to get anything out of a great deal of games. Other than that, this man knows nothing about games. I wonder if he's ever heard of Civilization.

Beyond that, I wonder what "I don't like reading" stands for, specifically? What was the precise question and in what context was it asked? if this is another panic attack about how the youth doesn't read literature, well, that is sad and all, and I think it's probable and perfectly logical to assume that games are one reason for that, but why not blame television and movies while you're at it?

Just cause children don't like to read doesn't mean they can't read. I know I hated reading growing up. All the books were boring. Then D&D and Final Fantasy hit me and and couldn't get enough to read. Also games teaching nothing not even memory skills. This guys need to play a game cause if all else the game teaches you memory, to this day most games rely on knowing when baddies will pop out, where the good cars are parked, where to find the health powerup, etc.

Two things caused the rise of 'illiteracy' as percieved by many people in the UK.

1) The original habit of mobile texting services to charge by the letter. This helped created the 'Txt-spk' mentality that stuck with people long after it should have died out because of reason 2.

2) Txt-Spk was originally the domain of the priviged few who used Teletype or other communication devices, the language is actually decades old. However, as the domain of the few, it wasn't nearly as annoying as it is nowadays. It's become a problem because of the fact that people are growing up thinking that this is a correct way to spell and because teachers and politicians make such a huge drama out of the whole thing, rather than simply teaching the kids the correct way to spell.

If there's anyone in this country responsible for poor spelling or literacy, it biols down to the education system, not the kids, not the computer or the mobile-phone, you have to get those foundations firmly in place, otherwise the whole house comes falling down.

Personally, I'm an avid gamer, I'm also reading the translation of Homers' Odyssey, I'm a pretty voracious reader, I read the last Terry Pratchett book in two sittings (and within 48 hours). So I don't know where this guy gets his ideas from, but he'd be better off looking at our underfunded, unstaffed, undersupported and overworked teaching system first.

Wow, I didn't realize the UK had slashed classtimes to allow kids to play more video games. What? They didn't? They're still using curriculae that is considered adequate? So this guy is saying that UK education is inadequate?

I think the whole rant to: I don't understand kids these days, I don't see why they need all of these new-fangled gizmos, and I'm afraid of technology. This is called the Generation Gap. It's been around longer than video games, I'm afraid.

On the less critical side, his rant is an opinion piece, so don't take it as fact. He really should be able to express his opinion. I think he has missed the news on how lack of sleep and proper nutrition affects learning.

Ha ha ha ha... classic. Ol' Boris gets involved in the whole 'video games' scene, and once again like everything else he talks about, he stuffs it up completely.

He is one of the funniest people you're ever likely to see, but not for the right reasons. He doesn't mean to be funny, he just comes across that way because of all his complete screw ups.

If anyone wants a laugh (and to see how pathetic our 'leaders' can be) then google a bit of Boris into your day. If you can, get hold of some of his appearances on a TV show called 'Have I Got News For You' where he proves to be the floppy haired dimwit he appears to be.

I just hope he joins forces with Keith Vaz, then the video game industry and fans will really have something to laugh about...

Rich

Ages 7-15? Good to see he did his research.

Apologies to the Yanks (and indeed anyone who isn't British) who don't really 'get' Boris. No one really listens to him and everyone in Britain knows he is a rambling old fool, but we consider him a national treasure, much like how you lot let Jimmy Carter out of his pen once in a while to utter complete nonsense.

Of course you have to take these comments with the knowledge that Boris is really the political equivalent of a lovable buffoon. Gaming since the age of 5 got me interested in programming, something that requires learning mathematics, logic and grammar, albeit not entirely English grammar. In turn this got me a decent paid job using my brain.

I should be pointed out to Boris that one of the top selling games of 2006 was 'Brain Training' and that there ARE realistic and helpful options for parents to buy their kids educational as well as entertaining software. (Incidentally, I bought the Brain Training for my 7 year old niece this Christmas and within 5 minutes she was happily playing sudoku)

All I can say to this is that the biggest complaint I hear from parents about GBA, DS, (some of the best selling games period) and some other console games is the sheer amount of reading - let me repeat that - READING required. It's a complaint, btw, because parents often buy some of the clearly kid safe stuff for a 4-6 year-old not realizing that they're going to have to sit in the backseat of the car during a trip and read the game to their kids.

I actually sell this as a plus because, hey, reading a game to your kid and reading a book to your kid really amounts to the same thing in most cases. I'm saying this part as a writer of kid's fiction.

Educational? You want to speak educational? I didn't know much about World War 2 before playing games about it, and I learned a thing or two. Not only that, but playing World War 2 games made me more interested and I went onto Wikipedia and other sites to read about it.

Same goes for Age of Empires and a few others.

This guy is a joke.

Ah good old borris, he's no stranger to tabloid controversey as hes been doing it since before he was an MP. I laughed my arse off just after he'd been cheating on his wife and it came out in public. Hed just been riding his bike and got back home when a bunch of reporters jumped him outside his home. He tried to fob them off and go into his house but his wife locked him outside with all the reporters lol.

anyway if any of you americans who are getting riled up over his comments want to see why us brits are just laughing at him there's a nice early clip of him on youtube wich goes some of the way to explaining why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcgrZs4GXv4

Boris' first ten seconds of playing against Germany in a charity England Legends vs Germany Legends football match.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOivzoRc0I8&mode=related&search=

So this guy is like the British counterpart of Jack Thompson, except unlike us, nobody over there actually listens to him?

What a crazy world we live in.

Sounds like a typichal boring tory git.

Though most members of the conservaives are boing old farts who need to lighten up

He's such a fool, why did the Tories make him Minister for Higher Education, were they trying to be ironic?

Yawn. I've been a gamer since I was about 6 years old, and I read books almost daily, and I did even through my prime video game years. foConversely, my sister who has no interest in video games at all rarely reads for pleasure.

Just another wild claim with no scientific basis. If you really wanted to blame anything on the per-generation decrease in reading as a pleasure activity, you should probably look more toward television and film, though even they are not to blame.

And I don't know about you, but I sure learned a lot from video games. I learned the princess is always in another castle, that red things hate blue things and vice versa, and that you can jump on turtles and then kick them into other turtles. Assuming the turtles arent mutated ninjas, of course.

FIRSTLY: It's not of Boris Johnson's business what other people's kids do with their free time. I would have thought a "conservative" would accept this, but I guess not. Personally I think rugby is a primitive and dangerous exercise in macho hormonal dysfunction, but I don't go telling the British public their kids shouldn't be allowed to play it.

SECONDLY: There are more adult gamers than child gamers. What they do with their spare time is none of Boris Johnson's business, and none of the government's business so long as it harms no non-consenting parties.

THIRDLY: Boris Johnson obviously has a vastly inflated opinion of himself. The market speaks for itself... Video games are a massive industry which only keeps growing in popularity. But no... screw the millions of gamers in Britain, Boris Johnson's opinion, which he formulated by watching someone else play one unnamed video game, is infinitely more important than the economics. Again, I would have expected this idiocy of a neo-liberal or social democrat - not a conservative.

FOURTHLY: Britain's pathetic public education system and welfare state is the primary reason for the nation's kids being so ignorant. Stop trying to scapegoat your problems and do something about it.

So apparently video games are now to blame for the failings of the british education system. Damn.

Comment on his site from myself:

Dr. Mr. Johnson

The very idea that anyone, let alone an elected representative of the people of great britain, would make such idiotic and baseless statements is just sickening to me.

That you would blame the failings of the british education system on what is after all, just another form of entertainment, is crass, opportunistic, and irresponsible.

What is worse, while doing so, you have referenced no actual research or data of any kind, and have instead simply drawn a completely random correlation between two things. Where is your evidence that the rise in illiteracy has any connection to video games, or is it supposed to be pefectly obvious to all educated peoples, as it is to you? What is obvious is your complete ignorance of the subject.

I think I will go ahead and say the there is a clear link between the rise of new technology, and the growing incompentence of our elected officials. My conclusion has just as much basis as yours.

For shame, sir.