Are video games like World of Warcraft “useful” in any way outside the gaming experience?
This is a fraught question and I want to be careful not to be dismissive of good work on games and education (or, more broadly “serious games”) which is noble and valuable. But my gut level response to this question is: Must everything have a purpose beyond providing a restorative, interesting, challenging, entertaining, fun experience? It seems to me that Americans, and probably everyone else, work pretty hard, and our compulsion to attempt to turn play to good account (that was in quotes), is a bit preposterous. At least as long ago as the 17th century, some wise person observed that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Let’s not forget this bit of the cultural patrimony. Having said that, I believe there are useful side effects of participating in games such as World of Warcraft. (See Langdon Winner on how technologies produce unintended side effects.) For one thing, one learns to juggle and respond to multiple texts. There’s text coming at you from all sides in-game, in part
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