The journalism game

I never studied journalism formally, but if I’d known there might be opportunities to play video games, I probably would have given the idea some more serious consideration.
The University of Minnesota’s journalism school recently turned a heavily modified version of the online role playing game Neverwinter Nights into a teaching tool for its students. Early on, students in the U of M’s Information for Mass Communication class played through a scenario that still had lava pits, editors who looked like ogres and librarians who wore breastplates, but more recent versions feature a version of the typically medieval-themed game updated to look like a modern city. In it, students must gather information about a train crash and hazardous chemical spill in the fictional city of Harperville. There are dozens of characters to interview, and a library filled with online resources.
"We know that students today are used to interactivity and that they don't like to sit still in lecture classrooms being 'fed' information," Kathleen Hansen, a U of M journalism professor, said in an article posted on the school’s web site. "What we don't know is if educational gaming is going to be an effective method of enhancing conceptual mastery of subject matter or complex processes.”
When conducting interviews with characters ranging from retired railroad engineers to hospital workers, in-game reporters can choose from four conversation options, each with a different level of assertiveness. Come off as too much of a jerk, and the subject will end the interview.
Some people might think it’s strange using a fantasy-based game to teach future reporters real-world skills. But when you consider how many people think journalists make up most of their stories, it starts to make a little bit more sense.
At least one other part of the simulation seems to fit well with the public’s opinions of journalists, too. Scenario designers had originally wanted to have a crowd of characters hanging around at the scene of the accident, but a bug in the program meant that any time the reporter approached a group of characters he was immediately attacked and killed. And people wonder why reporters drink.
Using computer games for something other than simple entertainment is not an entirely new idea. When I was in high school we used a flight simulation program that consisted solely of planning a destination and picking a route, then watching to make sure your never-seen plane didn’t crash. It was really boring, but it taught me ... actually, I have no idea what it taught me. Or what it was supposed to teach me.
There are more successful examples, though. More sophisticated flight simulators are used to train real-life pilots, and the United State’s military uses versions of popular first-person shooting games to help train soldiers in tactics. There are plenty of other options, too. For example:
• There are several good Indiana Jones games out there. These seem like ideal training tools for budding archaeologists?
• The two main characters in the Super Mario Brothers games are plumbers. Couldn’t these games be useful to a trade school somewhere looking for a way to teach its students how to deal with the killer turtles and walking mushrooms found in sewer pipes?
• There is a game out there called Crazy Taxi. This seems pretty self-explanatory.
• Dancing games, in which players stop on specific parts of a floor mat at appropriate times, are very popular these days and seem like an ideal tool for training future generations of professional cheerleaders or possibly music video backup dancers.
• Classic game Burger Time could be useful to fast food workers everywhere — especially as portions get so large they might actually reach the point making a cheeseburger will involve running up and down ladders and jumping on top of giant hamburger buns.
• Tetris, the maddeningly addictive puzzle game that involves stacking falling blocks, could be useful for warehouse workers.
• And, of course, future spies everywhere could benefit from a few good games of Elevator Action.