The Simulation of Video Games

Simulation refers to an ability to understand and build models of real-world activities. (Jenkins, 2009) This is quite prevalent within education, much like the use of play. Simulation can be used to explore new concepts in ways that were previously a mystery, however it does involve a thorough understanding of what it is you are simulating.

While this is a useful skill when used within an education context, it loses a lot of its potency when you acknowledge the most straightforward example of simulation, which are video games. As a whole, I am not opposed to video games, they can be entertaining and complex and even educational. I am, however, opposed to people spending hours and even days sitting in front of a screen playing a simulation of war. Society today has absolutely taken video games too far and they have lost the power that they once possessed.

Simulation in video games could be used for very useful things within new media. For example, if the world were to use video games as a way in which to learn new concepts that were previously too difficult for someone to understand, that would be a good use of this technology. I can remember being in elementary school and loving to play the video game Math Circus, because it was not only fun, but it also helped me figure out my worst subject in school, math. Simulation is a skill that not everyone possesses and that a person has to actually work to get better at, as opposed to play where it comes naturally to almost everyone. The struggles when it comes to simulation are that the world apparently struggles to use it to advance society as opposed to get them glued to their screens for the rest of eternity.

If it were instead used exclusively for educational purposes, I believe that simulation would be one of the most important new media skills to have been presented by Jenkins. However, due to the overwhelming use of simulation as entertainment and a way to melt one’s brain, it would appear to be one of the less useful skills to possess. Though, it can be seen as one of the more useful ones when used in an educational context. Simulation really seems to cover both areas, educational and entertaining, though not necessarily in a good way.

Works Cited

Jenkins, H (et al). (2009) "Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21^st Century". The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning. The MIT Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts.