Smart Duckling

Ian Bogost has a very entertaining article about how the game business judges educational games.  He argues that the game business is not very good at judging educational games, because the game business is all about the kinds of metrics which devalue the accomplishments in what Bogost calls "Persuasive Games."  A quick quote:

"I still have nothing but respect for my more traditional industry colleagues, but I’ve stopped worrying about impressing the games industry and its pundits. Or at least, I’ve stopped worrying about impressing them first.

Instead, I’ve started focusing more on the people who might be interested in different kinds of game experiences. People who fly for business more than three times a month, or people who read all of the Sunday newspaper, or people who have kids with food allergies, for example. I am sure these people read magazines and watch television and listen to the radio. But it would be short-sighted to label them ziners or tubers or airwavers. They are just people, with interests, who sometimes consume different kinds of media."

Ian Bogost makes an appearance on the Colbert Report, promoting his book, Persuasive Games.  For more on the appearance see his blog and his site WaterCoolerGames.com.

An interesting quote in an article about kids and games:

Both Polly and Andrew both agreed that there were more good games for kids than bad overall, but most of the games they showed weren't just for kids at all. This betrays the difference in perception between parents and their children. Most of them aren't looking for the same old killing. Instead, they want something that genuinely entertains them.