![](https://csdnimg.cn/release/download_crawler_static/1564191/bgf.jpg)
Games are thus the most ancient and time-honored vehicle for education. They are the original
educational technology, the natural one, having received the seal of approval of natural selection. We
don’t see mother lions lecturing cubs at the chalkboard; we don’t see senior lions writing their memoirs
for posterity. In light of this, the question, "Can games have educational value?" becomes absurd. It is
not games but schools that are the newfangled notion, the untested fad, the violator of tradition. Game-
playing is a vital educational function for any creature capable of learning.
The incidence of game-playing in animals is itself instructive. Game-playing has been observed only in
mammals and birds. The phylogenetically earlier orders (fish, insects, amphibians, and reptiles) have
not been shown to engage in game-playing. (See Animal Play Behavior, by Robert Fagen, Oxford
University Press.) Game play seems to be associated with that quality which we have clumsily
attempted to measure with brain size, intelligence, and ability to learn. This correspondence cannot be
attributed to accident; clearly game play is an important component in the development of many
creatures.
We commonly associate the playing of games with children. Indeed, "play" as an activity is considered
to be the almost exclusive preserve of children, and the term is applied to adults either disparagingly or
jocularly. Children are expected to play games because we recognize (perhaps unconsciously) the
fundamental utility of games as an educational tool. As children grow up, cultural pressures change and
they are encouraged to devote less time to the playing of games so that they can devote themselves to
more serious activities.
I claim that the fundamental motivation for all game-playing is to learn. This is the original motivation
for game-playing, and surely retains much of its importance. This claim does not conflict with my other
primary assertion that computer games constitute a new art form. Consider, for example, humans and
food. The fundamental motivation to eat food is the base desire for nourishment, yet this has not
prevented us from embellishing this fundamental activity with all manner of elaborate and non-
nourishing customs, rituals, seasonings, and garnishes. I do not mean to imply that food is an art form;
only that we humans can take an activity far beyond its prime cause without denying that prime cause.
I must qualify my claim that the fundamental motivation for all game-play is to learn. First, the
educational motivation may not be conscious. Indeed, it may well take the form of a vague predilection
to play games. The fact that this motivation may be unconscious does not lessen its import; indeed, the
fact would lend credence to the assertion that learning is a truly fundamental motivation.
Second, there are many other motivations to play games that have little to do with learning, and in
some cases these secondary motivations may assume greater local importance than the ancestral
motivation to learn. These other motivations include: fantasy/exploration, nose-thumbing, proving
oneself, social lubrication, exercise, and need for acknowledgment. I shall examine each in turn.
Top
Fantasy/Exploration
A very important motivation to play games is fantasy fulfillment. Like a movie, a book, or music, a
game can transport the player away from the tawdry world that oppresses him and create a fantasy
world in which he can forget his problems. Games are potentially superior to the traditional means of
escape (movies, books, music) because they are participatory. Instead of merely watching a movie,
reading a book, or listening to music, the player is actively involved in the game. Indeed, the player
drives the game, controls it in a way that is quite impossible with the passive fantasies. This need to
escape, to fantasize is certainly an important motivation.
Fantasy fulfillment frequently takes the form of symbolic exploration. There’s a big world out there,
full of exciting things, people, and places, yet most of us are confined to a world ,of asphalt, plastic,