Actually the things my kids learn about social cooperation, survival in difficult conditions, and critical thinking that they learn from their game playing are pretty amazing.
And considering that game playing now pays for my own board and keep, I can’t complain much about them. It’s just that in all the years we put into our education, we never imagined the computer games we enjoyed would grow into something that could support us “in real life” — and now, something that has real potential to affect learning to handle something like a global pandemic. Go figure.
How a computer game glitch could help to fight off global pandemic – Times Online
When it comes to the science of surviving a potentially deadly outbreak, there is one question that has always proved particularly tricky for experts.
How do you study the spread of an epidemic, and thus form an emergency plan to ensure the survival of the human race, without putting the population at risk of a real disease?
Researchers have now made an unlikely breakthrough, thanks to a glitch in a fantasy computer game. In an online game called World of Warcraft, an unexpected error in the software has provided a ready-made laboratory for studying the effects of an epidemic.
The 6.5 million players who control characters in the role-playing game supplied the necessary element of unpredictable human reactions without any risk to the real world.
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Who knew!! Sure hope I can say that about the hubby one day and all the hours he spends on Star Wars Galaxies. Hmph.