Learning in Games

Can we learn anything from games?

There are many games out there which have been directly focused on game-based learning. It is obvious that we learn from these games as there sole purpose is to teach the player the subject associated with the game, whether it be maths, sorting, matching, spatial reasoning etc. These games are usually directed at kids between the ages and 3 and mid-teens. So what about the rest of us? Are there any games out there which we learn from?

A number of games have been brought out for adults, that are regarded as being educational games. They are more commonly known as "Serious Games" because they are games developed with education and dealing with real world problems in mind rather than pure entertainment. Some example are "Food Force", "Democracy" and "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing". These games have done well, but have sold no where near as many units as games which are purely focused on entertainment.

So the question now is, do we learning anything from games where there primary purpose is to provide pure entertainment? I believe we do. The learning experience is not as obvious in these types of games as in serious games, but we still learn. Every game gives the player a number of tasks to complete in order to move to the next stage. It is up to the player to figure out how to do this. Whether it be to find a NPC or collect items, it all involves a process. The knowledge you acquire within the game may not be used directly in real life. But the way in which you acquired this knowledge, the process, can be applied again and again to real life situations. Doesn't this mean that we are learning from the game?