Spring Break
Gaming can be good for you, really
John Bailey
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: Focus
You probably had a bunch of kids that played "Dungeons and Dragons" in your high school. Remember those kids? Now, if I asked you about "the positive functions of pencil and paper role-playing games," what would you tell me?
Honestly, if you had nothing good to say, I wouldn't blame you. Many people who play role-playing games - and I'm talking the extra-strength, triple-distilled nerdy kind, rolling dice and drawing maps and whatever - are huge pains in the ass. As far as anyone can tell from most high school gamers, all role-playing games do is cause you to develop acne and wear those black pants with neon chains on them.
But try to forget those people. I know - it's tough. But these games are some of the best things you can do with yourself, although I guess volunteering at homeless shelters is a little more significant. Pencil and paper role-playing games - colloquially, "RPGs," of which "Dungeons and Dragons" is the most well-known, but there are plenty more - are some of the best, most enjoyable educational tools available to today's disgruntled youth.
The numbers game
Math comes easy to me - because I grew up knowing exactly how many paces away that thief is, how much it'll cost to fix my platinum-plated armor and how much ale we can put on the cart before the wheels will break.
Math is generally a pain to learn, and even more of a pain to practice - and RPGs can help with that. No, they've got no calculus or linear algebra to teach a college-level mathematician, but they are full of numbers that won't crunch themselves.
"I was attracted to the number cruching," said Joseph Gilbert, a 5th-semester computer science and engineering major. And those numbers are all attached to problems that need solving. Sure, numbers are boring, but solving puzzles isn't - how many hours have you wasted doing the Sudoku while you're supposed to be texting in class?
"It was almost like a puzzle," Gilbert said of his RPG experience. "You had all these cool character traits, but at the same time, all these elements of good and evil, profession, all broke down into numbers - it's a very interesting system."
Honestly, if you had nothing good to say, I wouldn't blame you. Many people who play role-playing games - and I'm talking the extra-strength, triple-distilled nerdy kind, rolling dice and drawing maps and whatever - are huge pains in the ass. As far as anyone can tell from most high school gamers, all role-playing games do is cause you to develop acne and wear those black pants with neon chains on them.
But try to forget those people. I know - it's tough. But these games are some of the best things you can do with yourself, although I guess volunteering at homeless shelters is a little more significant. Pencil and paper role-playing games - colloquially, "RPGs," of which "Dungeons and Dragons" is the most well-known, but there are plenty more - are some of the best, most enjoyable educational tools available to today's disgruntled youth.
The numbers game
Math comes easy to me - because I grew up knowing exactly how many paces away that thief is, how much it'll cost to fix my platinum-plated armor and how much ale we can put on the cart before the wheels will break.
Math is generally a pain to learn, and even more of a pain to practice - and RPGs can help with that. No, they've got no calculus or linear algebra to teach a college-level mathematician, but they are full of numbers that won't crunch themselves.
"I was attracted to the number cruching," said Joseph Gilbert, a 5th-semester computer science and engineering major. And those numbers are all attached to problems that need solving. Sure, numbers are boring, but solving puzzles isn't - how many hours have you wasted doing the Sudoku while you're supposed to be texting in class?
"It was almost like a puzzle," Gilbert said of his RPG experience. "You had all these cool character traits, but at the same time, all these elements of good and evil, profession, all broke down into numbers - it's a very interesting system."
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
W.J. Walton
posted 11/21/08 @ 12:53 PM EST
Nice article. It's always good to see something positive said about roleplaying, even if it did start out a little bit negative towards the players. I'll be mentioning this on my site and podcast - www. (Continued…)
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