Technolandy

Day 34 (of 2025/26) video games as a literacy unit…

Alas poor Zelda, I knew her Horatio!

The stories within video games are frequently overlooked…. But the passion is there – it is evident every time a movie or tv show based on a video game comes out and messes up the lore that is more often implicit than explicitly stated… if you think movies based on books are messing up… video games are the biggest media format… with video format… and yet translations into more traditional (less immersive/interactive) formats don’t always go well…

And not a new phenomena – as a PacMan fan, I was thrilled and excited that there was going to be an extension of the story of the puck eating, ghost chasing… ghost fearing… avatar and learn more about the maze that he was trapped/thriving in. Then the animated series came out and I think I lasted one episode… it was a big miss. And there have been other misses with interpretations – the live action Mario Bros… ugh… but there have also been some pretty neat creations as well – TRON has its pros and cons, but along with the animated show ReBoot shows the sense of story from the pixel point of view. 

What can we learn?

Last Of Us – (mature) – connection and community; betrayal and devotion. Delightful immersive story telling – though it doesn’t get a lot of support for replay/reread options..

Uncharted, Gods of War, – (mature) – one again, an immersive experience that is relatively linear that does not necessarily lead to a desire to replay/read the world.

Much as some books are fun to read once, but not lead to re-reading… and yes – there are many books that lead to reading again and again and again (I know many who do not believe that some of us do enjoy reading things again and again… so while some of these games and stories are great for immersion… but like movies, sometimes the shock and surprise means re-visiting is…. different 

Kind of like the difference between listening to music again and again works better than listening to comedy specials… though I can still relisten to some sets (Carlin, ) cuz the greats are greats…

But there are some games that are more like ‘choose your own adventures’ – the story keeps changing allowing variety in replay… the best of the best: same world, different story. Consider Civilization (esp V) the world always has variation – much like Terrarium regenerates differently each time (like Minecraft). 

And yes, video games have worlds that come alive just as books to to their literary explorers. As I like to tease, there aren’t (m)any fan fiction creations based around the black line masters that many educators like to have emerging readers practice with… the sense of story and authors voice are at least as valuable as phonemic awareness, letter sounds, and letter blends etc.  Gotta blend the ‘why read’ into both learning to read and reading to learn… 

And we should often re-look at what we consider appropriate materials for reading and learning – if you didn’t know, the novel was once considered a fad (much like the book itself was upon first pressing) and doing more harm on youth than benefit (again, much like the book in general). 

What are we supposed to learn in New Media? 

Big Ideas

1. The exploration of text and story deepens our understanding of diverse, complex ideas about identity, others, and the world. Exploration of video games can deepen our own understanding of complex ideas about identity and the world. Sure there are some that still think that video games are …fill in the blank – the same statements were used with every new media format introduced into humanity’s exploration of story – consider the ‘theater of the mind’ that was radio – what you put in your mind is far richer than what was actually being performed…’. Video games are story communicators – and some even have subtitles on!
2. People understand text differently depending on their worldviews and perspectives. Likewise with video games – so many genres and entry points. Depending on your schema, you will experience video games differently than other users… that’s why we need to, and get to… level up at our own readiness!
3. Texts are socially, culturally, geographically, and historically constructed. The video games market continues to expand and reach out to wider and wider audiences. Though instead of traditional separations, the biggest differentiator becomes the console of choice – especially with exclusive titles not available for competitors – SmashBros remains on Nintendo, Halo on XBox, Marvels Spiderman on PlayStation… if you thought publishing houses were competitive…
4. Language shapes ideas and influences others. And language does get explored in a variety of ways – both in direct and indirect ways. Just keep the chat feature muted… other people can be inappropriate. And these visuals blended with language take immersive story telling to ways not even imagined… okay only imagined on the Atari 2600…
5. Digital citizenship requires both knowledge of digital technology and awareness of its impact on individuals and society. What better way than to explore this awareness by having an avatar take part in an adventure… with even more immersive technologies coming soon to put us even more into the game… as Ready Player One modelled – imagine interacting within favourite movies as video games as well! Choose your game wisely! Press start and get ready to: collaborate, problem solve, think critically and creatively and embrace rigor! And every game has a story.

Mind you, while Pitfall was a moderate success in the late 1900s, there are some obstacles video game manufacturers are getting wrong…. In app purchases https://youtube.com/shorts/iv5XaeurEb8?si=o6uph166-0_4uWVY that’s for another unit!

Rabbit hole project – what video game has the best backstory to immerse you into its world?