teach via rules and outcomes
Players see games as systems of rules and outcomes. Narrative elements tie the system to some real world property, but are, to an extent, abstracted away.
Thus, if you want to teach something, the rules and outcomes of decisions have to match with what you are teaching in real life. Reskinning space invaders to a game where you are shooting garbage in space doesn’t teach that “litter is bad” because it has nothing to do with the decisions, outcomes, and effects of littering in real life.
Game players don’t merely copy the ideas in a game’s systems, instead they use them as a simulation ground to see what the outcomes of actions are.
September 12th is a great example of a simple simulation with a strong message.
This is why (according to Video Games for Prosocial Learning-Koo) prosocial game claims bolster violent video game claims isn’t too much of a problem. Players don’t simply copy the actions they do in a video game, rather they see the effects that violence can have and internalize those rules and systems.
