Weekly Reading Posts

While reading chapters one and three of "The Video Game Theory Reader 2" by Bernard Perron and Mark J.P. Wolf, I thought of the way my little brother would move his fingers in his sleep simulating his "habituated responses" from playing Super Mario Bros all day. However, it wasn't until I read this article that I could see a similarity between reading and playing video games. Occasionally, I would battle it out with my brother playing Super Mario Bros or Sonic the Hedgehog but, for the most part, I could be found cozied up in a corner with a Nancy Drew or R.L. Stine novel. Admittedly, I deemed myself more intellectual than my brother back then because to me, he was simply moving his fingers around without gaining any insight into the world around us. I didn't see a deeper meaning to be found in video games at that precocious age of 9 years old. However,  reading "The Video Game Theory Reader 2" gave me new insight on how similar reading is to playing video games. As stated in the article, "[The] requirement of habituation prior to full engagement with video game play is parallel, in part, with requirements for reading.  The initial process of controller assimilation and habituation is analogous to the process of learning an alphabet, grammar and syntax" (Perron and Wolf 51). Given this similarity, it is easy to see how the use of video games can facilitate learning if incorporated into K-12 curriculums. Prior to reading this article, I felt like video games would be a distraction for the learning process in secondary schools but I'm now convinced that video games can tap into an innate curiosity that may help students gravitate more strongly to academia.