Low Five Education
Identity in Gaming
Although certainly not a perfect person, I’ve always struggled to play as the bad guy when given the choice in video games. Hilariously, the sweetest most gentle friend I had in high school had no such issues as he relished the ability to follow the dark side. Both of us turned out fine so this isn’t a critique of how video games shape players, but instead an example of how video games allow players to try out and explore different identities. Books, movies, and board games have long offered the ability to explore different perspectives or see the world through a new set of eyes, but the interactive nature of play within video games means you can literally be whoever or whatever you want. They take the imaginative nature of childhood games or the more serious and structured play of dungeons and dragons and visualize the realities for the player. You can poke and prod the worlds you play in, test them to their limits, or simply enjoy an expanded reality through active role playing.
In the simplest terms, identity is a combination of how we see ourselves and how the world sees us. We are all some wonderful and unique mix of physical, historical, interests, and personality related traits that make us who we are. Whether we realize it or not, our identity shapes the way we interact with others and the world around us as well. If you identify as an athlete, the local gym is way more likely to be a comfortable place for you. If you identify as a social studies teacher you may be more comfortable dragging your significant other to fascinating historical sites and museums that you are both super excited for… Speaking of that, your identity also shapes how you think about things and has the ability to restrict your access to full understanding of perspectives on the situation. As it turns out other people see things differently and might have different opinions on how to spend a day off. When it comes to schooling, understanding your own identity and honoring your students’ identities is incredibly important for a few reasons. Are they comfortable in this space? Are they interested and invested in the content you're teaching, or how you're teaching it? Are they understanding the issues from a multitude of perspectives? Are they learning in a way where mistakes are okay? These are all important questions to consider when assessing your teaching and classroom environment, but where do video games fit into this conversation?
When looked at as a tool, video games offer an excellent opportunity for students to engage and learn within a classroom. Through the lens of identity, video games offer an opportunity for students to explore their identities as learners, different or unique perspectives outside of themselves, as engaged citizens within a local or global community, and as environmental stewards. Given the diverse range this conversation covers, the following sections will cover learner identity followed by roleplaying outside of one’s identity. The concepts will be more fully explained and related to video game play, before suggestions or curated video games for each learning concept are detailed. Civic and environmental identity will be covered in part two in a separate article that continues the conversation around identity learning and video game play.
When a “Gamer” Becomes a “Learner”
As previously discussed, learning how to learn is an important part of schooling and video game play. On the developer side they want you to learn through play in a way that engages and excites the user. On the player side a large component is how they see themselves and therefore the energy they bring into the experience. This is no different in schools in big and small ways. Were you a good, okay, or bad student in your own eyes? Were you a math, gym, or social studies kid? As teachers we constantly try to get our students to stop labeling themselves in these ways because we know how inhibiting it is to a child’s learning when they come into English as a self labeled “bad reader” or math class as “just not having a math brain.” It becomes a self fulfilled prophecy that is hard to counteract because the students self assessed identity gives them no confidence and little hope to get better. Similarly someone who doesn’t identify as a video game player is more likely to struggle with and fluently play a game as it will feel foreign and they lack the confidence to see it as another way. Inversely those who identify as video game players have built up that confidence and fluency with the tools of video game play naturally due to having fun or being introduced at a young age at home.
To bring this point to schooling, many kids ranging all the way from elementary through high school play video games as a hobby. Not everyone does, but a lot do and therefore identify as video game players. If a teacher were to select and build lesson plans around specific games that were fun, but importantly also offer academic content or educational merit, they would be tapping into a fluency and built in skill set of a wide range of students. Similarly comic books and graphic novels have previously been viewed as childish endeavors counter productive to true reading skills and analysis. Thanks to modern mindsets and research sparked by the famous works of Art Speiglemen’s Pulitzer Prize winning Maus, or Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, graphic novels are now commonly assigned readings within schools (where they are not banned). They tell fascinating stories in an artistic medium that excite and engage students, while most importantly tapping into a hobby or pursuit of the student. Carefully selected video games could serve as similar momentum into bringing the validity of learning through video game play within the classroom. I have taught Maus within my classroom, which requires teaching students how to read comics. Many can confidently participate and even help teach their classmates. This honors their identity, but the teacher is also developing needed skills so all students can properly interact with the medium that is newer to some.
Something important that I’ve always enjoyed about the units in our social studies centered around reading a graphic novel is how it always seems to pull in previously disinterested or less confident students. This is something that I’d strongly believe would happen if video games were used for units in the same way. Students who identify as gamers may become more confident and more engaged with what is being taught through the game, because it's being taught in a way that they identify with as a strength. This allows them to be experts in the class for potentially the first time, or interestingly more willing to take greater risks and engage at deeper levels. Academically this is understood as tapping into your students’ funds of knowledge. Games teach you slowly but surely how to get better at them by design. Developers want players to keep playing so they design their games to teach you in a way that’s fun. School could gain a lot from that mindset.
Recommend Games
Elementary School
Minecraft: There is an education edition, more available resources for teachers to use than most games out there, and if the kids aren’t already playing it they are watching videos about it on Youtube whenever they get the chance. A teacher who leaned into using Minecraft with elementary students would quickly become a favorite in the school. Many will know how to play and you’ll be seeing them use tons of creativity. This could lead to conversations about the importance of resources/resource gathering, building techniques, and entry level coding for the World’s future professionals.
Middle School
Surviving Mars: The difficulty will be ramped up a bit here but fluency is still achievable through teacher planning and online resources from forums and/or content creators. As the player you’re setting up a settlement on Mars. This leads to plenty of conversations about what is required to survive, necessary human systems or infrastructure, strategic planning and plenty of trial and error. You could even relate back to our current planet and incorporate conversations on the need to preserve life here on Earth. The space setting also offers the chance to greater peak student interest in science classrooms.
High School
Celeste: In Celeste game play and story are beautifully intertwined. The game play is tough but when you persevere and fight through what you didn’t think you could manage or face, you're all the stronger from it. You are platforming up a treacherous mountain that it turns out is essentially a metaphor for the anxiety, depression and mental illness the character is facing. More mental health support is needed in schools and part of that is simply having more discussions. Celeste is a fun and challenging game to play where you often do the same thing over and over until you master the mechanics, levels, and challenges. It wouldn’t be easy but the game play is rewarding and fluency is attainable. Combine that with lessons on mental health challenges and the difficulty to preserve and you’ve certainly created a meaningful and not soon forgotten unit.
Role Playing Outside of Your Own Identity
As a social studies teacher it is incredibly important to teach your students perspective or point of view. You do not teach dates and facts as is popularly stereotyped, but instead you try and teach your students how to analyze and understand the world both past and present. So instead of simply teaching that something happened, we try to explore why it happened, what led up to it, or who was affected by the event and how. Perspective is present at each of these steps and incredibly linked to identity, both in the way people acted past and present, and how we interpret these events ourselves. Perspective helps us understand, but our own identities can also hold us back from seeing things in a different light.
Video games offer us alternative views on the situation because we can be someone else and see the world through those eyes as opposed to our own. Sure we still are bringing in our own identity and perspective, but we are being pushed in a way that allows for immersion into a new way of thinking. Due to the diversity of games this can play out in tons of ways. After trying to run an empire or city within a management or simulation game, a player could realize that the decisions of leadership weren’t as easy or obvious as previously believed. Maybe those pesky taxes are needed to build roads, hospitals, and schools. In a grander sense maybe a player is playing as another country from their own in a game centered around an actual war or event. This could lead to interesting conversations around motivations or at least greater humanization of the opposition. At a more human or personal level games also tell stories and give the perspectives of marginalized populations whose stories have previously been ignored or suppressed. Games today explore topics such as depression and/or sexuatiy in complellng and postivie ways. Exploring as opposed to denying or ignoring these identities could help players see themselves or at least some of their classmates in a more humane way.
Recommended Games:
Middle to High School English classes
What Remains of Edith Finch: What remains of Edith Finch is a walking simulator (a term used for a game that is more story or narrative based and doesn’t involve active combat or action) where the player explores the collection of strange tales connected to the Finch Family. You play as Edith, but explore the various perspectives of the entire family. The story covers dark matters around death, depression and substance abuse, but is praised for its balance of these topics with joy and whimsy. Some may be uncomfortable with its topics, but with the right teaching it's a great way to take on challenging subject material in an entertaining way. We’ve come to accept all sorts of dark material in Huck Finn or the works of Shakespeare due to their status as classics, so I’m confident that tough subject material is no reason to shy away from a compelling and multi perspective story.
Gone Home: Gone home would be a braver selection that is best handled by a teacher who is supported from administration and their community. It is not a wildly inappropriate game, but has an M rating for mature due to swearing as well as sexual references. That being said, in a perfect world, Gone Home would be an awesome selection for teachers to embrace conversations around sexualtiy and the often uncomfortable family dynamics associated with coming out to your family. It is another walking simulator that tells the story of a young woman who returns home from studying overseas only to find her family isn’t home. You as the main character have to piece together recent events by looking through the house and interacting with objects or clues. The game has been praised for its story and handling of LGBTQ+ issues that many players identify with, which would also provide hetero students with important empathy and learning as well.
Middle to High School Social Studies Classes
Papers Please: In Papers Please the Player role plays as a border crossing agent in a fictional dystopian Eastern Bloc like country of Arstotzka. Your job is to review each immigrant and return citizens’ passports or paperwork against an always changing list of rules from an increasingly volatile government/political landscape. The choices you make as an agent don't just affect the people who come through, but also you who needs to make money and has a family to support. There are 31 playable days and your choices in that time lead to 20 different endings. The multitude of stories and perspectives would give a teacher plenty to talk to a class about. Although the setting is fiction it does help highlight the human sides of many of the eras and conflicts we learn about in class, especially within the Cold War.
Through the Darkest of Times - Through the Darkest of Times is an interactive fiction strategy game where you are the leader of a small resistance group in 1933 Berlin. Your group is composed of all those opposed to the 3rd Reich including but not limited to Jews, Catholics, communist, and patriots. The way you play the game is by choosing dialogue and making decisions as you seek to both survive and hopefully undermine Hitler’s Nazi party. (The game can also be played in a story mode if you simply want to learn through the story) History is understanding so allowing students to get greater depth in understanding of the human side of WW2 is crucial. Not every German was a Nazi and not all sat idlly by. Through the Darkest of Times allows students to learn and engage with a not often told perspective of the war.
Civic and Environmental Identity in Gaming
When looked at as a tool, video games offer an excellent opportunity for students to engage and learn within a classroom. Through the lens of identity, video games offer an opportunity for students to explore their identities as learners, different or unique perspectives outside of themselves, as engaged citizens within a local or global community, and as environmental stewards. After previously discussing learner identity and role playing outside of one’s own identity, there is still a lot of ground to cover. This article serves as a continuation of how video games offer unique learning opportunities related to identity exploration. The following sections cover civic and environmental identity. They are each identified and explained before offering suggested video game pairings that could help strengthen them in schools.
Civic Identity
Our civic identity is how we see ourselves and our role within our community. Due to an ever connected world and society, what we see as our community can range from our city block all the way up to the entire globe. Civic engagement and participation is one of the most important concepts in all of schooling, not just social studies. If we do not understand our political systems we cannot participate. This includes humble actions such as volunteering or simply cleaning up after ourselves to massive actions like petitioning to have laws changed, participating in the military or holding public office. Teaching students about the systems in which they live is best done when they see themselves within the systems. The idea here isn’t to teach about how they identity in terms of political ideology. We’ll let politicians continue to fight over that non stop through learning standards (or lack thereof on certain topics). Instead students should be taught what they are capable of, the importance of their participation, and become educated on issues that matter to them and their community.
As it turns out, video games naturally create communities where players interact in all sorts of ways. Oftentimes it's talking about games or helping others with similar issues or concerns within the game. This might seem anecdotal at best, but studies have shown that individuals who game with others are more likely to engage in civic activities. More interestingly, depending on what type of game they enjoy playing the most, statistics show different increased interests or involvements. For example, players in this study who favored playing Halo, a popular first person shooting game, responded to be more likely to help guide other players or serve as a teacher within the game. Players whose favorite game was The Sims, a popular lifestyle management/simulation game series where the user plays as an in game avatar of whomever they choose to create, are more likely to have learned about problems within society, explored social issues, or have made a decision about how a city is run while playing video games compared to gamers of other game styles. This leads me to believe that with properly selected and supported games, students could be enhancing skills already being learned in school and give them more reason to remember and interact with their education.
Teachers are already hard at work trying to develop the civic identity of their students, but there is no shame in implementing different methods of instruction with the hopes of higher participation, autonomy, and safe practice. Here are some games that I think could develop a civic mindset within social studies classrooms of multiple ranges.
Recommended Games
Elementary School (K-5)
Animal Crossing: Kids would get pulled in right from the start because it's adorable, but there are actual multiple lessons to be learned if you play with purpose or have conversations that stem from being played. In the most recent Animal Crossing entry you start up on an island with a tent and slowly grow into a robust community. There are some strong vibes of individualistic capitalism, but there is also plenty to do in regards to making your community better and participating in different events with your island neighbors. Students would be donating and visiting the island museum, making sure different residents are happy and cared for as well as donating to public works projects to build bridges or other important infrastructure projects. The daily structure connected to real time also lends itself to daily check-ins which could be fun and rewarding for a class. Admittedly this might be a better lesson learned at home due to only being able to play on the Nintendo Switch
iCivics games - iCivics is a website dedicated to providing engaging resources and meaningful civic learning for students. They have a variety of resources available, but most prominently here is their suite of games. Admittedly they are not as fun or gamelike as the other games this project has focused on, but they are still awesome resources and provide tons of learning opportunities. From my experience as an 8th grade teacher who has used these games once or twice, I see this being most effective for a 3rd to 6th grade range. Students might not beg the teacher to play them, but it would still offer a fun mixup to the class. It’s also important to mention that they provide teacher lesson plans and resources which would take a lot of the heavy lifting off your plate. Here are a few of the games offered (there are many more!):
Do I have rights?: You run a law firm in a test of knowledge on constitutional rights
Immegration Nation: Guiding newcomers through the path to citizenship
Counties Work: Manage a county all while trying to get re-elected
Middle to High School
Democracy 4 - In Democracy 4 you are a newly elected president or prime minister who is tasked with shaping the country as you see fit through laws, policies, and other actions while also trying to get reelected. What could make this game fun for a government or civics based class is all of the different directions you could go down. You have advisors and many competing factions to please and manage in order to stay in power such as the capitalists or more socialist leaning groups within your nation. Students could try out their political ideology within the game but also see what happens when you rule in different ways. There isn’t a perfect way to play the game, and it isn’t a perfect one to one of real life politics, but that still leads to compelling analysis. Will you tax the rich to assist the poor? What happens when you completely gut the military budget? Democracy 4 is an awesome sandbox for your students to experiment and explore different ideas and beliefs within. It also gives the players tons of information such as polls, infographics, statistics and advisor feedback to analyze, so there is plenty of academic meat on the bone here.
City Builders (SimCity Series / Cities Skylines / Tropico Series) - Listed in the header are a handful of the genre's top games. The idea here is to really point out their potential to let players decide laws, policies, and generally see the view of a city or nation from a macro view. Civic identity is seeing yourself within a community as well as seeing yourself as a part of the community. Often in life we think of larger decisions made by the government or community only within our own perspectives. Being in charge of the city might change that as you install annoying toll booths in order to afford a shiny new high school for the neighborhood, or raise taxes in order to better fund your public park system. These types of games give you the tools to see your own community in a new light.
Environmental Identity
Caring for the Earth isn’t just for hippies and knowing about the outdoors isn’t just for science experts, “outdoorsy types”, or “country folk.” There are many reasons for people being unfamiliar with the outdoors and environmental concerns, one of the simplest is that they never developed a strong environmental identity. Environmental identity is how one positions or sees themselves within the natural environment. It is foundational in understanding how one interacts with nature both good and bad. With the development of a more profound and caring attitude towards the environment, our students will be better equipped to deal with the issues relating to climate change, but also more likely to enjoy public green spaces. A big way to get kids into relating and caring for the environment is to actually see and experience nature, although that isn’t as easy as it sounds. Lots of equipment, time, and resources are needed to get kids outside into their own neighborhood, let alone national parks or other inspiring natural spaces.
Despite the challenges it's important to offer students experiences within nature. Although a dramatic example, students within a study that experienced at-risk natural environments, in this case melting glacial landscapes, reported increases in desire to share with others environmental concerns as well as developing a deeper understanding of human impact on the environment. It makes sense that growing attached to something and seeing yourself within it would lead to a more profound connection. Seeing that thing you love and identity with in need would naturally spark greater care and energy than hearing about some issue that you don’t relate to or see yourself within. Video games might seem like the opposite of getting outside, but they can actually offer stunning landscapes, immersive experiences within nature, and powerful pro environmental messaging through story. Nothing 100% takes the place of being in diverse natural settings, but through video games and digital media students can explore literally the entire world. Here are a few games that either allow kids to explore/experience nature, or experience a story with pro environmental messaging.
Recommended Games
Elementary
Alba a Wildlife Adventure - Alba is a single player adventure game about a young girl who starts a wildlife conservation club. Throughout the game the main character is inspired to help animals in danger and help save the island's nature preserve through teamwork and collaboration. It's a wholesome and easily played game that can spark conversations in class about what conservation is, what efforts are being made, and how to work together to achieve something as a community. This game was originally selected to fit within the civic identity section which shows how strong of an offering Alba could be in an elementary setting given it values both the natural world and human communities so highly.
Sustainability City (Minecraft) - As previously mentioned, Minecraft has resources already built in for teachers to use. Sustainability City comes within the Education edition of the game and comes equipped with lesson plans for teachers. This edition teaches about sustainable homes, managing waste products, clean electricity generation, responsible forestry, and exploring ways that students' individual choices and decisions at the policy level affect the planet. Like Alba a WildLife Adventure, Sustainability City also offers civic minded development for students in addition to its environmental identity development which gives teachers all the more reason to support playing as a class.
Middle - High School
Microsoft Flight Simulator - In Microsoft Flight simulator you fly over any location in the world. It feels like a more detailed and stunning view of Google Earth. Its a flight simulation, so there isn’t a story or gameplay to discuss, so in an educational context think of it as a tool that allows your students to better experience and analyze natural environments or human systems
Eco - Eco is a game built to be educational, but looks and feels a lot more ambitious and exciting than most educational games. In Eco players collaborate with one another to build a civilization in balance with the fragile ecosystem. In a pretty fascinating catch 22 situation, the players need to advance far enough technologically to stop an impending meteor strike without over polluting the world in the process. This is another game that could have easily fit into the civic identity section given that there is a player run government and economy.