The Acrid Blog

I recently picked up the new gaming compilation released by Valve, known as The Orange Box.

One of the 5 games included in this compilation game is known as Portal.

In portal, you are given a portal creating device which allows you to create two portals linking two locations which can be crossed instantly by running through the portals. Also in this game you can pick up and drop objects such as boxes, crates, broken robots and the like. Towards the end of the game, I was chatting online via Xbox LIVE’s voice chat with my friend James (SOG DMNHUNTR), because I was stuck at a point during the game and could not figure out where to go. He helped me out and we continued through the game together helping each other get through tougher parts of the game. We reached a room where we had to crawl through a vent that was in an elevated position on the wall, too high to jump up into and too small of an opening to be able to jump from any other position nearby to get in. What we needed was a box or something to climb up to a level where we could crawl into the vent. We struggled to figure out what to do because there wasn’t an obvious answer anywhere in sight. Then I hear James yell out “Dude, I got it!” He actually had retrieved a chair from a room nearby and used it as a stool to climb into the vent. That’s when it hit me, video games truly are implementing applications of real life.

Just this one instance, makes me believe that video games can actually be used to teach skills or implement logical thinking. Video games can truly be used in conjunction with education, logical thinking, as well as developing complex problem solving skills. Using Portal as an example, the game is all about problem solving. You are at Point A, and you are tasked with getting your way to Point B, a very basic concept but something that can become very complex when you add pressure switches as well as seemingly unaccessible ledges or doors.

I truly believe that video games can teach real life applications to people. Some would argue that video games teach you to kill people or to drive way beyond the speed limit crashing into people, but such stipulations in my mind are far-fetched and just the product of anti-video game agenda’s.

This segment will become a regular addition to the blog, so keep your eyes out for it.

See Ya Next Time

-God Bless-

Acrid

Info on Orange Box