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March 8, 2007

Cheating???

This item caught my eye today.

Cheating at a popular Web site worries educators
The lure of having the coolest igloo on the block may be teaching some young children that cheating is acceptable. At the increasingly popular children's virtual-world site ClubPenguin.com, cheating has gone mainstream, with some children downloading software and consulting blogs that help them to pad their virtual pockets with ill-gotten gold coins instead of earning their way fairly. Chicago Tribune

I'm wondering whether these kids believe they are "cheating." Maybe they are using technology for communication (ISTE NETS*S #4), research (5), and problem-solving and decision-making (6). Maybe the idea of "cheating" is the adult view from a world where games were played mainly against others, rather than an electronic world where the challenge is against the machine or collaborating with others against the machine.

So where do I get this cock-eyed view of the world? I've been an avid video game player since the Nintendo days -- just plain Nintendo. I'm now laid up after a knee operation and playing my way through Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It's a great game with lots of puzzles. But sometimes the puzzles are tougher than I'm able to spot or they call for seeing some small item on the screen or recalling something from several dungeons past. The point of the game is for me to have fun, right? When I am thoroughly frustrated, I'm not having fun...so, I go to GameFaqs where people have published elaborate 100+ page hint and walkthrough books. I find just the next sentence to make it fun again.

I've discussed this with my 15-year old nephew who has been playing games on consoles and online since he was about 4. His great frustration early on was an inability to play any game that required reading. Pretty good incentive and practice space. By the time he was 7, he was playing complicated adventure games by using a printed guide. Why? Because it wasn't fun when he couldn't advance. The payoff was an ability to read better and to follow directions. Just what teachers wanted him to do!

Now, I'm not a regular in ClubPenguin but there might just be another perspective...

Posted by Pat on 4:59 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack