Library Voice

In his response to my previous post, Paul has aligned much of what I wrote with many of the ACRL Information Literacy standards. It may seem at first glance like a stretch, but Paul does write a convincing argument that the GTA series of games do help players in learning and practicing skills information literacy skills. However, Paul questions his own argument, inviting me to respond to the question: “Chad are these skills real? Or am I just trying to make a controversial and violent more acceptable? Granted it is an “M” game for a reason.”

It may be difficult for librarians to think that a game like Grand Theft Auto can possibly teach information literacy and lifelong learning skills. If we look simply at the idea of information literacy in the context of doing library research, then there’s no way we can tie the two together. However, if we look more closely at the game, and more broadly at the concept of information literacy, then I think we can see that true skills are being practiced and learned.

Now does that mean that a player who plays Grand Theft Auto is likely to be better at finding and analyzing information in the real world? I’m not sure that the player would be better at finding the information, but he might be more inclined to look for better information. Playing a game like GTA teaches you patience. It encourages you to take your time and explore. It encourages you to keep trying until you find the right solution to a problem, or until you beat a mission. If you try to beat a game like GTA in the fastest way possible, you’re likely to miss a huge part of the experience. The GTA series is all about becoming immersed in a world and sticking around for a long, long time. The more time you spend in the GTA world, the more you uncover about the game. Also, staying in the game is likely to make the player better at the game, since he will have spent more time playing.

To a certain extent, research is very similar. When researching a topic, you have to look at multiple routes when addressing a research need. In order to become more knowledgeable about a topic, you have to at times immerse yourself in that topic. If you rush through the research process just to find 10 “quality” sources, you’re likely to miss part of the experience.  This does not apply only to academic research, but to any research need. For a real life example, I’ve become very interested in cycling over the past couple of years. My interest has covered areas of mountain biking, bike commuting, and road riding. I’ve also become very interested in vintage bikes, after inheriting one last summer. I visit a few reliable sites a few times a week, read blogs on the topic, and even visit the bike shop on occasion. My wife would call this “Chad’s most recent obsession,” but I would say that I’m simply immersing myself in the very healthy activity of bicycle riding. Along the way I’ve learned a lot about my hobby from experts and other cyclists. By consulting a variety of resources, I have been able to get most of my questions about bicycle maintenance, bicycle designs, and training answered.

Once I gathered the information, I applied it to my question. In one case, I wondered if my derailleur would work with a different sized freewheel. I did some research and found a suitable answer. Once I was satisfied with the answer, I knew my quest for information was done. In a video game like GTA, the player often has the same results when looking for ways to solve the problem then applying the knowledge to reach a resolution. The problem is that research does not often work like a video game. Students are presented with an assignment and then told that they will need a minimum of “X” quality sources. In a game, you often know that your approach to a problem was good enough because you pass a mission and move on to the next level. When doing research for a paper, students do not have that immediate feedback that tells them a particular resource is good enough for their paper. All they know is they need to collect 8 articles and work them into their paper. How do they know if the resources are good enough for their paper? In GTA, the player gets to try and keep trying to see if their methods are good enough to accomplish the mission. Unfortunately, most students only get one shot to prove to their instructors that they satisfy the requirements to pass or excel in the mission of writing the paper. In some cases, students are given the opportunity to write another draft of their papers, but are they encouraged to go back and find more research and evidence?  Do they truly understand why 2 of their resources were not credible, or why their paper did not meet all the requirements?  How do gamers who are accustomed to objective measurements of success in the game world adjust when they face more subjective measurements of mastery/success in the real world?

Perhaps in this rather long-winded and tangential post I’ve been trying to get to this point. Rather than argue about whether GTA teaches real life skills, should we be arguing that our methods of teaching should be more like GTA?  Shouldn’t we encourage students to do more in-depth exploration of their research topics without imposing a self-limiting scorecard on the number of resources they have? Shouldn’t we make our interfaces more user-friendly so that they give immediate feedback when a search fails?  Shouldn’t we offer students multiple opportunities for revision, so they can continue addressing a research problem/paper with trial and error? If the whole concept of lifelong learning/information literacy is to develop skills that students will have for the rest of their lives, shouldn’t we offer them multiple chances to try/fail/succeed in the application of these skills?  Finally, the GTA series is often commended on the way it nearly replicates much of the real world.  Should we be trying to replicate similar experiences in GTA (feedback, trial and error, exploration) and apply them to our world?

Paul Waelchli, author of Research Quest, and I, have agreed to do a weekly Vs. series discussing the educational value of various video games. Paul and I have frequent exchanges over IM about information literacy, gaming, parenting, and more. I consider Paul a friend, and this Vs. mode is less of a competition but more of a way to challenge each other to explore new ideas about gaming. Perhaps somewhere along the way our readers might join in on the conversation as well.

Paul has gotten this week’s Vs. conversation going with a timely post Grand Theft Auto IV. If you happened to be at Wal-mart yesterday, or you’ve been watching the news, you’re likely aware that one of the most-hyped video games of all time was just released. GTA has traditionally been very controversial, as many in the press criticize the themes and the violent gameplay. It’s likely that news outlets will look for ways to take advantage of the game’s hype and add fuel to the controversy. They’ll say things like “games are destroying our kids” or that “games train kids to be killers.” They’ll pull in experts that attest to these claims, while ignoring other studies that tell the opposite. Regardless of which side of the fence you’re on, please take everything you hear with a grain of salt. As GTA is rated M for Mature, our kids shouldn’t be playing this anyway.

But I digress. The original question was whether a game like GTA is a good teacher, or does it simply offer a classroom (or laboratory) for players to experiment with. GTA is a long running series that goes back quite some time. GTA is not like your typical video game. Most video games lead the player along a linear path from point A to point Z. With most games, you’re given a mission or a directive to complete in order to progress to the next level. As the player progresses to the next level, he is presented with a little more of the game’s story, thereby being rewarded for finishing the level. GTA is a sandbox style game, in which the player can choose to play the various missions to move the story along, or he can explore the game and do other activities. There are various side missions in the GTA games that do not move the plot along, but still allow the player to complete various objectives. It is this sandbox style gameplay that makes the GTA a great example of learning by trial and error rather than learning by example.

Generally in the beginning of a GTA game, the player is presented with a series of tutorials. The player will learn how to use the map, navigate the heads-up-display (HUD), practice using the controller buttons in context, and learn how to interact with various aspects of the environment. This usually occurs in the first few minutes of the game, then after which the player is left to explore. When I first started playing GTA Liberty City Stories, I immediately went to the first and second missions and completed them. After completing each mission, another piece of the plot is revealed and another mission is unlocked. I personally a big fan of stories in video games, so I always appreciate moving the plot along when I get a chance. After completing a whopping 2% of the game, I got bogged down on a few missions. These missions don’t really tell you how to complete them, but only give you the objectives. In one mission, I had to acquire a four door car and go rescue some of my thug friends who were caught in a shootout with police. So I jacked a car and drove over to the shootout. Directions to the shootout location were on my map, so I had no problem finding int. However, upon rescuing my thug buddies, I now had to evade the police. Guess what? There wasn’t an indicator on my map telling me where I had to go to evade the police. After driving around for about 20 minutes, I got caught by the police. I repeated the mission, and then got caught again. And again. And again. Finally I figured there must be a way for me to hide my car, and I then remembered how to go get my car painted at the car detailer. I had actually learned how painting a car tricks the police in a previous mission, but I had forgotten about that while trying the evade the fuzz. When I finally figured out thats what I was supposed to do, I tried it. But unfortunately I forgot how to get to the car detailer place, so I got caught again. So I gave up. Sad, I know.

Instead of retrying that mission over and over again, I went for a drive. I stole me a car and took a trip. Then I got tired of the car so I stole me a motor cycle. Then I got tired of driving, so I just walked around a bit. In the process of all that walking and driving around, I found hidden objects, hidden weapons, and more. I found that I got beat up if I went to a certain part of town. I got to see more of the environment of the video game and interact with it. I found that the people on the street treat you differently when you’re wearing different clothes. I learned that a motorcycle jumps farther than a garbage truck, but you get more points when you wreck the garbage truck. I learned that when you take a stolen car to the car crusher, you get more money for a sports car than you do for a minivan.   I learned that if you try to steal a black four-door sedan you’re likely to get shot.  All the while I was exploring, I became more familiar with the rules of the game and the layout of the city. I haven’t tried to rescue my thug buddies again, but I now know that I need to take two left turns and a right to get to the car detailer.

In learning all of this, the game did not hold my hand. It did not tell me that I could jump a garbage truck off a cliff. However, when I did it, I got some wicked skill points. I learned this and more through exploration in an open lab environment.  So yes, while the game does teach you the basic skills in the first few minutes, the rest of the game is up to the player.  The player learns by exploring, by experimenting, and by failing.  The reward for succeeding a mission is the unlocking of a new one, perhaps even harder than the first.  Even when frustration sets in, the player can choose other available missions, or continue to explore and probe the environment to learn more about the game.  While exploring on his own, the player may acquire new skills, knowledge, or items that may help him in completing the mission that he’s stuck on.

So Paul, my final answer is this:  GTA is not a teacher, but a laboratory for experimenting and exploration.  Learning occurs while the player mixes the right ingredients, probes the environment, and experiments with trial-and-error.  GTA does not tell you what you did wrong if you fail but only encourages you to try again.  Once you do solve a problem, you are rewarded with another unlocked mission, money, status points, or more.  Failing is painful at times, but trying and succeeding is truly an incentive to keep playing and learning.