Kate,
Absolutely great points and some things I have been considering (especially the issue of looking at what behaviors are being tacitly rewarded and improved of within a competitive realm. That is why a game like the Lord of the Rings is neat because it allows all human players to cooperatively work in destroying the One Ring against the mechanics of the game itself. All the players lose or all the players win.
However I also think it is folly to try to ignore and subvert the natural competitive drive of anyone and instead I prefer games that teach the ideas that the opponent is not only a competitor but a student and a teacher. Each game then could be a wordless conversation between two people. This whole philosophy is what specifically drew me to both Go and Zendo.
Zendo in particular is what originally introduced me to and hooked me on LL work. Go is the game that taught me the importance of both opponents respecting one another looking to their opponent to act as a mirror for their own personal weaknesses.
On the note of the class though, I would happily accept any donations from your company and would love to try some of them out in a classroom setting.
-Ryan
On 4/3/07, Kate Jones <kate@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Great subject. I'd just like to add that the Mensa-Select games, to be
reviewed, must also pay an entry fee of, last time I looked, $125 per title.
That leaves out some worthy products who cannot or will not pay for review,
such as our own.
In using games in class to teach - what? - critical thinking, sportsmanship,
strategy, systems organization, reasoning, goal management, rule creation
and team play, I would like to introduce one other radical consideration:
What values are being inculcated? If you have capturing or other kinds of
sabotage towards the other players, you are perpetuating a predatory social
ethic.
Fostering even subliminally that the other players are the "enemy"
proliferates, propagates and legitimizes an adversarial attitude toward
those who share this world with us. That kind of thinking leads to accepting
and even endorsing wars and conflict, conquest and expropriation.
Games that bring players together to collaborate towards resolving problems,
finding mutually beneficial resolutions, and overcoming hardships and
obstacles in the game environment rather than within each player, would be
the kind of educational experience that reinforces the positive values.
Competition where each player gains is great; competition that motivates to
put others down or to impede them rewards the wrong values.
That's my soapbox. Thanks for listening, and I hope it will add something to
your thinking when you choose games for your classes. By the way, I love
Looney games; they are truly enlightened.
The only other game I would like to see is where everyone wins. The
winners/losers paradigm needs to go.
-- Kate Jones
Kadon Enterprises, Inc.
www.gamepuzzles.com
--
Ora, lege, lege, lege, relege, labora et invenies.