In this case, "childish" is not pejorative. Maybe it never should be. Mike "Gabe" Krahulik has a great post on Penny-Arcade about rediscovering the joy of gaming by entering a Pokemon tournament, and seeing his min-maxing play style through the eyes of kids who are differently emotionally invested in their pokemon. Like a Scrooge, Mike also sees a reflection of the douchebag he could have been in an overly aggressive, boastful kid.

Anyway, it's a charming vignette and I love how it ends. It's wonderful to think that Pokemon is teaching kids to be gracious winners and losers, to appreciate the journey more than the destination, and to really revel in what the best of games can do - bring joy. These kids sound like they are acting way more civilized than most people twice their age who frequent Xbox Live.

Which leads me to thinking - are there games that seem to draw out better behavior than others? Are there games which, by intrisic design principles, bring out and encourage courtesy and consideration for others without forcing it on players as just another stat to max out? How would one design a game to encourage this?

In the case of Pokemon, it seems that the behavior is linked to the values exhibited in the TV show, where Ash and friends are always good guys, even when they lose. Sure, Ash can be a bit of a whiner sometimes, and he's immature, but he's got the sense of justice and honor that one sometimes finds in kids - a simple sense of doing the right thing, not yet corrupted by the world. Something to think about, anyway.

Thanks, Phil! Posted by jane at July 24, 2007 09:20 PM | TrackBack