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besanradwan's picture

I kind of agree with you, but

I kind of agree with you, but to an extent. I do not agree that thousands of hours in front of any game would help the world, but certainly some games are VERY good at helping students. Take for example a student who has a short attention span; s/he doesnt want to sit in the classroom all day and listen to a teacher "drone on". To them, that is the equivilant of sitting in front of a computer screen with no input. However, if the teacher makes the educational material into a game, the student is suddenly engaged and learns by a new method. We as students have to open our minds to the different means and methods of learning. It's not clear cut like we thought it was back in the day. Our minds are complicated and some of us can benefit from using educational games as a method of learning. However, I do agree with you that McGonigal takes it too far. The important thing to realize though is that fun and learning are not mutually exclusive. 

My question is do you think sites like this: http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1491 prove McGonigals point that playing games DOES stop world hunger? What are your thoughts on this specific website?

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