Big Block Battle

I hate computer games, but found myself engaging in one at Yahoo's games: Big Block's Battle. The reason I hate computer games is that the gamer has to figure out what to do and then how to do it, which teaches determination based on the old try, try, then try again strategy because there is no way to go to the next stage until the current stage is complete. I like knowing the objective, the "what to do," but often computer games let the gamer figure that out as they participate in the game.

I figured out that the blue guys are the bad guys, the green guys are the good guys, and my job was to knock off the blue guys, and keep the green guys. Once I figured out how to do that, I could complete the task and move onto the next stage. Sometimes, it was easier to figure out than others, but I made it all the way to level 30 of the 35 currently in the game using the trial and error gaming style that I seem able to perform. At level 30, I was stuck for well over a week and needed someone to help me past this blockage.

When all else fails, call in the troops, family members who don't waste time playing these piddly games, but are serious gamers. My S-I-L told me his "go to" is Youtube, and he graciously sent me the link to level 30 of Big Block's Battle, which showed me how to play battle 30. Once I saw it, it not only made sense, but was easy-peasy; however, without that solution, I could die a very old lady without ever finishing stage 30 as the key to winning was the pendulum, which I made rock back and forth in my many attempts to find a solution, but never would have realized that it could rebound up and take out the blue guys!!

I am happy to say that I have finished Big Block's Battle, but the game-makers provide an additional challenge: I can go back to the stages that took me longer to complete and replay them to earn a medal!! They don't realize what it took for me to complete some of these tasks, which is, in itself, worthy of a medal. There is no going back and trying to recreate my fumbling through the stages to completion. I earned medals on 18/35 battles, adequate for my skill level, but not enough to be even a marginally good gamer. However, for the gamer who wants to improve his/her problem-solving ability, redoing the tasks better the second time around is good motivation to improve this skill.

As both a teacher and a life-long learner, I look for the lesson; in this case, it's persistence in problem-solving. If children will spend literally hours solving the challenge of computer games, why won't they spend a fraction of that time learning the educational basics? Spelling is often just patterning, matching the sounds of the letters to the sounds of the words in order: game-playing 101. Math is easy once a child learns the basic concepts, which is also basic gaming: figure out the system, then repeat it to solve new problems. The multiplication tables are simple memorization, which is also one of the foundations of game-playing: memorize the players, the equipment, the route, the challenges, and the game is easy to complete.

There are lessons to be learned from game playing, but putting the knowledge on-line does not fulfill the obligation to educate. When the student completes the 35 stages of Big Block's Battle, a conversation can help him/her clarify the learning that accompanied the activity: the persistence in problem-solving. How can that learning be applied to the next educational task, to problems encountered outside the classroom, on the job, or in a family?

It's not about playing the game, but it's about learning from playing the game. Without the learning, computer games are just another way for kids to waste time.