Call of Duty...Curse or Cure?

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Preparing for the biggest Call of Duty video game launch of all time, USA Today published an article on their website warning employers and teachers that workers and students might be “sick” on Tuesday.  As Call of Duty: Black Ops II hits shelves at midnight on Tuesday, the draw to play may be too great for some people and their work may suffer.  While I don’t see any of my students coughing or sneezing, I certainly am prepared for a few more absences than normal. 

From an administrative perspective, attendance is a major issue in schools and principals work tirelessly to improve attendance rates each day.  It might be our first reaction to fight against this type of event and force students to get away from the television and back in school.  However, I feel that teachers and administrators should take a hard look at why so many students will skip school to play a little video game.  And the answers, I assure you, go far beyond entertainment. 

·         Clear Objectives – We can post the standards on the board, hang the standards in our room, and they still just aren’t that clear.  And let’s be honest, many students fail to recognize how their mastery of standard will impact their future.  In a video game, the objectives are clear and concrete.  There is no gray area.  When you complete the objective you move to the next level.  If you don’t, then you start again until you have mastered the skills to move forward. 

·         Relevant and Rigorous Learning – After the clear objectives have been established, games require players to master skills that are relevant to their success in the given world.  While the time it takes for some players to master the skills necessary is far greater than other players, games have the ability to enhance rigor based on the player’s existing skill set.  From the easy level to the “hardcore” mode, players adapt to an increasingly difficult world each time they play.

·         Immediate Feedback and Adaptation – While schools do provide some incentive for getting to class every day, the benefits of coming to school every day aren’t necessarily visible until later in life.  With a video game, the benefits of showing up are immediate.  Students win, lose and adapt each minute in a video game and that immediate feedback is motivation to continue. 

Do these things exist in every school and classroom in this nation?  Absolutely!  So why don’t students wait in line for hours to get into our schools the same way they do in anticipation for a big game release? MOTIVATION!  Video games motivate people to risk failure but rewards them with upgrades and trophies for their successes.  Schools can do the same.  As teachers and administrators, we must consider why we are failing to motivate our students to be successful at school and why video games succeed in motivating our students to master complex sets of skills in the matter of hours.  Instead of spending our time cursing Call of Duty and similar games for ruining our perfect attendance, we might start looking to them as the cure for some of our most difficult problems. 

To see the entire USA Today article, go to http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2012/11/11/call-of-duty-sick-days/1694633/