Video Games and Literacy

In James Gee’s book What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy, I noticed something about my personal literacy. In being able to relate the content to my personal life experiences of video games I was more deeply connected with the material. Some of the readings so far have been very dry for me, but being able to relate literacy to something I grew up with was a great tool in capturing my attention.

In this book, Gee explains that when images are placed with words the images typically tell something the text does not and the same goes for text to images. “Further the combination of the two models communicates things that neither of the modes does separately.” (Gee 18)

The importance of connecting all these different visuals and texts are necessary to find a more well rounded understanding of the overall message. Text is good, visuals are good, but a combination of the two create multiple platforms which we can extract meaning from.

Video games state a lot about our nation as well. Gee states that it is easy to make a player a “saint or a sinner” (Gee 148). To see yourself as the villan changes these perceptions in a unique way.

Our own cultural models are shifted due to our experiences and our perceptions. These models continually form as we experience new things in the world. Children are changed by their reactions to situations as much as what they learn in the classroom and sometimes more.  These cultural models are both good and bad as we are building judgment before finding out the facts. This can help or hinder our growth. We only find out through trials.