Well, after completing a review of Civilization IV as an education game alongside a colleague at work for the other blog I write for, I was asked to consider writing another educational game review, but this time for GTA IV. Yep, you read that right. No kidding.
This is going to be, putting it mildly, challenging. I’m not new to having to write hard sell documents. I used to write six or seven 20-30 page examination moderation reports every year to examination syndicates at Oxford and Cambridge explaining and then persuading them why students below a certain mark range should pass in a subject. But GTA IV as a learning device…! That’s going to take a lot of creativity and persuasion i.e. spin.
For those of us who’re playing GTA IV, you’d know the game is vulgar, violent, crass, full of morally corrupt characters, and very adult plot devices. Yep, all the things that make a game fun, but really not the sort of thing you’ll want your 12 year old kid to play.
Funnily, Ling has been watching me play the game one hour or so on selected evenings. She’s gotten used to the foul language, but she still sniffles whenever I (accidentally) run over a pedestrian. Or when I have to jack, whoops, ‘acquire’ someone’s car in the game to get going.
Maybe I should get one or two or my gaming students to help me in this. After all, they’re no doubt far ahead of me in GTA IV; I’m only at 52% game completion. But either way this goes, writing this review is going to be a lot of fun.:)
The game’s hero, Niko Bellic, likely before he offs some unlucky dude. Picture from Gamespot.
This entry is echoed in edited form also in the GET blog at http://gamingtp.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/gta-iv-education/.
When I have to jack a car, I prefer the term commandeer. It changes nothing, but it sounds official. At any rate, I have a clear conscience after doing so. :)