Must All Educational Games Be Boring?

Too Much Free Time

from the who-would-want-to-play-this?!? dept

Some researchers are trying to encourage those on food stamps to eat in a healthier way, while making the food stamps go further. They decided that, since so many young adults like to play video games, they might as well create some video games on the subject called The Fantastic Food Challenge. While it’s a nice idea, the games sound ridiculously boring (“place baked beans, tortillas, frozen chicken and other virtual groceries into a cartoon-drawn freezer, cupboard or refrigerator”), and unlikely to attract much attention. While the designers suggest these games are more exciting than typical “eat smart” brochures, they forget that they’re not competing against those brochures, but other video games. This brings up the question, then, why must all educational games be so painfully boring?