A blog turning into a game

Although Ramo Games is primarily interested in educational games for kids, we have noticed a lot of momentum in the education space generally. Here are some sister Learning 2.0 companies to watch closely

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We’re looking to make a list of the top educational games ever made, the top 9, in fact.  Do you have any suggestions? How about classics like Oregon Trail and Carmen Sandiego? Or perhaps newer, more socially conscious games like FreeRice?

Send us your top picks.  We’ll tally up the results and let you know the winners in a future post.

The Pew Internet project, an initiative of the non-profit think-tank Pew Center today released the results of a nationwide U.S. survey on youth and gaming, called “Teens, Video Games, and Civics.” The authors interviewed over 1,000 youth.  For those of us in the space, the broad conclusions are not surprising.  The study found that 97% of teens ages 12-17 play computer, web, portable, or console games.  But more detailed cuts of the data highlight some interesting facts:

For example, 65% of game-playing teens play with other people who are in the room with them.  Also, 27% play games with people who they connect with through the Internet.  Clearly, gaming is increasingly becoming a social experience for youth, a way to transplant offline relationships online, or to form ones entirely.

Also, the survey found that the game play characteristics in which teens play games are correlated to their interest and engagement in civic and political activities.  We’ve often talked about the importance of serious games, which serve some underlying purpose other than pure entertainment.  The writers of the report, note,

“Longitudinal and quasi-experimental studies have identified a set of civic learning opportunities (such as simulations of civic or political activities, helping others, and debating ethical issues) that promote civic outcomes among youth. Many of these civic learning opportunities parallel particular elements of video game play.”

The offline-online dynamics of serious game play are fascinating in terms of thinking about games that we can build that reflect the real world, but that also carry meaning past the game itself, into the real world.  This includes building context for kids and teens in important areas like political activism, charity, and social awareness.

The Science Journal’s July 25th article titled “Gender Similarities Characterize Math Performance” stated that US standardized test now show equality in math test scores between boys and girls.  Can we now put all opinions stating the contrary to rest now?   Hopefully, however we must acknowledge that we have a long way to go in terms of getting more females into traditionally male dominated careers such as engineering and science.

The first step is to help girls stay interested in math and science well into high school.  One possible opportunity to do so is with educational games focused on girls.  Educational games could help reinforce math concepts in an environment where girls can engage, discuss and explore math and science concepts with other girls who have similar interests.  Too often math and science concepts are presented in a context that favors the interests of boys more than girls.  Math games that appeal to the interest of girls could help keep them engaged and interested in math.

In general, to keep girls interested in math and science we need to focus on creating a learning environment that lets them explore and apply these concepts in a manner that is fun, safe and engaging.

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Today, we are pleased to announce the launch of one of the most comprehensive directories of kids educational games at RamoGames.com.

We’ve cataloged hundreds of games on the Internet and placed them into categories like geography, math, logic, and word. We’ve added useful metadata about each game and given users a chance to comment and rate them.

We’ve even built some of our own games including the especially fun geography map game, Asia GeoQuest (can you get 10/10 countries right?).

When talking to teachers and parents the past few months, we realized that there is no good resource for finding good quality educational games on the Internet. So we decided to put one together.

We’re still going to be forging ahead with developing our own games for kids, but RamoGames.com is a taste of what’s ahead.

Of course, the site is in beta, so we’d appreciate any feedback you have, including suggestions on games that we are missing.

I read an article recently on the growing use of computer and video game entertainment as a form of therapy. This school of thought argues that there are a handful of non-entertainment benefits to consuming certain types of games:

Exercise: not your fingers from pressing up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-B-A-start (think Konami code back in the days of Contra), but real exercise through devices like the Wii, which encourage rapid cardio through cleverly designed fitness games. The product is especially popular with therapists and children.

Health: Quit smoking-expert Alan Carr is launching a series of games on the Nintendo DS this fall called “The Easy Way to Stop Smoking.” 10M smokers have already used his products to quit smoking.

Education: Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor recently announced her involvement in Our Courts, a project to teach kids about civics. There also been a growing brain fitness movement, with games like Brain Age. Brain Age and its sister titles have sold over 10M copies worldwide, indicating a huge demand for education-focused gaming.

Philanthropy: FreeRice enables individuals to contribute to ending world hunger by playing simple word games on its site, which is in partnership with the UN World Food Program.