My family received our first gaming system ever three years ago for Christmas. It was a PlayStation 2. Yes. A PS2. In 2009. We were a little out of the loop. And in those three years we've owned that PS2, my whole family (my younger sister, my parents and I, combined) have probably turned the machine on forty times.
If I'm being generous. So needless to say, I don't have
too much of a back-history with the concept of video-gaming. But before we owned our PS2, I spent a great deal of time at my cousin's house, and my cousin owned every gaming system ever made to date, and nearly every game and expansion pack to go along with those systems. When I was there, I loved to waste my time creating outfits and houses for my Sims characters (I couldn't care about the characters lives, I just liked designing.) And my Zoo Tycoon amusement parks were always the most architectural and creative I could make them given the allotted budget (which was always unlimited ;) My favorite computer game was (and still is) Diner Dash and its related spin offs. And every year for Christmas, my grandma's gift to the grandkids was a years subscription to the Disney themed role playing computer game, ToonTown. (I was a duck named Daisy and I had leveled up to a level 130 and had defeated all the Cogs!) And, when I get the chance, I still love to play Animal Crossing on my sister's Nintendo DS.
So, clearly, my favorite games (or aspect of games) have always been the open-ended, non-stressful and non-combative games (well, except for beating those Cogs...) for me to 1) express a need to create/invent and to 2) ultimately be myself/explore the virtual worlds/ create my digital identity!
I had never thought of gaming as a new way of teaching creativity to children, but upon reading the articles, it totally makes perfect sense, and I've noticed it play out perfectly in my life, in retrospect.
I can't say much for the combative games, but the other kinds are an absolutely wonderful way to slowly/secretly implant a free-thinking, problem-solving, creative and expressive mind into children, all while they think they're "wasting time."
