I was looking around the net as usuall, but ended up finding this post on Games and Learning. The author hits his point right on the head. Educational games tend to suck. They beat you over the head with what they are trying to teach you. Math games are some of the worst, but I remember reading and geography games as well.
Thinking back to my childhood and educational games that I’ve played, Oregon Trail stands out as a game that accomplished what it was trying to do. Make learning about how hard it was to cross the country in a wagon train, while having fun.
I think as my son grows I want to make his learning much like this as well. Take things that are normally long lists or excercises in memorization, and create a way that he just knows the answer instead of trying to recall his list in his head. Make his geography and history fun, but also second nature. I think this will be a good challenge for my wife and I as we look to educate him.
I remember one educational game I used to play as a kid: Mario is Missing! Seriously, it wasn’t all that bad. If anything, it actually helped with my history class at the time. The funniest part of it, though is that I bought the game with my own saved-up allowence thinking it was a traditional mario game!
I was a dumb kid.