Even the ones designed purely for entertainment.
Whether we’re flinging angry birds, trading with aliens, or leading a guild into battle, our brains are learning.
We’re learning the rules of the game, how to interact with it, the choices we can make, the consequences of those choices, and much more.
So the real question isn’t whether a game teaches — we know it does — the question is what does it teach and how useful is that learning in real life.
That’s why games and simulations designed specifically for education can be so powerful.
When designed well, they facilitate thinking and skill building that is directly transferable to real-world success.
This is not gamification — this is experiential game-based learning.