I somewhat arbitrarily picked the game The New Adventures of the Time Machine, a game involving adventure, problem solving, and shooting (based loosely on H. G. Wells), knowing nearly nothing about video games. Little did I know what I was getting myself into. (…) This game (…) requires the player to learn and think in ways in which I am not adept. Suddenly all my baby-boomer ways of learning and thinking, for which I had heretofore received ample rewards, did not work.
My second realization came soon after, when at the end of a day in which I had played Time Machine for eight straight hours, I found myself at a party, with a splitting headache from too much video motion, sitting next to a 300-pound plasma physicist. I heard myself telling the physicist that I found playing Time Machine a “life-enhancing experience,” without even knowing what I meant by that. (…) confronting what was, for me, a new form of learning and thinking was both frustrating and life enhancing.
ZA: What Video Games Have to Teach Us
James Paul Gee jest m.in. profesorem na katedrze literatury, a zajmuje się też psycholingwistyką, socjolingwistyką oraz grami. Napisał kilka pozycji poświęconych grom i edukacji.
The New Adventures of the Time Machine to gra z 2000 roku, która sprzedała się w nakładzie około 50 tysięcy, a oceny były dość mieszane (za WIKI):
Gamespot thought the game alternated between a “nonsensical story” and “infuriating puzzles”. IGN felt that the game didn’t push the boundaries for Cryo and tested player’s patience. Jeux Video praised the game’s beauty and interactivity. Eurogamer praised the story and graphics and gave the game a 9/10. John Walker of Rock Paper Shotgun criticised the premise of making H. G. Wells the time traveling protagonist himself.
