Well, here's something from Wired that's not news to us gamers: Videogames can be a valuable teaching tool. Brenda Laurel is quoted in the article: "I've been involved in trying to insert games into schools since 1976, and I've come to the conclusion it doesn't work." Laurel's plan is to bypass the degenerate school system and work to get games incorporated into school and public libraries. Ultimately, she said, new forms of learning are about new ways of thinking. And some game designers are working to help foster that change.

This makes a great deal of sense. I know I learned a helluva lot from various videogames, and it is true that games have the potential to teach so much more. The problem is the same problem that American television suffers--a craven catering to the whims of the masses (reaching the highest common denominator and all that). Hopefully we'll soon start to see videogames that do more than just put a BFG in a player's hand and ask her to obliterate all the men, women, and children in a city.