I struggle with some guilt being able to afford to learn through TRPGs and tinkering with IT. Learning through the structure of schools and classic or traditional education: Lectures, Route-memorization, Drills, and Exams I believe is the Outlier, despite the propagation of the method.
Game in the Brain reflecting on the 12+ years of its existence and how I developed as a professional, as well as the community of Gamers, and tutoring my son gave me the conclusion of the following conflicts.
- Learning through Play is normal and not a recreational luxury. In fact I propose that it is an equally valid way to learn.
- That everyone will do many different things and different ways to learn something or exercise their thinking. Many gamers build worlds, programs, write or tell stories, immerse in worlds and stories. They happen to learn a valuable or technically relevant skill here.
- That our motivations cannot be dictated! You cannot tell a person to like X or Y. You cannot force them or one’s self to like or love something. Why or How we like things is a complex and irrational but natural part of being human.
So as I write this, I always find myself reflecting on Systems and Processes. That an Engaging System is really just a GAME. That as I try to mentally diagram these processes I learn that everyone will approach learning differently and what developed from them is closer to what holds their interest – what they understand of themselves. That the engaging system, the GAME, is their understanding of themselves and pursuing their likes, adjusting and compromising their behavior, and comprehending the information and feedback they experience.
That people cannot just be expected to act on “science” or “reason”, and that their development happens as outcome of being engaged. That everyone is engaged and not engaged in life at any moment. That that’s all not bad or good, but the nature of things and people.
So much that luck and chance play a part – that I only need to push my memory and look at the times I feel disengaged that I can understand the time and place of things.
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