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Many parents are alarmed at the amount of time their kids spend mashing buttons on their X-Box or Playstation controllers.   They worry that, instead of being enriched and ennobled by the wonders of literature, their developing brains are being turned into ooze by these hypnotic machines.

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It may come as a small surprise, but all three of us at MJM Books enjoy a video game now and then.  In fact, World of Warcraft has given us a place where, despite our geographic separation, we can all “hang out” together… killing bandits and ogres.

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So what are we as publishers to think?  Aren’t video games the enemy of higher thought?  A place were we go to spend mindless and fruitless hours?  Shouldn’t kids be reading instead?

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It may surprise you that the choice isn’t either/or.   In fact, our books are based on the same principle as many video games: immersive, interactive adventure.  Video games (and our customizable kids’ books) place you directly in the story, making you the protagonist.  Often, the games involve an epic story that… wait for it… you read over the course many hours of playing.   The examples of this are everywhere from Zelda to Paper Mario to World of Warcraft.

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Even if there isn’t an epic story to read, there are often many on-screen instructions to be read during the course of a game (which buttons to press to move around or instructions about the goal of the game), and even more still if you pick up a game guide (a magazine that tells you how to access all the hidden secrets in the game).

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Some games have more emphasis on story and incorporate more reading than others so if you’re worried about junior’s lack of reading, consider the middle road and get him a game that will secretly and seamlessly fuse reading and zombie evading.

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You’re lucky, games nowadays focus more on story than ever before.  Remember “Pong”?  No story whatsoever.  Interestingly, this may be changing…  I just discovered a new version of Tetris that is First Person…  Instead of explaining, I will simply direct you to this awesome site.

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Game on!

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Tags: Children's Books, Improving Reading Skills, Literacy, Reading, Video Games

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 at 8:02 pm and is filed under For Parents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.