“For our kids to excel, we must accept our responsibility to help them learn. That means putting away the Xbox and putting our kids to bed at a reasonable hour”

In my opinion, games can be as nourishing as books and, indeed, give us access to different types of experience. Indeed, they have become more complex and demand higher levels of thought, similar to that of many books. This is good for education. I’m not saying all games are great for our mind (some novels definitely aren’t), but many — as discussed ad nauseam in the blog — can be. I mean, books were scorned for being an anti-social activity in the late 1700s when they were becoming more accessible. I think that history will treat video games kindly and portray these views as anachronisms [see Steven Berlin Johnson's Everything Bad is Good For You for an interesting take].

For some interesting reflections on the Obama issue, read:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32778805/ns/technology_and_science-games/

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/06/26/once-again-obama-refers-video-games-something-set-aside-greater-good

What do you think? Do Obama’s sentiments vis a vis games indicate someone who does genuinely believe they are evil or someone who just has a warped view of gaming? Does this proffer the view that most gamers are Dorito-munching Halo leets with their baseball caps aligned with their eybrows?