In, we are given a prized camera and bird book from our grandparents to tell the story of their bond and trust. Games like The Sims or Animal Crossing enable us to use possessions to create spaces that reflect the character we are playing. The objects of our lives tell a story about who we are and what is happening to us.
Favourite toys, carefully written letters, hurried notes, pictures on the walls, dilapidated architecture, menus, vehicles, ticket stubs. Games often use their character's possessions to tell us about them, as much as what they say or look like.
Because we can explore the spaces where games happen, they can also tell stories by the things we find. This can be similar to books and films, offering snapshots, flashbacks and poignant scenes that form a life. Games tell stories about people and places. This not only offers an accessible experience to those without sight but a chance to engage with a virtual world using just our hearing. Games like The Vale and Frequency Missing can be played with just sound. In Mini Metro you add to the ambient sounds as you place stations and new tube lines.įinally, there are games where sound is your main way of navigating the world. Touching petals in Flower adds notes to the classical music. There are games where you create the audio with your actions. Not only what is happening, like the sound of someone boarding your ship, but where that is happening in relation to your character with spatial audio. Then there are games like Uncharted, Alba, Fortnite and Sea of Thieves that use audio to indicate things happening in the game. This is more than just background music as it reacts and integrates with the sounds the player is making while they play.
There are games like Limbo, Hellblade, Overboard and Super Mario Odyssey that use sound to set the mood and aesthetic of the play. Doing this intentionally can help younger players discover a new world of sound in the games they play. Playing a game with headphones helps the player focus on the sound. As well as this, audio is often a crucial aspect of interactions and clues for puzzle solving.īecause of this, video games (like walking in nature) are a powerful way to learn to notice and use the sounds around us. But just as important is to develop more than just cursory listening.ĭespite their name, video games use sounds just as much as visuals to create their worlds. We encourage children to read, watch and observe. Of the different senses, it's easy to overlook the importance of hearing. They provide a space where trust and authority can be experienced first hand, and where the negative and positive consequences of how we handle these topics play out. These games each provide different ways for players to develop critical thinking. With the amount of content that is online sometimes it’s quite easy to be reading something that is inaccurate without realising." There are even games, like Papers Please, that enable the player to police who is and isn't allowed access to information or even access to the country.Īs Childnet write, "Critical Thinking is an important skill that we need in order to navigate the internet safely and find the latest news headlines or facts and information. Other games, like Headliner, put the player in charge of information so they can see the consequences first hand of its misuse. Some of the games, like Thousand Threads, either put them in a world where what people say and believe impacts the other characters. Childnet are also part of the UK Safer Internet Centre and organise Safer Internet Day in the UK every February. They believe that the internet is a wonderfully positive tool for children and young people. Childnet International is an online safety charity working with others to help make the internet a great and safe place for children and young people. We've worked with Childnet International on this list of games that help children and young people experiment with what they should trust and the potential unintended consequences. This starts with questions of trust and authority but then leads to decisions about how we use and share information ourselves. Being able to discern between reliable sources and unreliable sources of information is an important skill for children to develop.