Let the Games Begin

Civic Playing on High-Tech Consoles

Bers, Marina Umaschi

¹Department of Child Development, Tufts University

Marina Umaschi Bers, Department of Child Development, Tufts University, 105 College Avenue, Medford, MA 02155 [email protected]

Submission December 28, 2009. Revision December 28, 2009. Accepted January 16, 2010.

Review of General Psychology 14(2):p 147-153, June 2010.

The author presents an overview of an emerging field that looks at the impact of video games on civic engagement. Some video games have explicit civics-related content and engage players in simulations of civically related projects, but most others do not. However, research has shown that video game playing engages players in civically oriented experiences that previous research has found to promote civic outcomes in classroom-based programs. These include helping and guiding others; learning about problems in society; exploring social, moral, or ethical issues; organizing groups; and making decisions about how a community, city, or nation should be run.