WEBVTT 00:00:00.740 --> 00:00:05.526 people are often surprised when I say that I do research on video games 00:00:05.559 --> 00:00:10.017 and I'm an education because I think people often think that games are not 00:00:10.050 --> 00:00:15.217 educational and probably don't have a place in colleges of education 00:00:15.250 --> 00:00:18.227 Elizabeth G is part of the families that play project at the Center for 00:00:18.260 --> 00:00:22.486 Games and Impact on Arizona State University's campus in Tempe. G is a 00:00:22.519 --> 00:00:26.177 professor in the university's mary Lou, Fulton Teachers College. Our 00:00:26.210 --> 00:00:32.497 project basically is about trying to get people mostly families, parents 00:00:32.530 --> 00:00:39.137 and Children, caregivers and Children to connect if you will around games 00:00:39.170 --> 00:00:43.237 in positive ways. Helping with this ongoing venture is Assistant Research 00:00:43.270 --> 00:00:47.807 Professor Sinem Si han. And what we're trying to do is to understand 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:52.807 international play around video games and how we can design experiences 00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:57.097 with around games to support more productive adult child interactions in 00:00:57.130 --> 00:01:03.126 the family. Um so that's very exciting. Um And this is a new area of study. 00:01:03.159 --> 00:01:06.167 There are very few groups currently working in this field of research, 00:01:06.200 --> 00:01:11.566 but university officials at issue were game the idea, we did get a special 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:16.786 permission from the university to set up a center that requires a formal 00:01:16.819 --> 00:01:21.727 administrative approval. And I think that was really important because it 00:01:21.760 --> 00:01:26.747 did legitimatize this kind of research at the university to get a better 00:01:26.780 --> 00:01:29.777 understanding of the interaction between parents and Children as they play 00:01:29.810 --> 00:01:33.967 video games together. G and C. Han have set up family gaming events at 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:38.706 local schools after school programs and museums. It's really powerful when 00:01:38.739 --> 00:01:41.956 you see people talk about something, make a decision in the game and the 00:01:41.989 --> 00:01:45.197 game sort of gives you feedback and that feedback becomes another point of 00:01:45.230 --> 00:01:48.257 conversation, that discussion has helped some parents learn about their 00:01:48.290 --> 00:01:51.647 child's bullying experience, something that most likely would have gone 00:01:51.680 --> 00:01:57.186 unsaid. I had one parent said, had I asked my kid that in the kitchen, you 00:01:57.219 --> 00:02:01.206 know, hey, how is school? What's your experiences or have you been bullied 00:02:01.239 --> 00:02:05.566 before? My kid would have said, no, well what is the game when it's not 00:02:05.599 --> 00:02:11.286 about them? It's a safe space to talk about issues. They can put a safe 00:02:11.319 --> 00:02:15.006 distance between themselves and the issue. Then the conversation becomes 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:18.916 natural. While video games can bring families together, it can also do the 00:02:18.949 --> 00:02:23.677 opposite. One of the most recent examples we have are of a father who was 00:02:23.710 --> 00:02:28.527 very highly engaged with gaming with his Children, his boys and his 00:02:28.560 --> 00:02:32.816 youngest daughter. Um, in ways that excluded the mom because she wasn't a 00:02:32.849 --> 00:02:36.237 gamer, the biggest obstacle for many parents. How do you hold this 00:02:36.270 --> 00:02:39.837 controller? I don't know what button to press. You know, so very basic 00:02:39.870 --> 00:02:44.196 things like that are really hard for adults to learn and hard for Children 00:02:44.229 --> 00:02:47.226 to empathize with because they practically grew up with a controller in 00:02:47.259 --> 00:02:52.747 their hand. So what we learn from this project is, uh, there's definitely 00:02:52.780 --> 00:02:57.976 an interest on the part of parents to participate. However, it's very 00:02:58.009 --> 00:03:02.807 clear that parents don't know how this experience can help nudge adults 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:06.277 and Children to interact, ask questions and not only learn from one 00:03:06.310 --> 00:03:09.617 another but also about each other, you know? And once the parents get over 00:03:09.650 --> 00:03:12.916 , you know the uncomfortable feeling that they're not supposed to have 00:03:12.949 --> 00:03:17.136 their child be teaching them something. I think they can actually really 00:03:17.169 --> 00:03:20.936 enjoy the chance to to see how their child steps up steps up to the plate 00:03:20.969 --> 00:03:26.596 . I think game is a context where you also learn about each other. How you 00:03:26.629 --> 00:03:30.506 you know how do you think how you go about solving your problem? 00:03:30.539 --> 00:03:34.047 Especially with some role playing games there's always some kind of a 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:39.686 social issue, a real world social issue where you start thinking about, oh 00:03:39.719 --> 00:03:45.006 I never thought about this now that I'm playing this game. Yeah. Yeah. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:48.039 Yeah. Mhm.