Game Literacy Revisited: Developing Critical Play in Schools (original) (raw)

Digital games, as other technologies, are evaluated as monsters or heroes from different esearchers. Such effects are not caused by digital games per se, but by the interaction between player and digital game. The objective of media education is to improve this interaction, what is also described as developing media literacy, and in the specific case of digital games, game literacy. This paper proposes a new concept of game literacy in order to inspire an alternative game education practice within media education programmes. Using the media education and game literacy literature as a basis, we integrated the work of the critical pedagogue Paulo Freire (1970/2012) and game studies that claim both positive (e.g. system thinking, problem solving) and negative (e.g. addictive behaviour, violent affection) effects of gaming. Seven characteristics shape the proposal: (i) The work of Paulo Freire emphasises criticality, rather than previous studies that proposed an emphasis on creative, cultural or protective approaches to media. (ii) The inclusion of the potential negative effects of digital games that are pointed by researchers in classroom discussions, considering that criticality towards the negative effects may minimize them. (iii) The inclusion of positive usage of digital games claimed by researchers, considering that developing agency and criticality towards the positive potential may support learners to reach them. (iv) Regarding positive and negative effects, the proposal considers the agency of learners to understand, judge and act on their own game habits, rather than imposing gaming rules or values. (v) The curriculum is created in a dialogic process; meaning that both educationists and students collaborate on defining the relevant themes. (vi) The educational practice involves learners’ experiences with digital games, in order to enable them to transfer their criticality to their actual practice. (vii) Methodologically, the teaching method is based on coded learning objects that are decoded by learners in a process of problematization, that leads to experimentation in gaming habits and, possibly, change.