More than four in five Australians play video games, and do so for more than an hour a day, with the proportion of the population that plays growing by 14 percentage points since 2021 to 81 per cent this time last year, according to the latest Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA) Australian Plays study.
Just over 82 per cent of children aged 5-14 years old play video games, with that figure rising to 86 per cent for teenagers and young adults aged 15-24.
A mind-boggling 94 per cent of households have at least one gaming console.
Teenage girls are playing more than teenage boys for the first time since the Australia Plays reports began in 2003. The two cohorts are fairly close in playing for about two hours a day, on average.
Interestingly, 53 per cent of parents say their children’s school uses games to teach, and it is here where educators can really harness their power for learning.
Harnessing the power of games in the classroom
Lynne Telfer is a curriculum coordinator at Wyndham Tech School in Werribee, an outer south-western Melbourne suburb. She’s been using games in the classroom for more than 35 years.
“I’ve always found them to be incredibly inspiring for students,” she says.
“So when I came here, we started looking at how game development can be used as well as the playing of them.
“We do both here, we play games that are specific for our needs, and we get our kids making their own games.”
Telfer uses games in lessons right across the curriculum.
“It really doesn’t matter what subjects you are doing, you can create a game for that subject, or even multiple subjects,” she says.
Games like Minecraft have encouraged the growth of games that allow players to engage in content creation or expression.
“The engagement is instant, but what I love is they’re not talking about Minecraft per-say, they’re talking about the problem of solving in the Minecraft game,” Telfer explains.
“So it might be history, for example, whatever subject you’ve got, either making a game or using a game in the classroom that’s been approved, engages them so much that you also get this continuous engagement.
"They want to do it the next week, the week after, the week after that, and you can get a lot of depth in their learning.
“They’re motivated, even if they’re not motivated for doing exactly what you think you want out of them in the game, they will come up to you and say, ‘Look, I reckon we could go this way’, or ‘I’d like to go that way’, and suddenly you’re like, ‘Whoa – you’re in charge here!’”
In the last IGEA study, 69 per cent of respondents said they believe games can improve student mental health and motivate them, while upwards of 70 per cent agreed that they inspire students to be creative, help the cope with stress, help them overcome learning difficulties and assist with connection between students.
A symposium to celebrate gaming in education
A celebration of these benefits is set to kick off with the inaugural Games Education Symposium, a free two-day event that’s taking place on October 3-4, at Melbourne’s Fed Square.
The gathering will bring students, educators and industry professionals together to learn how digital games are improving educational outcomes in schools and explore the diverse career opportunities in a world where games touch many aspects of daily life.
Developed by the Victorian Government as a collaboration between Melbourne International Games Week (MIGW) and the Department of Education, Day One of the symposium will connect secondary students and teachers with industry professionals to showcase the incredible array of career opportunities in the digital games industry.
George Osborn, a leading expert in the intersection between video games and the wider world, will deliver a keynote on the use of games for social good and the unseen ways that video games influence the modern world: from US presidential elections to competition law to the fight against the climate crisis.
A roundtable mentoring session will see game designers and developers at various stages of their careers share their professional journeys and the ‘things they wish they knew in high school’ with those looking to enter the industry.
The Day Two program will connect games studios and developers with tertiary institutes to look to the future of games.
Celebrating diversity and tackling climate change
Video games today are unrecognisable to those even five years ago.
They can help to connect people with common backgrounds, but can also be used to bridge the gap between people with different perspectives and backgrounds.
Social impact games like Mini Melbourne, for example, provide a platform to share authentic and diverse stories, and find community.
Working with Melbourne’s Immigration Museum, game developer Dr Michelle Chen has worked with workshop audiences to create a video game that brings people from diverse backgrounds together to share their experiences moving to and living in Melbourne, helping users find community and commonalities.
Far from simple entertainment, video games can help students transcend location, language and ability to allow them to connect in ways they may be unable to in the real world.
Life (Re)sounding, meanwhile, raises awareness and understanding of neurodiversity by encouraging players to experience slices of life through the eyes of a neurodivergent person thrust into a neurotypical world.
Using game design elements like mechanics, environments and audio, the game encourages players to navigate challenges that may not be apparent to the surrounding world and the complexities that come with this.
In The Adaption Game (TAG), players learn positive and proactive ways to help prepare for climate change in their own lives and communities whilst mitigating eco anxiety.
The ability of video games to provide immersive, personalised experiences allows the format to connect with audiences in ways unlike any other.
Collaborating on sustainable development goals
In her school, Telfer’s students are collaborating with Vietnamese students on a game based on sustainable development goals.
“The Department of Education funded for a project called the Global Design Challenge, and we decided as a team here that we would love to see a school in the Asia Pacific region and our students work on a computer game together,” Telfer shares.
“So we were able to connect with a school in Hanoi and we were able to go over there and teach the teachers.”
Several Wyndham Tech school staff flew to Hanoi to conduct a three-day workshop, and then every Wednesday since, students have been meeting with their peers via Zoom.
“So we’ve been able to create a game where each group is their own company, There are six groups each made up of a combination of kids from Australia and kids from Vietnam, and each company takes ownership of the whole thing – they’ve created their own logo, their name, they’ve got a portfolio they have to do.
“And they then create the landscapes and the objects, even the name of the game in just six sessions with some out of school hours work as well.”
Whether it be critical thinking, strategic thinking, creative thinking or problem solving, Telfer says it’s all happening via games and game development, whether that’s at school or at home on the weekend.
Educators attending the Symposium can expect an incredible lineup of speakers across themes of neurodiversity, mental health, connection to nature, climate change preparedness, sharing stories of culture, the empowerment of women gamers and the future of impactful education. PHOTO: Matto Lucas Photography
She says the real world applications where kids can simulate and understand the 'whys' and 'hows' of things are priceless, and that the positive classroom environment games learning fosters and encourages, where chat lines are completely monitored, allows a far more egalitarian input to transpire.
“You’ve got to prepare for your class to be noisy, because there’s going to be laughter, there’s going to be a lot of fun.
“And if you are looking to find ways of celebrating kids’ success, this is it.”
For more information on the Games Education Symposium: Careers and Frontiers’ presented by Creative Victoria, taking place at Fed Square October 3-4, click here.
For each of the annual reports produced by IGEA, click here.
