Gaming is Good for You (Naturally!)
Plus, the long-awaited launch of Micro Center News
Way back in a hazy, haunted time known as the '80s, role-playing games were an open secret in schools, played during lunch breaks or after classes in deserted libraries and classrooms. We had to hide. After all, it was the era of the Satanic Panic and idle talk of spell-casters and monsters was not especially welcome, even in the Bronx public schools I grew up attending.
What a difference a few decades makes. I returned to SXSW to moderate a panel about how teachers are now using D&D in education to great effect, boosting students’ reading comprehension and problem solving skills across all subjects, building confidence, creating friendships and navigating issues related to ADHD, ASD and trauma.
At SXSW, as well as a panel I did last year at the Games for Change festival, I talked to middle school teacher Kade Wells, who explained that his D&D sessions -- played in class at least weekly -- hit all four quadrants of the Charlotte Danielson framework. Wells says, "The kids do everything. They set it up, they tear it down, they play it, they prepare for it, they level up their characters."
And the results are obvious, qualitatively and quantitatively, "D&D is statistics, right?" Wells says. "You're learning to put these numbers together very quickly, which is a synaptic path in your brain." He also says that D&D books like the Dungeon Master's Guide and the Player's Handbook are written at a college level, "And if you can get a 12- and 13-year-old kid to do that in middle school, they're gonna crush this life."
One thing I find especially interesting about this concept is that there's no longer any stigma attached to using something like D&D as a learning tool. Why is that? Because the kids who grew up playing in the '80s and '90s are the teachers and school administrators now. Not only do they not need convincing, they're the ones actively bringing RPGs into the classroom. (With a little cultural help from Stranger Things.)
And even though I love the slightly retro vibe of pen-and-paper, map tiles and metal miniatures, there's plenty of room for technology, too. Online tools like D&D Beyond, virtual tabletop software, games like Baldur's Gate 3 and even 3D printers for creating monsters, players and scenery, all mix the old and new, keeping the game alive for the next generation.
Fictional '80s finance bro Gordon Gekko said that greed is good. I say that gaming is good, especially if it's the kind of brain-training gaming that came of age in the 1980s, including D&D, but also games like Tetris, which rewire your brain to be be more efficient and even tamp down the effects of PTSD.
Check out the full video of our D&D SXSW panel above…and never again worry about your gaming habit being bad for you.
Micro Center News launches!
In terms of how long it takes to stand up a new media website, this was the blink of an eye. But I've spent the past several months working on the launch of Micro Center News, the new editorial arm of iconic tech retailer Micro Center. In a tech media landscape filled with shutdowns and layoffs, it feels amazingly good to be able to start something new, and even better, to be able to hire some of my favorite writers as freelancers.
The elevator pitch is this: Consumer tech advice, product reviews, how-to articles, and plenty about PC hardware, AI, 3D printing and content creation — all without pop-ups, programmatic ads, endless affiliate clickfarm content, etc. So far, the response has been great, with some very nice writeups including from Semafor and AdWeek media reporter Mark Stenberg.
We're starting small, just a few new articles a day, with a real focus on being genuinely helpful. I always go back to my old CNET mantra -- I want readers to feel like I'm taking their time and money as seriously as they do.
Check it out at the link below and let me know what you think!
Site: microcenter.news
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Good luck with Micro Center News, Dan! Excited to see how it goes :)