The Accidental Polyglot [PART 3] - Rethinking Education Through Gamification

The Counterargument: "But It's Not Real Learning"

I can hear the objection already: "Games simplify. They gamify. They're not authentic cultural or linguistic experiences."

Let's address this directly.

First, all learning is mediated. Your Spanish textbook is a simplification. Your study-abroad semester is a curated experience. Even living in a country for years doesn't give you "authentic" access to culture. You're always filtered through your own positionality, limited by the circles you travel in and the contexts you can access.

The question isn't whether games simplify:
it's whether the simplification is pedagogically useful.

And the research suggests it is. A 2016 meta-analysis published in the Review of Educational Research found that game-based learning produced better outcomes than traditional instruction across multiple domains, with the largest effect sizes in language learning and cultural education.

Second, the "authenticity" critique is often elitist gatekeeping. It privileges those wealthy enough to travel, those with time for immersion programs, those already positioned in cosmopolitan networks. Video games democratize access a little more. A teenager in rural Iowa can explore Renaissance Italy. A working-class student in Mexico City can experience Japanese high school culture. A refugee can maintain connection to their heritage through games set in their homeland.

Third, and most importantly: games aren't meant to replace immersion — they're meant to be the gateway. My friend didn't stop at gaming: his English proficiency opened doors to English-language literature, films, academic papers, and eventually study-abroad opportunities and ultimately, to become a renowned English professor in Mexico.
The game was the invitation to a broader world.
 

The Real Question: What If Education Become Game-Like?

Here's the paradigm shift I'm asking you to consider:

What if the problem isn't that games aren't educational enough?
What if it's that education isn't game-like enough?

Imagine a history curriculum where students don't memorize dates but instead role-play as historical actors making decisions with incomplete information, facing moral trade-offs, and experiencing the consequences of policy choices.

Imagine a language class where students don't conjugate verbs in isolation but instead solve collaborative problems that require communication, negotiation, and creative expression in the target language.

Imagine a cultural studies course where students don't read about cultural practices but instead inhabit simulated environments where those practices are the operating rules.

This isn't fantasy.
Game-based learning initiatives are already demonstrating these outcomes.

The Mission US series teaches American history through playable historical scenarios.
Minecraft: Education Edition is being used to teach architecture, urban planning, and collaborative problem-solving.
The Assassin's Creed Discovery Tours mode has been adopted by schools as a legitimate historical exploration tool.

The infrastructure exists. The research validates it.
The students are already doing it voluntarily at home.

So why is institutional education still clinging to the banking model?