Are there any decent educational games?

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asbrown

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I am wondering if there are any decent educational games that I can recommend for my teenage nephew? By decent I mean a game that has some solid educational content such as history, or science information, but is still enjoyable enough that we would all call it a game. There's quite a few historical strategy games that are quite fun, but a lot of them distort or simplify things a little too much to really be called educational.

I'm trying to help the kid out a little bit. His parents are pretty anti-games, but banning him from playing PC games only results in him playing a bunch of junk apps on his phone.
 
If you have facebook, I recommend the game Super Buzzer. This game has a setting in  trivia game show. You can customise your character as male or female, dress them from the selection of clothing, and name them. The players all have red buzzers to push. 
 
well if you had a kid I could say some, but I don't know any for a teenager.
 
Loads of games out there... in fact I could argue that EVERY game has some educational functions in it. A good example is simply learning the English language, which is of course a huge advantage to people who don't use it as their native language but let's be honest, a lot of the native English speakers could use some help with their grammar. They say books are great because you read them and learn new words etc. Why can't games be exactly the same? Especially RPGs with a lot of lore can have a lot to read!

Games based on historical settings always teach a little. Also any game that requires teamwork and communication with other players can be viewed as educational.
 
Runescape :)

I've learnt a lot from it - types of trees, fishes, ores, tools, weapons... my native language is not English so being able to see the item and it's name and use, I've learnt a lot of new words and things.
 
crimsonghost747 said:
Loads of games out there... in fact I could argue that EVERY game has some educational functions in it. A good example is simply learning the English language, which is of course a huge advantage to people who don't use it as their native language but let's be honest, a lot of the native English speakers could use some help with their grammar. They say books are great because you read them and learn new words etc. Why can't games be exactly the same? Especially RPGs with a lot of lore can have a lot to read!

Games based on historical settings always teach a little. Also any game that requires teamwork and communication with other players can be viewed as educational.
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Good point thanks. English is actually his second language, so maybe I could find a good RPG for him. I understand what you are saying about any game having some learning value, but his parents are a little conservative in that regards.


Se7en said:
Runescape :)

I've learnt a lot from it - types of trees, fishes, ores, tools, weapons... my native language is not English so being able to see the item and it's name and use, I've learnt a lot of new words and things.
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I haven't tried Runescape myself, but my nephew's in a similar situation learning English so I'll see if he's familiar with it. Thanks.
 
Well, let's see.

When it comes to history, I'd say that Assassins' Creed tops the list. I'd played it for awhile and I must admit that it urged me to research Borgias and Sforzas to find out more about the Italian families. 

Age of Empires is also quite accurate, at least when it comes to the Battles and Campaigns. I still play that one. Battle of Hastings and Manzikert, for example, are very good.

Age of Mythology is also very interesting and as far as I remember, they do teach mythology in history classes. 

Total War also plays various battles and civilisations, but it's very difficult. I didn't enjoy much in it, but Total War: Rome is best expansion, in my opinion.

Civilisation isn't really historically accurate, but it does introduce greatest civilisations and their best leaders. Plus, every civilisation has something specific to be built: it's mostly about getting to know the greatest civilisations ever.


If you're thinking about learning a language, I'd recommend Duolingo - it's good for beginners and it can be customised, but it's not really a game, more of an android application. It gets you addicted, though. 

I bet there are more, but nothing comes to mind at the moment. Hope this helps a little.
 
There is a game called Brain age for the Nintendo DS. Brainage is a brain training game which claims to train your brain with puzzles.

Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Monopoly, and You Don't Know Jack are Educational and Trivia games which are available for many devices like PC, consoles, mobile, and physical board games.
 
Oregon trail :) I still love this game. Also where in the world is Carmen sandiego. They're both old but both very educational ad fun!

Also romance of the three kingdoms
 
Xenokitten said:
Oregon trail :) I still love this game. Also where in the world is Carmen sandiego. They're both old but both very educational ad fun!

Also romance of the three kingdoms
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I completely forgot about those two games, thank you! It's hard to say how my nephew would react to graphics, unless there are updated verions, but hopefully some of the humor will still get across.

froggyboy604 said:
There is a game called Brain age for the Nintendo DS. Brainage is a brain training game which claims to train your brain with puzzles.

Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Monopoly, and You Don't Know Jack are Educational and Trivia games which are available for many devices like PC, consoles, mobile, and physical board games.
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Ok, now I feel like an idiot. Trivia games in general completely slipped my mind. Cheers!
 
Besiege might work, you build things in it and do goals with your machines.

You can make basic cars or super advanced vehicles so if your nephew like creating machines it's worth a look.
 
If he takes Biology and likes puzzle-type games, History of Biology might be nice. Its really all puzzles you need to solve in order to get to the bottom of a mystery. Sometimes you need to go beyond the game and looks stuff up on the internet in order to solve a puzzle. You learn a lot about biology along the way, as well as basic researching skills. If you like puzzles, its a lot of fun. 
 
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