In Eric Zimmerman’s article “Gaming Literacy: Game Design as a Model for Literacy in the Twenty-First Century,” he discusses how traditional literacy have “centered on reading and writing —— the ability to understand, exchange, and create meaning through text, speech, and other forms of language,” (Zimmerman, 23). He then continues about how traditional literacy was extended through media literacy, which enabled those same reading and writing strategies towards literary text with the notion of media literacy, diversifying the notion of critical thinking with various aspects of media such as advertisements and film.
Zimmerman continues stating how both literacies are “necessary but not sufficient for one to be fully literate in our world today. There are emerging needs for new kinds of literacy that are simply not being addressed, needs that arise in part from a growing use of computer and communication networks,” (Zimmerman, 24). What Zimmerman appears to imply is that as technologies continue progressing and advances, so does the definition of literacy. Therefore, the inclusion of gaming as literacy becomes necessary since as technology continues progressing within society, so will the capacities of literacy. What Zimmerman addresses presents a need in allowing a discussion on gaming within the topic of literacy.
Furthermore, Zimmerman argues that since games are systematic since it involves the rules of the game and in order to “play, understand, and —— especially —— design games, one ends up having to understand them as systems,” (Zimmerman, 26). He continues arguing that it doesn’t just end at understanding games as systems but to also analyze the aspect of playing the game. He states that “play is far more than just play within a structure. Play can play with structures. Players do not just play games, they mod them, engage in meta-play between games, and develop cultures around games” (Zimmerman, 27). He continues in stating how playing the game can translate into literacy since it incorporate’s the game’s task into the player’s skill level. Depending on the player’s motivation, each task can be achieved depending on how much devotion and time the player will be willing to spare (Zimmerman, 27). Thus, like with reading and analyzing text, it would acquire the player in conducing skill-set strategies in beating various levels. The main core of Zimmerman’s argument is to show how the complexities of gaming can still be interpreted as reading. How the player will interpret the game depends on the player’s devotion to the tasks being displayed onscreen. The player’s relation to the gameplay itself, with consideration of Zimmerman’s argument, is what constitutes as gaming literacy.
Zimmerman, Eric. “Gaming Literacy: Game Design as a Model For Literacy in theTwenty-
First Century. The Video Game Theory Reader 2. 23-31, 2007,
ericzimmerman.com/files/texts/Chap_1_Zimmerman.pdf.
*note, notice the indents after the first line for this citing. This would be an example of a hanging indent since it occurs after the first line of every work that is being cited on the works cited page.
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