The player

Try convincing your GTA-loving teen to think of the planet, writes CIARA O'BRIEN

GAMES DESIGNERS have a complex task. While inventing an imagination-grabbing game with stunning graphics is tough, tougher still is the educational game.

Instead of attempting to blast your way through alien worlds or pull a perfect drift around a corner, designers are hoping that one day, they’ll convince you – or your child – that a broccoli-eating superhero is the pinnacle of cool.

And why shouldn’t they? A considerable number of people spend hours of every day in front of a games console, mindlessly moving through level after level of combat. And a recent survey found that children are likely to consider watching TV and playing video games more important than saving the environment.

If that time can be used to combat childhood obesity or improve maths or literacy skills, why isn’t it a priority?

The problem for designers is in making the games fun. There is only so far you can go to convince children a game is worth playing. While games have been shown to have a role in improving hand-eye co-ordination or, in some cases, maths skills, the issue with many educational games is that they just aren’t fun enough compared to regular console games.

An event called “Health Games Challenge” was held at a US university last week, where games with junk food-dodging superheroes were trotted out to help give children an idea of the calories they are consuming. To win, you need to have the correct amount of calories at the end of every level.

The idea was that the event would help develop games to aid children and parents in eating better and becoming more active.

But just try to convince a Grand Theft Auto-obsessed teenager that a veggie-loving character is a better choice.

Educational games are nothing new, and there are plenty of successful ones out there. However, in a world where computer graphics are becoming increasingly realistic and games more engaging, it’s making things more difficult for designers to come up with effective yet fun games.

Striking a balance is tough. However, the popularity of brain-training games, Nintendo’s Wii or even Facebook-based games designed to pit you against your friends in a contest to see who has the superior logic or calculation skills, show that it is possible.

It’s just a matter of investing the time, effort and creativity to find it.