Gaming

Interesting piece from the Times about the proliferation of game design programs in universities. A good start on why this is important study:

"But if you just look at the surface of people playing games, you are missing the point, which is that games are all about managing and manipulating information," Mr. Kerrey said. "A lot of students that come out of this program may not go to work for Electronic Arts. They may go to Wall Street. Because to me, there is no significant difference - except for clothing preference - between people who are making games and people who are manipulating huge database systems to try to figure out where the markets are headed. It's largely the same skill set, the critical thinking. Games are becoming a major part of our lives, and there is actually good news in that."

Games are important to understand, if only because we, as a gaming-imersed culture, probably think more in terms of game situations than any other, previous society. I'm not saying "GTA makes kids shoot things," or any of that hooey, but that the basic philosophy of games, that there are discoverable rules to reality, creeps into our understanding of our world.