Gee Principle

As I have continued to play Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, I have found myself noticing the presence of many of the principles that James Paul Gee talks about in his book What Video Games Have to Teach us About Learning and Literacy. Through my playing of the game this week I have really come to find the ideas of the "Psychosocial Moratorium" Principle. Gee describes this principle as learners being able to take risks in a space where real-world consequences are lowered. There were several times in throughout my playing in which I decided to shut down my game without saving. I had taken risks since my last save point that I had not liked the outcome of, so by restarting the game I could return to my last save point and not felt any of the effects of the risk I had taken. I believe this is very important principle to learning in video games and how it differs from learning in school. In school people are raised to value success and not take risks if they could lead to failure. In video games however, options such as restarting to return to the last save point allow people to take risks they would normally not take in an environment such as school. By taking these risks you can explore various outcomes and learn from your mistakes.