Teachers play video games?

BHS teachers play video games during free time to relax or just have fun.

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Alex Keely, Staff Writer

A well known factor of high school life is video games, at BHS not only do students play video games, but teachers do too.

Given that video games haven’t been looked kindly upon by schools because of the possible distractions and addiction that can come from playing them, but that doesn’t stop Social studies teacher Ryan Minzy from playing them.

“I’ve always been a fantasy geek you know, I read books that were fantasy or sci-fi,” said Minzy. “There are, a lot of crappy fantasy books and games out there, so when I played the ‘Elder Scrolls’ series ,all of the sudden, they radically changed the way that these role playing games are done, and I loved it.”

Minzy isn’t the only teacher that plays video games. He is joined by Art teacher Donna Powers. Powers plays video games during her free time for many reasons.

“I enjoy my occasional video game,” said Powers. “I only let myself play them on Friday and Saturday nights ,if I have time, which I normally do have time on Friday and Saturday nights. I don’t think of anything when I am playing video games, it just takes my mind off of everything.”

Not only does Minzy play fantasy games on his Xbox 360 console, but he plays iPad games for a completely different reason and experience.

“A lot of the games I play on my Ipad are time wasters,” said Minzy. “You know, you have ten minutes to burn and you aren’t doing anything let me pop up some puzzle games.”

Minzy and Powers both play the same series “Elder Scrolls” and “Destiny”, but Powers plays on the newest Xbox console, the Xbox One.

“I was really big into ‘Destiny’ for a long time trying to build up my character levels,” said Powers. “I play a warlock and a hunter on ‘Destiny’, and right now I’m starting ‘Elder Scrolls’ which my husband bought online for me. I’m really trying to build my characters up in ‘Elder Scrolls’.”

Not only does Minzy play fantasy games like “Elder Scrolls”, but he used to play strategy and puzzle games.

Social studies teacher Ryan Minzy
Social studies teacher Ryan Minzy

“What I used to really like ,and now I just don’t play anymore, are the real time strategy games, those were the games I enjoyed,” said Minzy. “Back then when I played those, you kind of had to play them on a LAN party because you couldn’t do that online.”

In today’s society, adults are more likely to find a student like sophomore Spencer Arnold playing video games then a teacher, which is why Arnold liked to hear about Minzy and Powers.

“Video games ,for me, are great, but the older people tend to reject video games and say they do all sorts of bad things to your mind,” said Arnold. “So I would be enthusiastic about the fact that these teachers have been able to explore video games and like them.”

While Minzy plays video games, he doesn’t support the fact that video games are good for learning.

I wouldn’t say video games are good for learning; however, when students learn stuff from video games it is actually quite applicable in school. The problem is sometimes they don’t know what’s made up or real. Video games are sometimes historical fiction, and historical fiction blurs the line between things that actually happened and things that are made up.

— Ryan Minzy

In art classes, Powers occasionally has students that want to design video games, but she believes they need to learn the basic art skills in order to succeed in those jobs.

“A few kids have said they want to design video games and that’s great way to make money,” said Powers. “But I also know that the designers of video games want people that know how to do it in the real world. If you don’t know how to do that then there is only so much you can do on a screen.”

While Minzy doesn’t see a place for video games in education, he believes they can still benefit the students in learning.

“It’s a terrible idea for education,” said Minzy. “It can help a student make connections and anytime a student makes connections it’s a good thing.”

Some people believe that videogames are a bad influence on students. Arnold believes that it’s not the games it’s the person.

“I don’t see video games causing a problem with my school work because it is more of a thing where you have to do your due diligence,” said Arnold. “If you don’t, then it’s not really a video game problem it’s a you problem.”

Arnold has a word of advice for any teacher or adult that plays video games.

“Keep playing because of the fact that you playing makes an argument that video games aren’t just these evil things. They are just ways to have fun and remove stress.”