Preparing for a job, with controller in hand

Pretty soon, the time you whittle away on computer games could help you whittle your way into a career.

University of Wisconsin professor David Shaffer is working on computer games that he says will teach players to succeed in today's job world by simulating real-life careers in urban development, political campaigning and journalism.

And while they may not match the action and excitement of the sports and action games popular among Penn students, they claim to teach the creativity that he says is vital to competing in today's job market.

"The way people develop creative thinking is trying to do real work and solve real problems," Shaffer said.

Players of the urban-development game Urban Science, for example, must balance demands from a virtual urban league and a historical preservation society.

This sets the game apart from the popular simulation game SimCity, Shaffer said, in which "you act as an urban despot [and] do whatever you want."

Susan Yoon, a professor at Penn's Graduate School of Education who has worked with video games in the past, said the idea that computer games can teach innovation and creativity has merit.

"In some ways, video games can be leveraged to teach concepts that have been historically difficult, like complex problems," she said.

But when told about the new games, Penn students weren't so sure that they would want to mix education and entertainment.

"I'm not looking for a game to stimulate my mind - I have that enough in classes," College and Wharton senior Mark Disston said. Disston said he plays video games to relax and socialize, and a simulation game like Urban Science would defeat this aim.

Lisi Dredze, a College junior, doesn't play video games and said none of Shaffer's games would inspire her to start.

That skepticism extends to Patricia Rose, director of Penn Career Services, who said that, though video games could inspire creativity to an extent, it's not the magic-bullet solution.

To become a good job candidate, she said, students should develop their interests in other academic or extracurricular areas.

"There are plenty of ways to develop your skills and innovation and your creativity, and I think that, to recommend that people play video games to do that would probably be ill-advised," she said.

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