Reading Hamlet by Playing Halo

Frankly I'm tired of hearing the same old talk in library circles about the so-called links between literacy and gaming. In fact, "skeptics point out that psychological research consistently shows that skills often don’t transfer from one setting to another." This quote is from an interesting article from the New York Times on video games and reading.

Playing three hours of Halo a day is not going to help you read Shakespeare. What WILL help you read Shakespeare is actually picking up a book and reading.

This is a wicked thought but part of me thinks that librarians jump onto this "literacy in gaming" bandwagon to make themselves feel better about offering video games in libraries. Deep down there might be some hesitation against it but if some expert is talking about "critical thinking skills" they acquiesce and bring the games into the library.

I have no problem with gaming if your purpose is to bring patrons into the library. Games are great for that. However, don't gloss gaming up with the high and mighty title of "literacy", call it what it is: digital bribery.