Are Engines only for games

[raeaqusn]

[/b] :idea:
is there anybody in the gaming, i.e. ID and others that manufacture/create some of the most excellant rpg, fps, & rts games.

Understanding that the gaming industry is about making money, however has the makers of 'Oregon Trail' lost that much money by providing educational software?

so, my question is this;

Has anyone considered makin programs that use their gaming engines to create learning software for various levels of science, history, social studies, etc...

 

[captaincharisma]

Sega did with there house of the dea game series for the PC they turned it into a typing tutor game called typing of the dead

http://dreamcast.ign.com/articles/165/165674p1.html

 

[pswenne]

take any games runing Unreal Engine, for example, and you can do what you want with them.

A good programer could work around the code and create anything he want ( or almost). There was many non-violent games created for UT2004 thats could have easily been used for education purposes.

There are MANY mini games created by using the engine available to users, being Source, Unreal engine or any other.

As long as you have the skills and the tools ( unrealEd for example), you can create your own. Most people think they can only do mods and total conversion of the same type ( FPS to FPS...etc) but you can change the rules of the games the way you want and create something totaly new.

PS: yes I did use the Unreal Engine before and thats whyI used it as example... more as a mapper than modder

 

[BigMac]

One might argue that America's Army is educational software [/snickers]

Look, if there's money to be made you can bet your whole income on the fact that some party will jump on the bandwagon. Sadly, most educational programs are still based on last century techniques and books. Why? Because education is still a largely goverment sponsored activity. (which in itself a good thing if you agree with making good education available for all, and not just the rich happy few).

Once countries will start to invest in new educational techniques and materials, then this market will pick up and explode. The one thing that may hamper the gaming industry in picking up the ball, is that money governments and educational institutes may insist on using open source technology, especially when we're talking asian (educational) programs.

Personally I think we need a fresh generation of computer and internet savvy teachers that will take up the challenge and get our schools into the 21st century. I think that might be starting around this time. Before, the people that picked up an educational career were not computer savvy enough (or they would have elected to start working in the IT industry). I'm talking general teacher statistics here, not individual cases (of which you will be able to find plenty either way).