Quick note:This blog is in reverse since it goes by oldest post to newest. I urge you to start at post one to fully understand what this blog is about!
All in all my experience with Skyrim was something that used my awareness and problem solving skills, while rewarding me causing me to progress further. Some examples of this would be how my awareness of my surroundings allowed me to get an early edge in the game (Post 2.1). In Riverwood I was able to find a bunch of helpful materials that allowed me to upgrade my equipment and make some early cash. Bleak Falls barrow was the first instance where I needed to use my problem solving skills to navigate through a dungeon to complete a villagers task (Post 2.2+3.2). All of this happened while I was getting rewarded with equipment, powers, and convenience (Posts 3.2, 4.1, 5.1).
I feel like all of these things are important in an academic situation and can easily be missed if a person decides to label Skyrim or video games in general as something just for pure entertainment. Problem solving skills being the most obvious of the three. This allows me to figure out my way out of a mess and turn a bad situation into a good one. Awareness skills may appear not very useful, but in post 2.1 I gave an example that I feel is a good reason to have a good awareness level. I feel that the most important reason is being urged to continue on because of the rewards given. This is a reason to keep on going and not stop in the middle. This could easily apply to working at a job or doing your assignments. The feeling of wanting to continue doing good and improving because you managed to do a good days work. I feel like Skyrim did this very well by making the player stronger after every encounter.
Many people may think that Skyrim is just for entertainment and they do have a point. Skyrim is a video game made with the intent of being played. That is essentially what a video game is. The problem is many people see video games as detremental to education. This may be true for some games, but many games have some sort of redeeming merit. Skyrim being one with many (as I explained in the rest of this blog)
