Today marks Darwin’s 205th birthday, and to celebrate the date we’ve decided to highlight his little known influence on a subject we talked about a lot last year: gaming for education.
The insightful observations of British naturalist Charles Darwin led him to formulate the natural selection theory, which is considered to be the engine that drives evolution. His influence in biology is still remarkably prevalent today, but what is less known is his on-going rippling effect through today’s gaming community.
Going right back to the 1960s, one of the first programming games created was called Darwin. Modelled on more than just his name, the game consisted of two or more small programs written in machine code by the players. They could copy and relocate themselves into vacant memory, and the last surviving program was declared the winner. Admittedly, the game doesn’t sound wildly interesting to the less program-minded among us, and in fairness it did only last a few weeks. However, it inspired more influential games with the same concept (Core War and Spore) as well as the architecture and programming in the Creatures series.
Like many video games today, Core War and Spore do not use scientific accuracy as the basis for their game play, but Creatures is a different story. Steve Grand, designer of the program, modelled the game on biological reproduction:
“Creatures doesn’t use a Genetic Algorithm – GA’s are a rather abstract thing; Creatures uses something far more similar to real genetics in real organisms.”
In its complex and realistic simulation of life, the Creatures game affords its players more than just absent-minded game play. While it’s not about to teach its players about Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, it does instruct players on how to create living beings that are complete with brains, genes and hormonal systems.
A number of studies have demonstrated the positive impact of games that can simultaneously educate and entertain its players. They can empower people – young and old – on powerful topics, including sustainable environments, and provide insights into real-life challenges like our global food shortage.
Despite being 205 today, Darwin is still a part of one of the most forward-thinking educative techniques available to young people today, and that deserves more than a slice of cake.
