Our class went over games as a way to learn and explore. It brought me back to childhood games, namely Petz and Nanopets.

With Catz, you could pick a breed, play with it, feed it, socialize it.

Nanopets were those annoying digi pets that came on a keychain. You had to feed and socialize, or the pet would die.

When I think about it, they were effective ways to expose kids to pet ownership.

Last week, my husband and I attended a lecture on campus on the Pyschology of Videogames. One of the points that the professor made was the transferability of skills learned while playing games: hand eye coordination, problem solving, reading.

Thinking about games I watch my husband play, there’s resource allocation and character delegation. I think those would be two important skills of say… a shelter manager? Volunteer coordinator?

I mean, no one is going to create a video game that involves running an animal rescue. Admittedly, that sounds boring. But hey, maybe existing games will help transfer those abilities into rescue practice.