Inclusion of games in undergraduate CS courses is evil:

• Work with games reinforces incorrect and counter-productive stereotypes.
• Focus on games tends to discourage interest in computing among women and other underrepresented groups.
• Computer games comprise a tiny fraction of the IT/computing industry (well under 2%), and a focus on games (that students already know about) draws attention away from other, more socially-useful activities and applications.

Emphasis on other areas helps show breadth of the field, without the negative side effects.

• Basic, introductory concepts (e.g., loops, control structures, data structures, algorithms) can arise in many interesting and socially valuable contexts, so there is no need to dwell on games that have negative connotations to some populations.
• Socially constructive applications and examples connect with diverse groups, often not well-represented.
• A breadth-first perspective exposes students to new and exciting possibilities, rather than just reinforcing application areas students already have seen.

created 4 March 2008 last revised 12 June 2008

previous