Before the start of the academic year in 2023, Cybersport.ru already talked about the project “Test games”, created by the Moscow teacher Lev Yasensky. This project combined two things that seemed incongruous for many teachers and parents – study and video games. Six months later, we decided to find out how the project has changed. Why is it difficult to find an investor for such initiatives? What are today’s children playing? How using The Witcher 3 brush up on Gogol? And why is it beneficial to combine play with education? The answers to these questions can be found in the material Cybersport.ru.
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What are Test Games?
To begin with, let’s recall the essence of the “Test Games”… The rules are pretty simple. The student takes an exam in his chosen subject in a team online game with the teacher on stream. Every three minutes in a conditional match CS: GO teacher asks a question, and the child has five seconds to think, and then he needs to try to give the correct answer. At the same time, the examinee should not be excluded from the battle, which minimizes the possibility of “cheating”. For each correct answer, the child receives from ₽50 to ₽500 (depending on the system of bonuses and multipliers). However, it will be possible to withdraw this amount only if the team wins or if the student is in first place in the final table.
“Test games” created for children who are lagging behind in their studies or do not have much interest in it. Gradually, from a local initiative, it grew into a large-scale project with participants from all over Russia (and not only), as well as a line of more than 1.5 thousand applicants. Around the Test Games, its own ecosystem has emerged with various activities, educational content, a close-knit community and even a school “cryptocurrency”. In addition to enthusiastic teachers, the project itself involves several dozen schoolchildren and students who help with the organization, create content and take on other responsibilities for the development of the Test Games.
Moreover, the project itself is completely charitable. Schoolchildren do not pay for participation and donate, and Lev Yasenskiy distributes almost all monetary awards for exams from his own pocket.
Pitching with Maelstorm by Timur Bekmambetov
“Control games” it is still very difficult to find investors. And the point is not at all in the format of the project, just everyone likes it, but in its charitable orientation. Recently “Test Games” took part in a pitching organized by the director and producer Timur Bekmambetov. The project, in addition to Lev Yasensky himself, was presented by the commentator Dota 2 Vladimir Maelstorm Kuzminov. The idea of such a distance shoeInvestors liked the idea that is integrated into video games, but there was one thing: according to Lev, he was offered to monetize the project by making participation in it paid. Investors have assured that such a format can be extremely profitable if properly presented to parents.
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Often questions are suggested by the chat participants
Authors of “Test Games” ready to conduct an exam in almost any subject, even in an unpopular foreign language, the main thing is to find a teacher who can ask questions and show himself well in the game.
“They also like to hand over music. There was a stream recently, and they asked the question: “What is the difference between Morgenstern’s music and Mozart’s music?” The child replied: “I don’t like Morgenstern’s music.” It may not be what we expected to hear, but this answer was also counted. “
Six months ago, Lev Yasensky said that he had encountered skepticism towards his project from more conservative teachers. However, now teachers sometimes come to the stream to cheer for their students. Teachers even stand up for the children, justifying their mistakes, for example, by the fact that their school has not yet covered this topic. Increasingly, parents also come to support their children – especially when it comes to World of Tanks. There were cases when children connected to the exam from their fathers’ accounts – it turned out to be a mutually beneficial exchange: the child played on a pumped-up profile with a bunch of strong tanks, and dad, due to his son’s successes, acquired new skins.
Duel with voice assistant and cryptocurrency
Now streaming “Test games” go daily. In one broadcast, it is possible to conduct from two to four exams. In addition, sometimes there are entertainment streams on Among Us, non-class. However, even such a schedule does not allow meeting the demand – now the queue has stretched for more than a year. So that children do not lose motivation to study while they are waiting in line, the project has created its own “cryptocurrency”, for which you can buy a ticket to the next game – “smartcoins”. You don’t need to spend real money on it, just download it annex a screenshot with excellent marks from the e-zine, exchange them for “smartcoins” and buy a ticket (or other gifts).
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“Smartcoins”
To fight the queue for participation, Yasenskiy plans to actively attract students from the Test Games communitywho would like to try themselves in the role of mentors. However, he adds that first they need to be “raised” so that students are ready to test children, be able to communicate with them and build communication correctly.
IN “Test games” also plans to add a new mode – “duel with a voice assistant”. As conceived by the authors, the examinee must answer more correctly and more accurately than the AI, which will issue the first information from the Internet. At the same time, a voice assistant, but as an ally, in “Control games” use it now. A schoolboy can turn to him for advice if he has answered several questions in a row correctly, however, according to Leo, this also requires skill. In the allotted time, the child must figure out how to formulate the request so that the voice assistant can provide the necessary information.
Play or study – which is more important?
“Test games” try to get the kids interested in learning with the help of virtual battles, but at the same time do not diminish the importance of the video games themselves. Yasensky wants to create a single student profile in the project application, where achievements from the game and awards from the school will be taken into account. Both those and others will be awarded with “smartcoins”.
“We want to show schoolchildren and teachers that at this age one cannot draw the dividing line:“ Games are insignificant, but learning is significant ”. This is not worth doing, because the spirit of contradiction immediately triggers in the child, he will only understand with age that he was mistaken, perhaps. We believe that academic success and play success should be equated, especially for a small child. Because if he understands that both are equal, then he will try the same both there and there, even if he doesn’t like studying now. “
The result of such a policy can be seen on streams or in the project group: children with the same interest discuss both school situations and exam questions, and the game itself. And both of these worlds become equally fascinating for them, not interfering with each other, but mutually complementing.
Are games a future school subject?
Lev Yasensky is confident that video games have already become a part of mass culture and art. Therefore, his educational project uses not only their outer shell, as in the case of the teacher in Half-Life: Alyx, but also internal content. Yasensky even came up with a new subject – “Game” (like literature, only about games). The project publishes educational videos that analyze game conventions and plot features of popular titles.
“Games are now part of the culture and can become part of the disciplines taught. We believe they can be implemented and used as visual tools. ”
In games, there are many references, references and interweaving with world culture and history, by their example, you can, among other things, introduce children to philosophical and literary trends. Now Yasensky is finishing work on a video about Cyberpunk 2077. According to him, in it CD Projekt refers the player to the classic plot of American literature: a young man comes to the city and tries to find happiness and wealth. It is clear that in the game this is mainly presented in the form of chases and shootings.
“We want to show children that the elements of the plot of any video game were present in previous generations and that Cyberpunk 2077 could not appear from scratch – it is inextricably linked with world culture.”
Yasensky assures that there are many interesting interweaving of literature and video games. For example, one can get acquainted with the psychology and philosophy of Dostoevsky in Prey and Alan Wake, in many titles Chekhov’s humorous tricks, built on contrast, can be seen, and in The Witcher 3, despite the fact that this is an adaptation of Sapkowski, you can find Gogol.
“The supplement“ Stone Hearts ”is pure Gogol, or rather“ Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka ”. There you can make out the scenes, a very interesting weave. Gogol goes to school quite early, so many do not remember him. But if you have read “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, then even the plot can be predicted. In general, the Poles did an interesting thing: “Stone Hearts” is a reference to Slavic folklore, and “Blood and Wine” – to the West. “
Yasensky believes that video games are it is a cultural symbiosis. Dark Souls can help develop an interest in reading, a complex reading that forces you to glean and collate information about the world by drawing analogies. Other titles can combine elements of cinematography, from staging to the “acting” of the actors.
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