As far as Triple A titles and big-time developers, the only one that comes to mind immediately is Bully from Rockstar. That doesn't mean other games ignore schooling entirely. Persona 5, White Day: A Labyrinth Named School, even Star Trek: Starfleet Academy could be designated as a school simulator of sorts. And let's not forget the myriad of dating simulators that frequent the digital campuses of high schools and colleges.
So what's with this weird question that The Guardian asked that no one really has asked before? According to the writer, Keith Stuart, "[c]hildren have a need to place their lives in context, and to experience and experiment with the boundaries put in front of them[.]" And that's very true. Part of developing as a functioning adult is to understand and explore the world around us. Video games give us the opportunity to do this with fictional landscapes, but help improve our spatial awareness and problem solving skills. And in many ways it could be a great tool for building one's mental self: confidence, trust, responsibility, etc.
But would a game set in a school help promote this, or inhibit it?
The difference between a 30 minute after-school show ('Saved by the Bell') and a 30 hour game...well I just spelled it out for you. It's the time! I couldn't imagine going to school for 7-10 hours a day (depending on your activities, yes it can be a 10 hour day), coming home, having to handle another 5-7 hours of homework, and try to find time to relax by playing a video game that takes place in a school. Not with how intense today's schools are in the U.S. There's an increased pressure now then ever to get the best grades and fight for the slim pickings of scholarships that are available. School is stressful. It was bad enough when I went - and I was going through middle school and high school at the turning point of education: Columbine and 9/11. And no, that's not meant to be taken lightly. I remember what school was like before those events, and I remember how drastically it changed after. Today's academics are so much more intense and scrutinized that kids are under an immense amount of pressure to always be at their best.
So no. If I were a kid today I would certainly not play a video game that took place in a school. I'd be stressed out by school enough daily that I wouldn't want it to enter my gaming hobby as well. Somehow I get the feeling a number of kids, and adults, would agree with me.
And again, it's not like games are avoiding the subject entirely. There are plenty of games with a school setting if you're willing to think outside of the big developers like EA and Activision. There are choices.
What The Guardian article misses is that kids don't want to spend another 20-50 hours playing a game inside a school setting when 40-80 hours a week are already devoted to schooling. It'd be the same as a working adult going home to play a job simulator that replicates their day-to-day activities. It's not inspiring. It's much more beneficial to kids and adults to play games that help stoke the fires of imagination. We gain more out of these crazy fantasy settings then by restricting ourselves to school/job simulations.
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