BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — Video games are stepping beyond entertainment and into the realm of education at Boise State University, where Professor Michael Allen is using them to teach international relations. Allen, who leads the political science program, has authored a new book titled “The Gamer’s Guide to International Relations,” which explores how video games can help students understand complex global issues.
“The Gamer’s Guide to International Relations uses five different archetypes of video games to try to explain International Relations concepts to either students or gamers or people who are interested in international relations,” Allen said. “This is a stepping stone to say, ‘Here’s an analogy as to how to understand the world through gaming.’ But once we take that initial step, we’ll also be able to see some ways in which games influence international relations, and also how international relations influence games.”
Allen’s book connects popular video games, such as “League of Legends” and “Minecraft,” to international relations theories, making complex concepts more accessible. He explained how a game like “Fortnite” can illustrate decision-making processes similar to those in global politics.
“Say, a game of Fortnite, where it’s a game where I’m trying to win, but I’m trying to make decisions at the moment as who is temporarily my ally, who is temporarily my enemy, and how we can make decisions to progress what we want to do, where we could win the game more or less,” Allen said.
This fall, Allen will incorporate his book into his upcoming class, “World Politics Through Gaming.” The course aims to explore how video games can be used to understand international relations and comparative politics.
“The goal is to look at ways in which we can play video games and understand international relations,” Allen said. “I will also be focusing on comparative politics, understanding how democracies, and autocracies work, and students can play games they never played before, or they could come to a classroom and talk about the games that they hadn’t played, that maybe I haven’t played myself.”
Allen hopes that as video games continue to grow in popularity, they will also change the way students engage with international politics.
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