ABSTRACT
Oral language is not just a set of conventions for how to mean with words. It is also a tool for having conversations. Conversation is a turn-taking system. Linguists and sociologists have argued that face-to-face conversation is the primordial and most fundamental form of language for humans. In fact, face-to-face conversation with adults is crucial for a child's development, socialization, and later success in school and society. Video games essentially create new worlds to have conversations with, worlds designed by humans. In this sense, video games take a free ride on a mental capacity- simulation and role playing, that we humans have long had. There is a long academic history of analyzing language. In these cases, the player's only story is the story of the player's confrontation with problem solving and his or her own identity as a learner and as an engager with problems and patterns.
