I told @drew-lewis.com and @nativemath.bsky.social at AIM that Mario teaches my kid Productive Struggle and they thought it was a bit but I was serious. 😤

The word "productive" is doing a lot of work in that sentence 😬

*gasps in horror* I’m with @clontz.org here! Yeah beating a video game is not “productive” according to capitalism but it doesn’t mean that the struggle to accomplish something valuable to the person who is doing it is not a productive state, or a state in which they learn!

I meant more that many people's (like mine) experience with many (video or other) games is that the struggle does not actually produce tangible results that allow you to progress through the game.

Something something Battle Toads was not in my zone of proximal development until I finally beat it in college 😤

Yup. Games, whether with a ball, or on a screen, using physicality, or cleverness, are excellent tools for teaching the values of determination and perseverance.

I think anyway to learn to fail and keep trying is not a bad thing. However I cannot afford video games anymore so failing at trying to hit a baseball it is...