The perception of palaeontology in commercial off-the-shelf video games and an assessment of their potential as educational tools

Clements, Thomas; Atterby, Jake; Cleary, Terri; Dearden, Richard P.; Rossi, Valentina

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-289-2022

Articles | Volume 5, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-289-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-289-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 5, issue 3

Review article

|

27 Sep 2022

Review article |

| 27 Sep 2022

The perception of palaeontology in commercial off-the-shelf video games and an assessment of their potential as educational tools

Thomas Clements, Jake Atterby, Terri Cleary, Richard P. Dearden, and Valentina Rossi

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https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-289-2022-supplement

Video abstract

The perception of palaeontology in video games Thomas Clements, Jake Atterby, Terri Cleary, Richard Dearden, and Valentina Rossi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XfTBa9N_XE

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Short summary

Video games are the largest sector of the entertainment industry and often contain ancient animals (e.g. dinosaurs) and/or fossils. This may be the first or only exposure gamers have to palaeontology, and it provides a useful starting point for science outreach. However, video games are not typically designed to be educational. We investigate the use of palaeontology in video games and highlight common tropes that may skew the public perception of palaeontological science.