Who says you can't learn from video games?

I would like to share with you something I have learned recently from, of all things, a video game.

Full disclosure:  I am what people would call a "gamer".  I have an Xbox 360 and spend probably more time playing it than I should, both on my own and with/against other players over Xbox Live.  I have always loved playing games of all types--when I was a kid, my brother and I would play marathon Axis and Allies games--and I grew up playing the Atari, the Nintendo, and various computer games (X-Wing, Sim City, etc).  Nowadays I am more of a console gamer--hence the 360 and the first-gen Xbox and Playstation 2 sitting in the basement--but I also do some miniature tabletop wargaming (I've recently started playing Dystopian Wars) and I do play EVE Online every once in awhile.  All this being said, I do still find time to cut the grass and do other chores around the house, and I do practice regular personal hygiene.

So, back to what I learned.  I've been playing a game recently on the Xbox 360 called "Assassin's Creed".  The game is somewhat of a departure from games I usually play.  For one thing, it's set in the 1100's, and for another, the object is not to dispatch as many of the foe as quickly as possible and as creatively as possible.  This is a thinking kind of game.  The basic premise is that your character is an Assassin named Altair, and you run around the Middle East (Damascus, Jerusalem, Acre, and a little bit of the countryside in between) assassinating targets given to you by the master of the Assassin's cult.  I have not yet finished the game, but I am getting close, and with each target I take down I get the feeling that there is more going on than it appears, and that my character is merely doing someone else's dirty work.  I am interested to see how it turns out.  It is a thinking game in that you cannot go in to each city "guns blazing", so to speak...you have to conduct investigations to find out information about your target in order to get close to him, in order to assassinate him.  It is very interesting.

The game is set during the Crusades--not any one in particular, just the Crusades.  In addition to taking down your assigned targets, the game is peppered with Templar Knights who will attack you on site.  Being the amateur historian that I am, I've always wanted to learn about the Crusades, but have just never taken the time to do so.  Finally, after playing this game for so long, and hearing about the Crusades, and the Templars, and the Knights Hospitallers, I made a command decision:  I went down to my local bookstore and picked up The Crusades, by Thomas Asbridge.  I plan on starting it as soon as I've finished the WW1 book I'm working on (mentioned in the last post).

Playing the game has caused me to do a little cursory investigation into the Crusades and the Templars and Hospitallers.  But playing it also piqued my curiosity enough to go buy books to learn more.  See?  Video games aren't ALL bad.