university of arizona: How playing Age of Empires IV may help these university students – Times of India

Intriguing, isn’t it? That playing a video game could help the students of a university academically. How come and what university would like to bring a video game into academics? It is the University of Arizona which has partnered with Microsoft’s World’s Edge studio and Relic Entertainment for a special offer for its current and future students beginning from early 2022.
The students need to interact with the special educational content at ageofempires.com which could allow them to earn one academic credit at the university. The educational content is designed to supplement the historical storytelling in the Age of Empires IV campaign, and is developed by two professors of the Department of History at the university – associate professor of medieval history Paul Milliman and department head Alison Futrell, an associate professor of Roman history, as per the Age of Empires website.
In early 2022, when the University of Arizona content becomes available, the game’s Community Tab will feature “University of Arizona enhanced experience” through which players can find an onboarding portal, “including required steps for receiving college credit, as well as accompanying modules called “Illuminated Histories,” written by Futrell and Milliman.”
The students need to complete all the key story points across the game’s four campaigns and then take part in an online test for the same. If they clear the test, it will earn them one credit hour that will be applied pending admission to the University of Arizona.
“Prospective students will need to have access to the Age of Empires IV on Steam, Microsoft Store or with subscriptions to Xbox Game Pass for PC or Ultimate; all players will need to be signed into the game using an Xbox Live account (available for free). More information, including steps required to take part, will be shared on the Age of Empires website when the UArizona content becomes available next year,” says the game website.