Gen Z Arriving at College Unable to Read

https://futurism.com/future-society/gen-z-literacy-reading

Wow, check out the above article.

Kids get to college, and they can't read?

We hit on this topic before on this blog, and it sort of has to do with GURPS and how the game will be 10 to 20 years from now, and whether roleplaying games in their current form are even a sustainable hobby. Is GURPS doomed to grow old and die alongside its players? One could also argue that D&D, in its current form, is an unsustainable game, so the problem is hobby-wide, and we will probably see this more and more as the years go on.

Or rather, it is what we won't see that will haunt us. A lack of new players since the reading comprehension level required to play and understand GURPS is lost in an era three decades ago.

I am imagining a rebooted Back to the Future, told today, and them going back to the 1980s, with Doc Brown telling Marty, "Back in the 1980s, when kids knew how to read!"

I have a sister in primary education, and it really is this bad. And no, throwing away more money to people who do nothing and sit in offices all day is not the answer. This is part of the problem, to be honest. Huge parts of society have turned into 1984-like do-nothing bureaucracies, with people sitting in offices or on videoconferences all day, being paid to do nothing important.

The plans are made, politicians sell them as a panacea, the checks get signed, and years later, we find out nothing was even done, and the money is gone. Big words, no action, zero follow-up, and wasted money. People in these failed bureaucracies will probably find it easier to pay protestors to make it seem like people are angry that the failed system is finally being held accountable. Those who don't have the energy or attention to fix what is obviously broken will get defensive. Some will want to pour more money into the failed system.

It is a lose-lose-lose game.

It is like buying things on Amazon; you feel good when you hit the buy button, and it is all downhill from there. Same with fixing education: announcing the plan and celebrating its passage is as good as it gets. Then, the bills come.

Sorry, I am a Gen-X roleplayer; when I roll the dice, I expect a result, and accept the outcomes of my actions. Same with the money I pay in taxes for education, I expect results and accountability. We were so poor that we had to cut up cardboard boxes by hand to make Car Wars counters. I don't like wasting money, or when others waste mine.

Now, part of this education article I linked feels like a clickbait headline, but they did their homework and linked their sources and citations. It is not every student; we are seeing an increasing number of them. And the article mentions reading, but I feel this extends into critical thinking, math, history, and many other areas that lie under the surface.

A strange thought I had is, "Do people only know how to play D&D since they watched Critical Role?" In a society where "all learning is based on YouTube videos," this would explain D&D's continuing popularity. People can't learn other games since there is no "video training" for them.

It sounds inane, like I am stupid for putting this out there. But I read these articles, and what else can I assume? Gen Z can't read the article, but I can. If someone makes a YouTube video about it, I guess this exists. If a game has live play, it has a shot of catching on.

Pretty books won't do the job anymore. Only collectors will buy them.

And I see games moving toward a rules-light, easier-to-learn mode. The new Conan RPG is very easy to pick up, teach, and play. This is where designs will head in the future. Single-book, streamlined, easy-to-play, and experience-focused games that compete with cell phones and streaming video.

It boggles my mind to think of what a rules-light GURPS would look like. More like Savage Worlds, but keeping the 3d6 roll-under system? Fewer rules in every chapter? Extreme streamlining and more abstract character options? Part of me feels like it could work, while still keeping what makes the system feel like GURPS intact. The Fantasy Trip is partway there.

But we still need to worry about comprehension and the next generation of players.

At some point, to preserve our society, we should put all K-12 education on YouTube and make it free. Let AI grade the papers. Education is a human right, but remove the profit motive from it entirely. Those who want to succeed at life and enrich themselves will find it. As it stands now, with education behind a government-protected paywall monopoly, the system is failing us, and articles like this are proof. Like Linux, education should be open-sourced and free for all. This is our right as humanity.

Part of how we can help GURPS is to start channels, teach people how to play, do live plays, and even stream solo content for people to enjoy. We can't fight a failed educational system or the entrenched bureaucracies around it, promising to fix it, but we can go to where the future players are and help show them the light.

Play GURPS. Share GURPS. Stream GURPS. Teach GURPS.

Yes, this is the moment where I realize writing a blog is a waste of time for helping new players find the game.

They won't be able to read this.