How should a classroom teacher use games and simulations? Recently I heard a counselor chuckle about a student who whined about the social studies class, asking, “Why should we study about dead people?" Researchers have used commercial games like SimCity and Civilization III to enrich their social studies classes. For example, Squire (2004) used Civilization III to explore its usefulness in the classroom and found that, although useful, it led to several contradictions because of the complexity of the game, extended time commitments required, students having varied difficulty leaming how to use it, and different levels of students’ personal motivation.