I absolutely agree that games are a useful tool to teach with. And when your only access to the teacher is through the computer or email or something, I would imagine that games would be a very useful thing to allow the learner to concentrate and focus on the task at hand.

My friend attempted to take calculus through the internet. It did not work out so well. He had a really hard time getting the task done...with out someone checking that he had done his work all the time and without having frequent tests he wasn't motivated to learn the material.

That problem is going to happen whenever distance learning is involved. But perhaps games are the solution. We've all seen children getting so caught up their games that it is almost impossible to divert their attention. I always think it's funny when I am reminded that the same goes for adults.

One problem arises when the people know that what they are doing is educational. All interest is suddenly deprived. The trick is to keep the educational games so much fun that they have no idea that they are actually learning.

It is a hard task to do...

I'd like to focus on you last full paragraph. I disagree that once someone knows that something is educational that all interest is deprived. I would argue that once one realizes that something does not benefit that which is closely important to them that most interest is deprived. I say most because normally at some level the will to perpetuate kicks in and one will try to flail and not fail.

But that is not so important now. Games in and of themselves are meaningless to education if they are meaningless to the individual. If you find something, anything, of importance to an individual then it can become a useful teaching tool. This seems to be the trend of all learning related materials I have read -- and I fully believe it.

I think we, that is everyone in education, should focus more on understanding what their students want and who they are. Once this is accomplished (this is no easy task!) the teacher can be better prepared to reach the student in a way that is conducive to learning for that particular student.