Video games and education may be setting aside their old enmities.

While video games have in the past been criticized in certain corners for isolating young people — think the stereotype of the gamer alone in his dark basement, joystick in hand, staring into a monitor — Quest to Learn is distinctly multiplayer in its approach, encouraging teamwork and cooperation as students attempt to complete their various missions.

Educational video games have existed almost since the medium’s inception. After all, the legendary Oregon Trail was created in 1971, but New York’s Quest to Learn is the first public school to shape their entire curriculum around video games.

Quest to Learn courses are structured after the classical pattern of video games. Students undertake missions filled with various challenges, culminating in a “boss stage,” where all their accumulated learning is put to a final test.

However, students are not merely acting as players in a game (fun as that sounds), but using what they learn to develop their own educational games as well.

Quest to Learn doesn’t pretend that video games possess an inherent educational value, but rather that video games incentives can be used to structure a student’s educational process in a manner that keeps them plugged in and motivated. In other words, the minds behind Quest to Learn believe that the same mechanics used to maintain a player’s interest in a game can likewise be employed to hold their attention in the classroom.

Evidence is emerging that shows Quest to Learn’s approach is bearing fruit. Recently, over 60% of its students tested above New York’s state average in reading. Not a bad start for a program less than a decade old, where the game is still just beginning.