Education is a means to an end #vglmooc
I was playing the videos from Week 5 of the Video Games and Learning MOOC on Coursera in the background while doing some paperwork that was simple enough that I could divide my attention. Then I heard Constance Steinkuehler's voice say something that hit me so hard I had to rewind and listen to it again.
This is not verbatim, but the gist is this:
We need to stop thinking of games as a way to accomplish our educational goals, and start thinking of education as a way to accomplish their goals.
If reading, researching, working math, whatever, if kids see it as a way to be able to do what they want to do, then they'll put in the extra effort to do it. I don't mean "finish your homework before you can play video games". But they will read well above their grade level (according to Steinkuehler) if the information they are reading will help them play better. I bet you'd find something similar when it comes to figuring out player stats (math).
Why don't kids work hard to do math problems in a book? Why don't they make an effort to comprehend what they're reading? Because they don't see the point. They don't care. Grades are not enough to motivate kids (see the Learning Beyond Letter Grades MOOC).
Admittedly, sometimes students are going to have to learn things that they don't want to learn or don't see an application for. We all do. That's life. But when choice is possible, give students some choice. When it's not, help them see an application, find a way to connect, to care. They may not care how long it takes a train leaving Chicago to pass another train coming from California, but they may very well care how long it takes to get to The Blasted Lands from Elwynn Forest.