Shoot em up games mostly, offering level after level of quicker, more numerous enemies to be fought off with progressively more deadly weapons. And call me paranoid if you will, but even then I speculated about a covert military video game agenda. Consider the high-tech soldier potential. In Card s future insectoid aliens have attacked Earth twice, nearly eradicating the human species on their second offensive. In a desperate attempt to secure a human victory in the third round, Earth Gov has initiated a breeding program for military genius.
Earth needs to survive.
Those who make the grade are conscripted into the military and moved off planet to Battle School, where they begin a singular education in the game of war. Literally, for in Battle School the focus of activity is the gravity-free Battleroom where, armed with laser pistols and clad in suits that automatically immobilize when hit, the Rats, the Centipedes, the Salamanders, and the other student armies play war. Sometimes the field of play is a vast, empty space. Always there is only one goal - beat the enemy and win the battle. Thus for six year old Ender, in addition to the standard war games, there is another, more psychological avenue of instruction.