Educational Gaming: What will it take to keep kids interested?

In class we have been put in charge of thinking up unique video game designs that are both fun and, wait for it...educational! Now, the last time I played an educational game was back in the days of Humongous Entertainment, with such game series as Freddi the Fish, Sly Fox, and Putt-Putt. Although these games didn't have math or science, they did help develop critical thinking and strategy-using skills. I also used to play games that promoted math and and other academic skills, like Oregon Trail, which involved saving and spending money for different resources as one's caravan traveled down the long Oregon Trail; that was one of the few games that combined math learning with actual fun. Back then, there were many fun educational games at our disposal, most often on the computer. Nowadays, as kids start playing more adolescent games, like Call of Duty and Halo, at younger and younger ages, these "edutaining"games are becoming less and less interesting. Why waste time spelling a word to unlock a door when you can just slaughter the enemy guarding the door in other games? Why bother solving a puzzle in Freddi the Fish when you could wreak havoc on hell-spawned harpies in God of War 3? Kids are just losing interest in education-driven games nowadays?

Now, what can we do for the new generation that will make kids want to play educational video games, ultimately leading in smarter, more prepared children? My game idea somewhat revolves around the basics of Bully, a game I have never played, but was interested in because of its originality. In this game, a bully essentially goes through school, a collection of mini-games, to learn valuable trades that he can use for the benefit of his misconduct. For example, chemistry class is really just a button-mashing mini-game that, if you do well enough in, allows you to make stink bombs and other such chemical tools that the bully would use in the actual game to torture others. The game was apparently very popular upon release; the idea of being a virtual bully probably intrigued a lot of kids.

For my game, I would like to follow Bully's design, with simple modifications. The player would be given options in how he wants to play, he would be given a large amount of control over situations; essentially it would be like combining Bully and Mass Effect, a game that has excellent multidirectional gameplay. Through one's actions, responses to others, success in school (which would be made up of real work), one would slowly develop into a stereotype category; for example, if you normally hurt others, you'd develop into a bully, whereas if you played most of the sports games, you'd develop into a jock. The game would have to b comprehensive and long, but if it had all these options, players would be and stay interested. Most importantly, all players would learn because, despite the fact that normal slackers or bullies do poorly in school, those striving to be those stereotypes in this virtual reality would still have to do well in classes to unlock higher special abilities (following the idea behind Bully). With such a comprehensive, multidirectional game, as long as it had good graphics and playability, this game could be quite popular and useful if ever created.