It can take several hours of gameplay to learn the mechanics of some games, and even longer for the more complex games. If subject-matter learning can occur only after this initial game-mechanics...

It can take several hours of gameplay to learn the mechanics of some games, and even longer for the more complex games. If subject-matter learning can occur only after this initial game-mechanics learning occurs, how can educators justify the amount of time a learner must spend within the game just to get to the point where learning begins?