  Prior research has explored potential applications of video games in
programming education to elicit computational thinking skills. However,
existing approaches are often either too general, not taking into account the
diversity of genres and mechanisms between video games, or too narrow,
selecting tools that were specifically designed for educational purposes. In
this paper we propose a more fundamental approach, defining beneficial
connections between individual design patterns present in video games and
computational thinking skills. We argue that video games have the capacity to
elicit these skills and even to potentially train them. This could be an
effective method to solidify a conceptual base which would make programming
education more effective.
