Week 13 - DIGITAL - Games and Game Design in Education
(My notes and comments)
The link between games and learning
The link between games and learning is not a contemporary phenomenon, nor a digital one. ...Froebel’s invention of kindergarten in 1840 was premised in large part on the integration of learning through games and play. (Salen, 2007).
What type of player are you?
Are you are a griefer/killer (hack / cheat / heckle), achiever (win / challenge / compare), socializer (share, comment, help) or explorer (investigate, create, discover)? Test your "Gamer Psychology" with the Bartle Test: http://tinyurl.com/TMLGamer
My Gamer Psychology
Achiever - 73%
Explorer - 33%
Griefer -67%
Socializer - 27%
Explorer - 33%
Griefer -67%
Socializer - 27%
Even if you don't play online games, you can still see what you would prefer to do in such an environment.
Reflection on playing games
Read through the spreadsheet that has the responses from the 'before class' survey on Playing a Game. Discuss what it is about games that makes them engaging.
Game thinking
Marczewski (2016) explores the following types of game thinking:
- Game inspired design: This is where no actual elements from games are used, just ideas such as user interfaces that mimic those from games, design or artwork that is inspired by games or the way things are written.
- Gamification: Extrinsic gamification is the sort that most people are used to, where game elements are added to a system. Things like points, badges, progress bars etc.Intrinsic gamification is more about using motivation and behavioural design to engage users.
- Serious games: These may be teaching/learning games that teach you something using real gameplay, simulators that provide a virtual version of something from the real world that allows safe practice and testing, meaningful games that use gameplay to promote a meaningful message to the player, or purposeful games that create direct real world outcomes.
- Play (games / toys): Play is free form and has no extrinsically imposed goals. It is done for fun or joy. Games add defined goals and rules to play (such as challenges). Toys are objects that can be used in play or games.
Some examples of serious games
Gaming statistics
Gaming has gone mainstream—so much so that, according to gaming trends analyst Newzoo, it’s one of the most-watched content categories on YouTube today. So it’s no surprise E-sports have become a cultural phenomenon, with tournament footage drawing 320M people worldwide and counting. There are over 20M gaming how-to videos uploaded to YouTube (Gibson & Petrova, 2017).
Kupu Hono
You can try out a basic demo of Tyne Crow’s Kupu Hono Maori language learning game that is an example of a learning game designed for mobile devices that uses a virtual game world.
Educational game model
According to Amory (2007), Educational computer games should:
- Be relevant, explorative, emotive and engaging
- Include complex challenges, puzzles or quests
- Be gender-inclusive and non-confrontational
- Provide appropriate role models
- Develop democracy and social capital through dialogue
- Support authentic learning activities
- Support the construction of tacit knowledge
Educational games need all the usual qualities of games, plus they should not contain any socially undesirable features (racism. sexism, violence, etc) but provide positive models, plus they have to have some embedded pedagogy. Maybe this explains why successful educational games are so hard to create.
Game creation tools
One of the tools that could be used with students to create their own games is Gamefroot. There is a video in the portal about how one teacher used Gamefroot for assessment.
Ethical Game Design
Magical Parks (Augmented Reality game) is our example of an ethical game. This game turns normal parks or school grounds into a digital game park. Schools can set this up on their school grounds and there is currently a 2-month free trial that is still available for schools!
This app is free to play, has no in-app advertising and no 3rd party data mining.
Mobile Learning Tools
A number of tools have been developed for mobile devices that support game-like learning experiences linked to exploring outdoor environments. They include such features as competing individuals / teams, ‘treasure hunt’ style activities, scores/ badges for achievement and leaderboards. Some examples of this type of tool include:
We will be trying out ActionBound in class
(Really great activity)
Flow Theory and Games?
According to Murphy (2011) Flow is widely accepted to be one of the fundamental reasons that people play games. It is the essence of games. For game designers, the question is not whether flow is important, but rather, how long you can keep your players in flow.
Psychology of Games
Jamie Madigan creates podcasts discussing how video games and psychology intersect. He aims to popularise the application of psychology to creating and understanding video games. Two in particular are useful in the context of understanding games in education - Podcast 17: Gaming Psychology and Learning and Podcast 22: Research on Games, Aggression and Addiction.
Game developers often design with flow in mind, and getting players to that state is usually seen as the halmark of good game design. It involves dialling in just the right amount of challenge, making sure players know what they need to do, giving them clear feedback, and a few other things. But recently some researchers have begun to take an interest in how group dynamics and collaborative (or competitive) situations within groups affects flow (Madigan, 2015). Ryu, Cui and Parsons (2010) noted that 'social flow in a collaborative learning space might be a key factor in providing the conditions for optimal learning experience' (p.1). If you want to hear how the rules change when groups are involved, you should listen to Madigan interviewing Dr. Linda Kaye on his podcast episode of Psychological Flow.
Designing a game flowchart
Game narratives can be designed using flowcharts. You can use formal flowchart tools or less formal tools like bubbl.us when designing your own game like activities.
References
Amory, A. (2007). Game object model version II: a theoretical framework for educational game development. Educational Technology Research & Development, 55(1), 51–77
Gibson, A., & Petrova, E. (2017, August 25). 3 Trends in Video Game Culture on YouTube That Prove It's Not so Niche.
Madigan, J. (2015). Podcast 3: Psychological Flow. The Psychology of Video Games. Retrieved from http://www.psychologyofgames.com/2015/05/podcast-3-psychological-flow/
Marczewski, A. (2016). GameThinking – Differences Between Gamification & Games. Gamified UK. Retrieved from: http://www.gamified.uk/gamification-framework/differences-between-gamification-and-games/
Murphy, C. (2011). Why Games Work and the Science of Learning. In Proceedings Modsim World 2011. Retrieved from: http://www.goodgamesbydesign.com/Files/WhyGamesWork_TheScienceOfLearning_CMurphy_2011.pdf
Ryu, H., Cui, J. & Parsons, D. (2010). Raising the Bar of Challenge with Collaboration: Social Flow in Mobile Learning. Proceedings of 9th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning (mLearn 2010), Malta, (pp. 240-247). Retrieved from http://davidparsons.ac.nz/papers/Raising%20the%20Bar%20of%20Challenge%20with%20Collaboration%20Social%20Flow%20in%20Mobile%20Learning.pdf
Salen, K. (Ed.) (2007). The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
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