Games in Education.

Games have taken the world by storm, they are everywhere these days. People of all ages love and adore them. They promote creative thinking, problem solving and righteous morale’s while giving players a good ole dose of dopamine!
So tell me why, if they are so popular and promote these fundamental teachings, are they not present in our education system more?

There have been games developed that encapsulate education, such as “Tux, Math Command” which teaches younger (and sometimes older) kids about basic mathematics by enticing them to play a “Missile Command” inspired game. In the game, players type in the answer to the falling equations/meteors and if correct then the meteors are destroyed, if not they land and diminish the players defenses. The levels range all the ways from basic addition to beginners algebra.
The game play is simple and effective, keeping player entertained while they improve their mathematics skills.

Another example is “Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing“ an application that, as the title says, teaches typing. With a friendly user interface and helpful tutor, users can learn typing at ease regardless of skill level. The application isn’t a game itself but it does promote learning through the use of mini games. These mini games provide a break from the “classroom” setting in the program and give the players the opportunity to test their new skills in little practice games such as “Type Racer” where players test how many words per minute (WPM), they can type.
This program’s focus isn’t the gaming side of learning but does provide an illustration on how games can help improve the learning process.

There have been studies to show the positive impact on learning games can have, such as Microsoft’s article where they speak about the advantage’s to Game Based Learning (GBL).
The article points out that GBL provides a “friendly environment for learning” and it “gets the student’s attention“, which are legitimate points for the movement’s argument.

As always, if there’s a ‘for side’ there’s an ‘against side’. Some groups and people aren’t so keen on the idea of having games in education, such as these folks.
This source from the UNC School Of Education, talks about gaming in education being more “distracting than a typical learning tool” and how it requires the teacher to keep up to date on the game’s content as it may not always be age appropriate for the class and the content may not be necessarily aligned for the learning outcomes of a particular subject.
These remarks are valid and showcase the authors feelings on the matter. They do not come from a place of unyielding bias. However there is one point made that I personally didn’t agree with, the author spoke about how this generation of educatees have grown up with the current technology, which mightn’t be the case for all teachers. They quote that if a teacher wasn’t very “tech-savvy” that the introduction to gaming in education can lead to the concept working “inversely” for the student and teacher.

Conclusively, I agree with the concept of games in education. They provide students with the next stage in the evolution of learning. They take away from tedious and monotonous rote learning, and allow students to truly engross themselves in the topics.
To end I leave you with a quote that I believe sums up the topic:

“Games can be your best ally to turn the information into meaningful content.”

Stay Sassy Subscribers! 🙂

The Ultimate Goal of a Game

Have you ever been knee-deep in the guts of a fallen boss you just defeated a moment ago and wondered:
“What is the ultimate goal of a video game?”
I can safely say I haven’t. I was too busy trying to come down from the adrenaline rush of finally kicking some badass boss booty after my 11^th failed attempt that day!
However, it is an important question. Is it for everyone to like the game? Is it to use the most cutting edge of technologies to make the game? Or maybe it’s to create the most insanely difficult boss battle? (re: my 11 failed attempts).

For me it’s immersion.

Immersion is defined as: “to involve oneself deeply in a particular activity”.  This definition is one reason why I think it’s the answer to our pressing question.
How many of you, my dear current and soon to be subscribers, have lost yourself playing a game? Where you say “I’ll only play for 30mins” and before you have even realised it, it’s 3 hours past your bedtime and your dear mother is banging on your door telling you to go to bed and to stop yelling “PWNED!”. Thankfully I’m a good catholic boy and I never yelled but you get the idea.

Immersion can be achieved in many ways. One of the most effective in my opinion is character attachment. If you the player can easily relate or identify with the characters in the game it allows you to really dive in to the world the game has created.
My favourite games have been the ones where I felt responsible for the characters. In these games I became a vital part of the team. The choices that I made on quests or how I spoke to characters really mattered to me as it felt as if I myself, was the main character in the game. I know that in games that’s a common concept, where you the player play as the main protagonist/antagonist, but in my opinion it can go on a deeper level where you truly feel as if this was your “second life”.
This is power of immersion.

When a player is immersed in a game they can empathize with what the characters are going through, whether it be a joyous or sad occasion. Even if you have never experienced that situation or feeling before, because you are so engrossed in the game you really do put yourself in their shoes as if you were going through it yourself.
When designing a game it’s important for the developers and story designers to keep this in mind as it allows the player to really put themselves into the game.
If they can create a game that allows this immersion then I can safely say that they have achieved their goal for creating a game.

Psychologists have been studying the idea of immersion in different forms of media for quite some time but they call it “presence”. The closest form of presence that relates to gamers and immersion is called “spatial presence” according to this article by Jamie Madigan.
He gives a nice definition of when spatial presence exists in daily life, it occurs when:

“media contents are perceived as ‘real’ in the sense that media users experience a sensation of being spatially located in the mediated environment”

this can summarized as the feeling that a player is ‘in’ the game when he or she is playing it.

In closing, the goal of a game is not about creating the most unique or ground breaking piece of art. It’s about being able to transport the player into the world you created and allowing them to make it their world. It’s about presenting them with characters to interact with but giving them the opportunity to form their own opinions on these characters. It’s about telling them your story but letting it become their own.

Stay Sassy Subscribers! 🙂

Ludology vs. Narratology – The battle for supremacy.

Ever hear of the above terms before?
I sure as heck didn’t until one day I walked naively into my Games Writing Analysis class and then BOOM! two new words for the science and study of gaming.
So, what do they mean?

From my understanding a Ludologist is someone who thinks that the key to a successful game is in the mechanics and the game play. Whereas a Narratologist is someone who believes that the success of a game lies in the game’s ability to tell us a story.
From these definitions I can easily say I am on “Team Narratology”.

I believe a lot of people would fall into the narratology category. People enjoy a good story! It’s the reason why so many of us binge watch sereis’ on tv, go to the movies or in this case play games. Games can be a fantastic medium of telling us a good story, which gives them the ability to immerse the player, sometimes without them even knowing.

Story lines can be very powerful in games. One of the first games I played where I really was entranced by it’s story was “Final Fantasy X”. Final Fantasy games are turn based rpgs, which I thoroughly enjoy but found could be mundane at times. But what made me keep coming back to play FFX was, the story line.
I wanted, no, I needed, to find out how all the characters turned out. I needed to know if they lived or died, or if they ever did up beating the antagonist Sin. (He’s a bad egg). I felt that I was part of the rag tag team and was responsible for them when I played, so when I lost a battle I would truly feel sad.
The story truly immersed me in the game and that love for playing games has stuck with me every since.

On the other hand, a game doesn’t always have to have an explicit story line to be enjoyable for someone who identifies as a narratologist.
Let’s take Geometry Dash for example. In this game you play as a square who must jump to avoid obstacles. Sounds simple right?! It was easy to grasp but challenging to complete. I found that the more I played I became attached to my wee square. As you progressed, you could customize it by giving it different features which made it more life like. My wee square was no longer a shape on screen, HE was now a being trying to get home by running through all these adversities in his life.
I gave him a story that I wanted to play through.

So it’s clear to me and hopefully you why I am a narratologist at heart.
However in my opinion, one cannot survive without the other. A game with a great story line, no matter how good, won’t be played that much by people if the mechanics are shoddy. Mechanics in a game are important but ultimately, I believe it’s the story that brings the gamers back.

In the end it’s down to personal preference and your own opinion. One particular side isn’t the right one. It’s simply what YOU love about games!

So this is me and my good friend Cactuar signing off.

Stay Sassy Subscribers! 🙂