Good for bringing in ideas about how educational games might be implemented: through open-source software movement, or by modding games that are out there (and that allow mods to be made).
Benefits of games are obvious. This paper made me think about the pathways of getting educational games: through the open-source software movement, and by creating mods for big game engines.
Personally, it seems like the latter has the most potential, but would require some partnership between the big game developers and the educational system being applied to. How would that work?
Open-source games frankly aren't that great- seem to be lagging the real world by a few years- quality isn't great and isn't that fun (SecondLife: www.secondlife.com - it kind of sucks)
Another article suggested that game 'modders' would love to do this for us if we just ask. At the University level this may be true. How would the quality be?
Paper lists 3 educational opportunities of games:
- public awareness (games: advertising - fun, effective way to advertise)
- affecting behavior (games: military game - need their (military) world-view to win at the game)
- empowering learners (games modeling government: the game triggers new ideas from players - game output / ideas / successful strategies can be passed up to politicians, etc.)
Quote, p. 5: "An interactive game can trigger profound insights for long-term thinking."
Article says we need to distance ourselves from 'edutainment' - this word has a bad connotation
- "Many educators contend that edutainment has largely produced shallow products focused on short-term test scores." (p. 7)A hurdle to overcome is the cost to develop a game. Educational games will have a hard time keeping up with the huge-budget game developers out there (analogy to Hollywood in the film industry) - in order to overcome this, we'll have to support the open-source software movement, and getting game developers to allow us to use their game engine and create 'mods' for them.
- See quote below for 'Serious Games' definition
- edutainment: combination of education and entertainment
- mods: game modifications- allows gamers to create game modifications with light-level programming skills
see paper (circled)
Of high importance is "the demographic shift: the average player in the U.S. will turn 30 next year and the Industry's Entertainment Software Association says that one-in-three is female." (p. 2)
"The term ‘Serious Games’ is increasingly used for digital games whose primary goal goes
beyond entertainment to education, outreach or training. The term’s use has grown largely through
the Serious Games Initiative, which started in 2002 at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International
Scholars in Washington, D.C. Today, hundreds attend conferences and collaborate online to find
out what Serious Games might bring to their jobs as educators, political organizers, academics,
game designers and more." (p. 2)"An interactive game can trigger profound insights for long-term thinking." (p. 5)
"Many educators contend that edutainment has largely produced shallow products focused on short-term test scores." (p. 7)