Learning Through Gaming

Learning Through Gaming

How Games Naturally Promote Effective

Learning

Part I:

Defining Games

QuickTime™ and a decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Gaming did not start with Atari



What is a game?

A tentative definition:A game is a system in which players

engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.

Salen & Zimmerman, 2004

What is a game?

2 Examples: Candy Land and Aisle

The play dynamics

Shuffle cards

1. Alternating turns, draw top card.2. Move to next space with the color shown on card.3. Repeat until one player reaches the “Candy Castle.”

Is Candy Land a game?

Definition:A game is a system

in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.



Is Candy Land a game?

• Game-like trappings: cards, board, tokens

• Players compete against each other

• Rules govern play• Someone will win• Player has no real

impact on the game system



In summary:

Candy Land is widely accepted as a game,

but offers no real opportunity for

interactivity - the player doesn’t affect

the outcome

A contrast:

Aisle, by Sam Barlow (1999)

Is this a game?

Definition:A game is a system in which players

engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.

Is this a game?

• Not immediately identifiable as a game to many people

• Conflict - is it present?• Rules govern what input is accepted,

used• An outcome will be achieved (is this

“winning?”)• Player’s actions determine the course of

the game

In summary:

Candy Land is widely accepted as a game,

but offers no real opportunity for

interactivity - the player doesn’t affect

the outcome

Aisle does not resemble the

archetypal view of games; the player’s

involvement is minimal, but

instrumental in playing

So… What is a game?

“Golf is a long walk spoiled” - Samuel Clemens

Games usually have:– Goals (i.e., get to the end of the

course)– Limitations (i.e., hit a ball into a hole

along the way)– Player input (i.e., swing a golf club)– Ludic properties (a.k.a. play - “This is

fun!”)


are needed to see this picture.Important point #1:Anything can be made

into a gameA good player will provide her own

goals, especially if the game designer fails to



Important point #2:Any game can be un-

madePlayers can subvert the goals and

limitations of a game (i.e., “cheat”)



The Magic Circle

When a player chooses to play a game, he temporarily agrees to be bound by the rules of that game, and to accept the goals of the game as his own.

Huizinga, 1955

The Core Mechanic

How is the game played?



The Core Mechanic







Part II:

Learning in Games

A Bold Statement

Games are all about learning.



Learning and playing games

Learning can take place on many different levels within the context of a game:

• Specific rules are encoded declaratively

• Implementations of the core mechanic are learned procedurally

• Strategies and meta-knowledge are developed over time



Sophisticated Declarative Knowledge

At each of these levels, learning is complex - gamers develop specialist expert knowledge, featuring:

• Specialized vocabulary• Inter-related concepts• Complex conditionals




Strike vs. AC and Dodge. AC (armor class) and Dodge reduce your chances of

being hit in combat, and thus increase your chances of survival. AC and Dodge are added together to make a combined Difficulty modifier. The Difficulty is added to the attackers Strike Base. The attacker must then roll higher than or equal to the modified Strike Base using a 1d20 and adding all applicable strike bonuses. Note: Encumbrance will reduce your AGL and thus your Dodge (even to a negative number). Additionally a weapon's Penetration can reduce or increase an armor's AC (down to zero but never less). This is a representation to the ability for certain weapons to penetrate armor and for some to have a tougher time doing so.




Hamon, Lord of Striking Thunder[Thunder/Effect]This card cannot be Normal Summoned or Set. This card

cannot be Special Summoned except by sending 3 face-up Continuous Spell Cards from your side of the field to the Graveyard. When this card destroys your opponent’s monster as a result of battle and sends it to the Graveyard, inflict 1000 points of damage to your opponent’s Life Points. While this card is in face-up Defense Position on your side of the field, your opponent cannot select another monster as an attack target.




Holyoak & Simon, 1999

Bidirectional inferences are inherent in the operation of models of thinking that are based on parallel constraint satisfaction. Computational instantiations of such models are typically formulated as networks of units representing possibilities (e.g., possible beliefs or actions) that are interconnected by excitatory and inhibitory links representing positive and negative support relations between pairs of possibilities. Constraint satisfaction models operate by applying a relaxation algorithm, which settles the net- work into a stable state in which the asymptotic activation levels of the units define a set of winning possibilities (those with relatively high activation) that have succeeded in mutually supporting one another and collectively inhibiting their rivals. The bidirectional influences between related possibilities play a critical role in allowing the system to impose

a coherent interpretation on an initially ambiguous set of inputs.

the Core Mechanic

The primary learning task comes in actually playing the game, however that is accomplished.


are needed to see this picture.player

(wasd keys)

mouse(left, rightbuttons)

Glumbuster - Core Mechanics





Strategy Learning and Meta-play

Learning how to play a game is different from learning how to play a game well.

Part III:

Learning As Games

What Can be Learned from Games?

According to previous studies and applications:

• Functioning under divided attention

• Visual-spatial abilities• Real-world skills (like laparoscopy)Greenfield &

Cocking, 1996;Rosenberg, Landsittel,

& Averch, 2005

Construct vs. Content

How can you communicate through the medium of a game?

3rd World Farmer

Are Digital Games Special?






1989 2009


But then again…• Immediacy• Immersion• Complexity• Adaptability



Stepping Inside the Circle

In a well-designed game, the rules reinforce the goals, and both reinforce a sense of identity.

Refining that Definition

“…Comprehension is grounded in perceptual simulations that prepare agents for situated action.”

Barsalou, 1999

Refining that Definition

(Video) Games are…“action-and-goal-directed

preparations for, and simulations of, embodied experience”

… And education should be, too.

Gee, 2007

An Example

(Beckett & Shaffer, 2005)The Madison 2200 Project Introducing the concepts of ecology

through a computer simulation/game

Consider the Cheater

Will putting more games in education help or hurt?

The Promise of Educational Gaming

• Present students with goal-directed and action-oriented situations

• Tailor the rules of the game to the content being taught

• Foster a sense of identity

Learning Through Gaming

Education

Transcript of Learning Through Gaming