Slashdot is widely considered the place to go for geek discussion about all matters I.C.T related. There have been a couple of discussions up there recently about games in education – what makes the work and what makes them fail. I think it’s well worth getting the perspective of players and there are a range of interesting points raised.

The first discussion was sparked by an article on Slate called World of Borecraft which bemoaned the way that “serious games” suck the fun out of the gaming experience. A counterbalancing article on the excellent game development site Gamasutra called Who says games have to be fun? adds some interesting insights into games in education and activism.

Slashdotters observed that:

• “If games aren’t fun, people won’t play them… we find games fun because we are learning and constantly challenged”
• “the much more obvious common denominator is: rewards. Give players their favourite rewards often. It doesn’t have to be big rewards, it just has to feel like having achieved something. And keep doing it. That’s what makes games fun.”
• “…the entire concept of play is based on learning. Just look at animals playing. Now look at kids playing. They are learning everything from refined motor skills to problem solving to empathy, character judgement, following directions, cause & effect, etc etc etc etc. “

The second discussion came in response to an article about the failure of a university developed game called Arden: World of Shakespeare. Among the criticisms (from the game’s own designer) included the fact that the game simply wasn’t any fun.

Given the MMORPG nature of Arden, it’s not surprising that a lot of the ensuing discussion revolved around this particular genre however there were broader issues covered as well, including:

• “Once the game stops being fun, the only thing to keep it going is the sense of community with the people you’re playing with. Once that’s gone, people move on.”
• “Whenever a regular MMO changes it’s rules, an almost instant flamewar commences and many people leave the game. If you want people to play your game, and keep playing your game, you will not be able to simply change the rules to test some theory of yours concerning economics… No, you’ll have to be busy keeping people interested, and not randomly changing the rules is one aspect of that!” (This reflects the need for consistency expressed in The Computer Game Design Course)
• “Games on interesting and intelligent topics that encourage the curious player to learn more. You should never ram the educational bit down the players throats.” (This comment from the designer of a Democracy Game)

I’m not sure that this really settles the notion of where fun comes from but it’s clear that if you don’t bring the fun, you lose the gamers.

(Thanks to George Siemens over at http://www.elearnspace.org/blog/ who found these originally and added his thoughts, which include the fact that ” Games fit the typical profile of academic envy, namely the condition where we see many people doing something and desire to then use the same tools or processes for teaching and learning. Sometimes it works very well…other times the effort required exceeds the potential outcome.”)

These are games (or virtual worlds if you prefer) where any number of people can explore and interact in (and with) a virtual environment online, breaking down previous barriers of time and space as well as what is possible in the real world. The possibilities for teaching and learning are still being explored but appear to be constrained only by the imagination of the teacher.

Constance Steinkuehler spent nearly two years undertaking what might be considered an ethnographic study of the people who play these MMOGs – in this case one called Lineage. (Interestingly, Lineage 2 is currently the most populated MMOG in the world with over 14 million subscribers).

Her research into how players of these games learn and share their knowledge is a fascinating overview and offers a number of useful tips to educators thinking about making use of these spaces. Her observations (featuring many transcripts of in-game chat sessions) about the way experienced players mentor newbys are particular interesting.

This is my potted take on her report, which you can read in full here.

Steinkuehler, Constance A. (2004) “Learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Games” In Y. B. Kafai, W. A. Sandoval, N. Enyedy, A. S. Nixon, & F. Herrera (Eds.), Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of the Learning Sciences (pp.521-528). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

Central theme and scope:

This study investigates the nature of learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), networked 3D gaming environments that allow players to interact with objects and characters in the game as well as other (real) players.

Steinkuehler posits that players of MMOGs have rich learning experiences as a result of the “situated meanings people construct and the definitive role of communities in that meaning making process”.(p.4) She notes that it is the interactions of the members of the community in these types of games that promote learning far more than any embedded content might and that designers developing educational MMOGs need to give in-game social practice as much (if not more) attention as instructional content.

Intended audience:

This paper, which presents the preliminary findings of nearly two years research is targetted at educators interested in using games as well as developers of games for education.

Description:

Steinkuehler has taken an ethnographic approach to this research, immersing herself in an MMOG called Lineage for 19 months. Lineage is a game set during medieval times and is centred around guilds (a.k.a blood pledges) which vie for control of castles in a virtual kingdom.

She devised four key questions to structure her research, these being:

• What are the social and material practices of MMOGaming?
• What forms of participation mark community membership in such settings?
• What means for learning are embedded not in the game as designed but rather in the community practice of those who inhabit it?
• What import does participation in this community have for the situated (on and off screen) identities of its members? (p.2)

Her investigations involved participating overtly in the daily life of the game while taking “field” notes and screen capture video, noting conversations and asking questions. She interviewed other players informally in-game, through semi-structured topic specific phone interviews as well as in structured formats.

In addition to these primary resources, she also gathered data from community sources including player-authored user manuals, fan discussion boards, chatrooms and fan generated fiction.

Steinkuehler found that players learn primarily in collaboration with other, more experienced players. “During collaboration, the focus is on the activity, with information (e.g., manuals, guidebooks, websites) playing only a secondary and supporting role.”(p.7) Feedback comes from the game system (e.g., error-produced death) as well as other players and pushing yourself beyond the edge of your current competency is highly valued by the community.