Games and Simulations Reading Notes: Cognitive Design Considerations October 29, 2008
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The Egenfeldt-Nielsen article read more like a blog post than an journal article. Perhaps it was a language issue, but there were run-on sentences and some misspellings. I liked the discussion of learning 1-3 and how Counterstrike starts off with zero learning in the beginning. This is how a lot of 8-bit learning games were. You would wander around and through trial-and-error(learning 1), learn to play the game.
The Jan L. Plass, Bruce Homer & Elizabeth Hayward article was a nice summary of all the multimedia design principles that Mayer, Rieber, Schnotz have set forth for us. I did appreciate the neural discussion in the beginning as we continue to base multimedia theory in biological facts. One new theory that I don’t remember hearing of was the guided-discovery theory. It is a nice fusing of constructivist discovery learning with more cognitive, goal-based approach. I agree whole-heartedly that simulations can do a nice job at this if done well.
Nick Fortugno and Eric Zimmerman offer great insight to me as I struggle to introduce gaming to the administration at my school. I like the distinction they drive home that in the end, games are games. They should be fun and a lot gets lost when you try to do too much with them — such as include letter writing campaigns to congress. I also liked how they talk about the difficulty level of creating games. I have heard a lot of my students say or attempt to go into game design schools thinking it will be all fun and games. They even forgo four year schools in favor of game design trade schools thinking. This article would be an excellent resource for them.
R&I Reading Notes: Random Sounds October 28, 2008
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This weeks readings loosely tied together some technological implications on the use of sound.
How do you use sound to create a video game for blind people? This article was interesting and the thought of designing such a game seems extremely challenging. It seems like a noble effort and it would be fun to play around would introduce a new arena of game play – even for non-blind gamers.
Listening to Raymond Scott’s songs on iTunes and reading about his works with electronic music machines brought back memories of old cartoons and made me wonder what it was like to create hardware back in the 50s. All those wires and vacuum tubes. All done away with when the transistor and microprocessor were invented. I think I am going to dig out the theremin and show my students and even download the app on my iPhone and have them compare and contrast the two. Maybe we can then listen to some crazy 1950s electronic music from old radio commercials.
What struck me about the Ong article was how he cited Plato’s argument against writing is the same as today’s arguements against computers.
Games and Simulations Reading Notes: Learning with Animations and Simulations October 15, 2008
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From this week’s set of readings I have come to understand animations, simulations, microworlds and games as a spectrum of multimedia instruction.
On the far left side lies the least interactive animations where text, shapes, drawings and audio convey information and instruction. Using the efficient design principles, cognitive load can be managed in these animations and they would prove beneficial vs just plain text or pictures in a static representations.
Next comes simulations where interactivity is introduced beyond the pause and play button. Here the user can interact in an environment based on some “reality” with an underlying system in play. This system could be a the content knowledge the simulation wants the learner to grasp explicitly or through discovery-based learning. Other systems of reality include real-world systems of economics, urban planning or task-specific re-creations such as flying a flight simulator or battling an opponent through a dog-fighting picture book.
Microworlds are simulations that must be immediately easy to engage in and must be motivational to the student or user. The are strapped into a specific arena or domain and are designed to reveal learning principles through manipulating the microworld system.
Video games also employ elements of simulation. Characters in games represent a system of reality and procedures as they simulate life-like characteristics. Conflict is simulated in these imaginary worlds. Sports simulations are also popular in video games as players can become managers and players – calling the shots in a system of rules from a playbook.
R&I Reading notes: The effectiveness of educational gaming and teaching 21st century skills October 7, 2008
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This week’s reading offered a contrasting view of educational gaming and the importance of the role of computers in education. Adams article, Educational Games Don’t Have to Stink, looked at gaming and computers in schools. He contrasted what a good, Socratic teacher can do in school and highlighted how a computer will never be able to live up to that task. He offered some suggestions to make games better – all limited by the notion that games are not the silver bullet. My favorite part was his comparison to learning facts to beating levels and enemies. The gaming model is flawed because when you beat an enemy you forget him – like how you cram for a test – once its over, you forget about it.
The MIT – MacArthur paper was a great read outlining the concept of 21st century skills that must go on in our new media classrooms. From personal experience, it seems like we are a generation away from integrating true media skills, participation, meaningful social networking. I can only speak for my school, but in NYC it is being integrated in small chunks at a time. The call for greater access in every classroom is going to be the crucial component that hopefully ultraportable laptops like OLPC will accomplish. Once a 1-1 model common place, all teachers and students should find it easier to accomplish the goals of media participation, understanding and production.
R&I Design: Idea for the final project October 7, 2008
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For the final project, I would like to create the interface for a single din CD/IPOD/Satellite radio car reciever. All of the sophisticated ones are large, double screen or flat screen models that are over $800. I would like to create a simple interface that is touch screen with very few buttons.
The challenge in the project would be to create something on a very small screen. Single DIN recievers are only about two inches tall by six inches wide. But all the ones on the market have clumsy interfaces with many buttons and dials.
Mine would allow the user to achieve these goals:
switch quickly between all audio inputs
scroll through the channels and songs effectively
access song titles / albums / and station information quickly
All these controls need to be manipulated with the left hand while driving.
Below is a sample of what is currently on the market:
JVC:
Pioneer:
Alpine:
I hope to work on a small scale, eliminate the buttons and make a simple, friendly effective interface.
Games and Simulations Reading Notes: Learning from Educational Games October 1, 2008
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Rules of Play chapters 22 – 24
Chapter 22 – More play definitions
Again we go over the games are a subset of play and play is an element of games circle
Play can be organized into three categories: 1 game play formalized and focused 2 Lucid activities none game behaviors 3 being playful – playful state of mind / spirited play
Another definition: play is free movement within a more rigid structure
Review of Caillois four fundamental categories – agon: competitive play alea: chance based play mimicry: simulation or make believe ilinx: vertigo or physical game play
Chapter 23 Games as the play of experience
Participation is key to play experience
Sutton-Smith model for psychological processes of videogames: 1 concentration 2 visual scanning 3 auditory discriminations 4 motor responses 5 perceptual patterns of learning
System of any game: 1 input 2 output 3 internal processes
Core mechanic is the moment by moment experience of a game player
Game experience is directly defined by the rules
Chapter 24 Games as the play of pleasure
Pleasure is intrinsic to games
They provide autoletic pleasures – experiences persured for their own sake
Players must be seduced into the magic circle and held there
Flow is the pleasure one continues to get as they play the game
Effects of flow include 1 merging of action and awareness 2 concentration 3 loss of self conscious 3 transformation of time
To have flow a game must have: 1 challenging activity 2 goals 3 feedback 4 feeling of no control in an uncertain situation
Goal of the game helps create and experience pleasure
Games must have short term goals
Games can condition and reinforce behaviors
Games must be challenging
Addiction is a positive outcome of games
Squire, K. (2002). Cultural Framing of Computer/Video Games. the international journal of computer game research
Past research suggests students did no better after playing a game. Games must be closely tied to learning outcomes and learning characteristics must be paid attention to. Understanding how learning occurs during game play and how it can be used to support traditional learning environments should be a key focus of educational research. Activity Theory – theoretical framework for understanding how human activity is mediated by tools and cultural contexts.
Costikyan, G. (1994). I have no words but I must design. Interactive Fantasy #2.
More what is a game discussion: Its not a puzzle, or a toy or a story, it must have participation, decision making, goals, opposing forces, a player must manage resources, include game tokens or artifacts. Diplomacy, simulation, good use of color, variety, socialization, role playing and narration all make games stronger.
Gee, J.P. (2006). Learning and Games. In K. Salen (Ed.), The Ecology of Games, pp. 21–40. Cambridge, MIT Press.
Learning in a game helps attract and keep players in the magic circle.
Situated Learning Matrix – brings game design and modern learning theory together : includes goals, interpretation, feedback, explanation, practice and social interaction. Models and modeling are important in learning games as they are in traditional practice. Representation is a key component of both learning spaces. Microcontrol in a learning game is important as it has well-known cognitive effects. It gives humans new experiences they normally wouldn’t have. Distributed intelligence: use of tools and your own knowledge. Motivation and ownership and motivation are evident and important in games. Situated meanings / environments allow transfer to real-life situations.
Games and Simulations Reading Notes: Defining the Field – What makes a game a game? October 1, 2008
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Rules of Play: chapters 3,7,8,9,11-13
Chapter 3
Meaningful play is the goal of successful game design. MP can be described as descriptive – how games create meaning through play – and evaluative – describes why some games are more meaningful than others.
Official definitions:
Descriptive MP: comes about when a player takes action within the game and the game responds to that action.
Evaluative MP: occurs when relationships between actions and outcomes are evident and integrated in the game.
Chapter 7
Games are a subset of play – lots of playful activities but not all of them are games
Play is a subset of games – games are complex and contain rules, play and culture – play is contained within games.
Games: A system with conflict, rules and an outcome.
Chapter 8
Digital games are one aspect of a larger game system
Digital games have four traits: 1 immediate but narrow interactivity 2 manipulation of information 3 automated complex systems 4 networked communication
It doesn’t matter what type of game one is designing – core elements of games remain the same
Chapter 9
Magic circle: space in which a game takes place where rules create meaning.
Lusory attitude: state of mind one needs to have to enter a game where one subjects themselves to the rules of the game.
Chapter 11
Rules of a game make up its formal structure. They limit player action, are explicit and unambiguous, shared by others, are fixed and binding and are repeatable
Chapter 12
Three levels of game rules
1 constitutive – abstract mathematical 2 operational – general ones that are followed during play 3 implicit – house rules / etiquette that is understood
Chapter 13
Rules of the game are generally the same as non-digital games
Game Design Reader
What is a game? pp. 77-81
Discusses different philosophers definitions of a game: Bjork Holopainen: the definition is a design tool. For Suits it is a philosophical device. For Juul, Caillois. The definition creates a new field of study. For Costikyan it justifies creative practice. In the end, there are many different, overlapping game definitions.
Definition of play and classification of games. pp 122-155
More tennents of play – they must be activities that are free, separate, uncertain, unproductive, governed by rules, make-believe.
- Leyden J. Huizinga “The Cultural Limits of Play and the Serious”
Nature and Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon pp. 96-120
Essay that served as the opening chapter of Huizinga’s book Homo Ludens: A study of Play Element in Culture. Published in 1938, the title is a play on Homo Sapiens where Ludens means player – thus man the player. He discusses more elements of play – that it is free and not ordinary. Discusses the magic circle, play-ground with rules, limited time and space. Players must be absorbed in gameplay. Play includes action, representation and recreation.
The Game, the Player, the World Looking for the Heart of Gameness – J, Juul
This article reviews previous definitions of games and then proposes a new definition with six game features: 1 Games are rule based, 2 have variable quantifiable outcomes 3 with value, 4 players must put forth effort, 5 the player is attached to the outcome and 6 there are negotiable consequences.
Game play analysis for this week: Physical Poker vs. Online Poker
