Take for example the short flash game ” The Republia Times” where you take the role of a news paper editor in a country that is ruled by a dictator. It’s up to the teacher to make the scenario and elevate what the students are learning by building in the game.Įducational games should deliver experiences that creates curiosity so that the teacher can elevate what the students learned through discussions. It’s a game where the teacher can set the rules and creativity is the base, but it doesn’t set out to educate. Games like Minecraft create a different scenario. But by the fifth Assassins Creed-game you barely knew that the feature was there, probably because the developers understood that the player wasn’t all that interested in reading that much text. Take for instance the Assassins Creed-series that started out by being very upfront with the education that was in the game by giving you big chunks of text about cities, people and buildings. And why play a game if you can learn through just watching the cinematics?Īnother way to make the player learn is through text messages. This is a problem that is found in educational films too. And how do you make cinematics that are engaging, that really shows the connections without being stale and writing on the nose. Many kids even skip the cinematics in games just to reach the next gameplay segment. The students are used to playing games at a fast pace and not usually interested in the context. Why can’t the game show the connection like the teacher can? I would say no, because its all about the attention span. But without a tutor that shows the connection to what the students are actually learning the knowledge is lost. The teacher can clarify the knowledge and context that is actually in the game by showing the connection to history and the history books. This is where the teachers roll is very important. You can do and play that way without even reflecting over how your choices matter and how they matter in a historical context.
THE REPUBLIA TIMES PLAY HOW TO
You win the game by knowing how to play and what to research next. For instance if you as a player play civilization there is a lot of context and knowledge to be learnt, but the winning gameplay strategy is not based on that you know your history. The gameplay cant be separated from the context that the player is set to learn by playing the game. The knowledge that the player is going to learn through playing the game needs to be implemented in the gameplay mechanics. The learning should be connected to the gameplay mechanicsīut how would you otherwise measure and learn something through a game? My answer is in the gameplay and the teachers role as a guide. But can games be educational and fun to play? Knowledge in games is often measured by for example the player having to answer questions by performing a quiz after a gameplay segment. Is it that the game developers have to be really clear that you as a player have to show that you’ve learned something, that there is something to measure. How educational based games actually differentiates itself from other games is an interesting discussion. Almost every game that I’ve seen or played that is made for educational use is so up front with what you are suppose to learn that it makes the player not want to play the game.
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