Games to Introduce Concepts

When I worked for a pharmaceutical company, part of the orientation included a game to introduce us to the overall concepts of manufacturing. The group was divided into teams, and each team had to don safety glasses, protective covering, and establish a clean work surface (a plastic tarp). Play-doh in a few different colors was given out, and each team had a limited amount of time to create an amalgamated compound, then "manufacture" the product. Cards would be given to each team- site inspections, delays or mistakes that put people behind, or good manufacturing processes that resulted in more efficiency.

When time was up, our product was measured, quantified and counted- play-doh "pills" that had the active compound sandwiched in a capsule of sorts. The team with the most pills and the least wasted compound won the game (my team won, in case you were wondering- we could cookie cut play-doh with seriously minimal waste and our work area was enviously clean).

Tuesday, in Instructional Game Design, we played "Diner Dash," to explore the concepts of the game in terms of what sort of system it was, and its formal, experiential and cultural factors. All of us have eaten in restaurants, and some of us have worked in them, and we were impressed with how simple rules, simple graphics, and user interaction gave a good feel for multi-tasking, and organizing task sequence in order to gain rewards. The game is simple, and fairly easy to learn, but despite its simplicity, it does a good job of illustrating a facet of the complicated and hectic food service industry.

I think a lot of people hesitate to implement games, because if it's a "game," it's not "work," or not "learning." Hence the terms "serious games" and "instructional games," which make them sound weightier and more legitimate. However, both these games were engaging, and did a really good job of introducing a concept. Plus, game playing might be the only time that learners are laughing, collaborating, and enjoying the content- it certainly made for a good class discussion on Tuesday night.

I'm curious what sort of eLearning games others have found that engaged the audience and provoked collaboration and discussion.