Instructional Game vs Computer Game

I was working on the 10 blog posts required for the class with Dr.Kapp where i came across this interesting post about the comparison between a Computer Game to a Serious or an Instructional game.
When a designer or developer looks from the angle of the gaming, two formats of the game are meant for entertainment, but interesting debate would be does serious game has to compete with a computer game to make it more captivating and motivating? Certainly it would be a designer's dream to build an application that would be designed to perfection showing rich graphics and animation. But when analyzing this component one has to focus on certain factors like the time frame for the project, hardware used, learners, type of organization and the instruction itself.
Looking at these factors from a designer's perspective will certainly lock the components that can be used to make the prototype work. But certainly a designer has varying options to make the solution interesting and appealing for the client. Even the budget allocated for the project can lock the hands of the designer. But a good designer can figure out ways to create an attractive and working solution within the allocated budget. The key to achieve this goal, pretty much depends on the common sense, and the good or bad experience from the past projects. To be more precise its all the life experiences will make one grow perfect.
To sum up, instructional or serious games can take certain inputs from its elder brother(computer game) to build an interesting and attractive game to captivate and motivate the learners keeping without loosing the very purpose of instruction.
Please check this interesting post related to the current topic.
Learning circuits Blog

Storytelling game - adaptation

When reading over one of the postings on storytelling, I read the familiar opening "Once upon a time." This was not a terribly surprising phrase to stumble upon, but it reminded me of a card game with the same title. The game is now more than ten years old, but the methodology is timeless. And my remembering it is, perhaps, timely for a discussion of group storytelling as a mode of learning. From the Atlas website:

Once Upon a Time
The Storytelling Card Game

Named to GAMES Magazine's Best Family Card Game section in 1997, Once Upon a Time is a game the entire family will enjoy. The players create a story together, using cards that show typical elements from fairy tales. One player is the Storyteller, and creates a story using the ingredients on her cards. She tries to guide the plot towards her own ending. The other players try to use cards to interrupt her and become the new Storyteller. The winner is the first player to play out all her cards and end with her Happy Ever After card!

I have played this game and it is great fun. This concept of storytelling is, of course, not at all new. To make it relevant to e-learning I have been kicking around ideas for possibly making digital "cards" that would have story elements pertaining to whatever the subject matter is for a given lesson. Any suggestions?

And yes, last name is D, but I apparently was mixed up. Besides I wanted to post this anyway!

Free IceBreaker

I came across this free download we could all use for centra presentations, on line learning and other applications. With the recent presentations on learning tools, games, etc. that we have been sharing with each other, this seemed to be right in line.
I hope you can find some ways to use this (or part of it) in the learning you design.
Let me know!
http://training-games.com/newslettergames/IceBreakerTrivialRevelationsGame.pps

Games that make Leaders...

I recently read an article about how popular games like Halo for XBOX360 are being researched and finding that learners in business and education can somehow improve leadership skills. The article states "Video games let their players step into new personas and explore alternatives. Not only that, but people can try to solve problems they’re not good at yet, get immediate feedback on the consequences and try again immediately." These problem solving skills can continue once the learner is done playing. Learners have what the author calls "incentives to keep improving their performance." The article also stated that some games are not good for children because violent games can be influential in bad ways. I totally agree. I thought this was a good article because I have never heard games like Halo considered as tools for learning. http://wistechnology.com/articles/1504/

SCUMMVM

I remember the sad, sad day I found out I couldn't play Monkey Island 1 on my new computer. I didn't know what to do with myself, I felt like I had lost a close loved one forever... That is until I found the open source program known as SCUMMVM. After a download and an install and a few short steps I was now able to play all my old LucasArts favorites on my computer again, and best of all they had a Mac build so once I upgraded computers again and changed to Mac I still had access to all my beloved games.

Now in case you're wondering "What is SCUMMVM?" I'll start by telling you what it stands for, and that is "Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion Virtual Machine". I bet you are still confused, but that's ok. SCUMM was the utility used to create the LucasArts adventure game known as Maniac Mansion and was later used for amazing LucasArts games like Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and the Monkey Island Series. Since SCUMM was created in 1987, it eventually became obsolete and no longer ran on any newer computers or OS's. So along came the SCUMMVM open source program, which is where the 'VM' or Virtual Machine part comes in. A Virtual Machine is basically what it name says, it creates a virtual platform on a computer for certain programs to run in, this one specifically for old LucasArts games.

So if you are in the same boat I was in, check out www.scummvm.org! And you too can get back to all those awesome games!

eLearning for Life and Death Decisions

This post is just anecdotal, based on recent experience with a new job. When Dr. Kapp guest spoke during a class I had (can't remember which class now), he described scenarios where Second Life would be ideal: train firefighters to make decisions or learn a language by having to order food in that language in a virtual restaurant.

I thought a while about the firefighter example- what a great way to establish a foundation for concepts and decision making, before implementing the expensive and potentially dangerous simulation where a firefighter uses real equipment, or reacts to real problems.

Currently, the company I work for is developing a trade show exhibit to teach anesthesiologists more about a product that monitors the level of anesthesia in a patient. Effective anesthesia has multiple components: muscle paralysis, loss of memory, loss of consciousness, and no pain, among others. There have been instances where people have recalled the surgery, which is a problem. Imagine being aware of what's happening to you during surgery, but unable to speak or react, because muscle paralysis precludes you from speaking or moving!

The trade show simulation being developed has potential to be a regular training tool, and not simply an advertising tool, should the client choose to go that route. The learner gets to sit in the chair of the anesthesiologist, where he/she is introduced to a scenario that includes patient details. The anesthesiologist then takes over monitoring the anesthesia level, and is presented with a dilemma somewhere along the path, which he/she may ignore or respond to. Upon completion of the simulation, the learner gets feedback based on decisions and actions taken.

The best part about the whole simulation is, it combines eLearning with "real world" actions. Anesthesiologist actions on syringes and vaporizers are fed into software which then calibrates the user interface accordingly. The user interface can provide feedback and learning scenarios. A great example of using an eLearning approach when you want somebody to have familiarity with concepts and decisions before going into an event live.

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.

Spore! Science eLearning.

Spore will be released tomorrow, September 7th, for the PC and the MAC. What is Spore you ask? It is a Will Wright (the creator of the Sim series) creation that includes multiple gaming genres. The player starts as a single cellular organism. As time progresses, the player's organism becomes more complex through player made decisions, such as making the creature an omnivore, herbivore, or carnivore and other decisions like removing creature's fins or upgrading the creature's vision. The game requires players to plan for the long term in order to advance the creature and its culture with the ultimate goal of conquering space. The implications for educational usage of Spore seems almost unlimited. Will it take off as an educational tool? Only time will tell.