Gamification

Which really should be 
"Game Based Learning"

By: Kevin Baugh / @baughss

The elephant in the room

No one can seem to come to a strict definition for what gamification is.

Is it adding game elements to non-games?

A serious gaming experience?

Learning through play?

Mud in the water

If no one can come up with a definition for gamification, then it's a bad word to use.

Let's come up with a new one

Game Based Learning

Great, another name 


Game Based Learning helps to define what gamificaiton does in an educational context.

  • Adding game elements to teaching principles
  • Teaching through games

Gamification's origin story


First documented use of the word in 2008

Coined for widespread use by Nick Pelling in 2010

NOT A NEW IDEA

Although the term is fairly new, the concept itself has been around since at least the 1980's

  • Malone, T.W. Toward a theory of intrinsically motivating instruction, (1980) Cognative Science 4 333-370
    • "heuristics for designing enjoyable user interfaces"


  • Carroll, J.M. The Adventure of Getting to Know A Computer, Computer 15, 11 (1982), 49-58
    • "metaphoric cover stories"

Broken down

  • Serious Games
  • Pervasive Games
  • Simulations
  • Meta-games (games about games)

Problem with gamification

(At least in education)

  • Scatter effect
    • Sort of like a shotgun for learning, doesn't work for everyone.
  • Making things fun.
    • For some reason this is one of the hardest things we face.
  • How to test for the learned knowledge?






How has this problem been tackled in the past?




Puzzles

Definition


Any sort of "contemporary" puzzle game that is used by instructors to try and facilitate learning.

Major Examples











  • Crossword
  • Word Search
  • Matching

Pros

  • Everyone knows it and is used to it
  • It's quick
  • You don't have to think when building it.


Cons

  • Everyone knows about it and is used to it
  • It's not exciting for the player
  • Seems tedious




Carroting

Definition


A game that has hurdles you have to pass if you want to progress in the game.

Want to further the story line? Then find all the nouns in this sentence to continue.

Worst Offender


You have to answer math problems in order to earn ammo so you can shoot trash. 
Seriously.

PROS

  • There's a clear distinction between what's being taught and what's a game
  • The student's have to pass the course to continue



CONS

  • It's boring
  • It makes learning seem like a burden
  • There's no thought that goes into the game.
  • Nothing to link the game to learning




Blenders

Definition


Blenders try to make learning the main game mechanic and build a simple game around this one concept.

Eat all the odd numbers before the timer runs out!

Prime Example

Number Munchers


Eat the answers to the math problems before the monsters eat you!

PROS

  • Elements are mixed into actual gameplay
  • Students learn quicker reaction times




    CONS

    • Students didn't actually learn the information
      • They were too concentrated on beating the level
    • Causes anxiety in some students
      • Running from monsters became the main goal





    TANGENTIAL

    Definition

    "Tangential learning is not what you learn by being taught but rather what you learn by being exposed to things in a context which you are already highly engaged in. "

    --James Portnow, The Power of Tangential Learning

    Notable Example

    Assassin's Creed III


    Animus Database


    PROS

    • Learning elements are mixed into the story
    • More options for learning are available
    • Doesn't shove learning down your throat.
      • It's not the point of the game



    CONS

    • Puts learning into the students hands
    • They can learn more or not. It's a choice
    • There's no real way to test this
    • It's self paced learning rather than teaching




      Alternate Reality Games

      Definition

      "ARGs are games that are driven by storyline and typically supported through some type of online game portal that manages the game.

       Playing the game, however, requires that you interact with characters, other players, and storyline elements that might be online, but may also be found in aspects of your "real" life.

       Websites, social media tools, media broadcasts, phone calls, text messages, and sometimes person-to-person interactions are all potential elements that move the storyline along."

      --Koreen Olbrish, The ABC's of ARGs: Alternate Reality Games for Learning

      Notable Example

      PROS

      • Engaging
      • Doesn't seem like learning
      • Gives students a goal to achieve rather than a game to play
      • Allows students from different disciplines to work together toward a shared goal 


      CONS

      • Complicated to set up
      • Extremely long execution times
      • Has a limit for diminishing returns




      What else can we do?

      Head fake

      Coined by Randy Pausch in "The Last Lecture"

      Where you make someone think you're talking about one concept, when you're really talking about another.

      Great idea, couple of problems


      There's no method of revealing to them that they were being taught. 

      It's really applied to any situation where you are talking about one thing, but really mean another.

      Isn't focused on learning, focused more on "tricking" the person into doing something different.




      The Miyagi Method

      Who is Miyagi?


      Mister Miyagi is a character from the film The Karate Kid, played by Pat Morita.

      He's a karate instructor who teaches a boy karate by making him do chores.

      Wax on, Wax off


      What does this have to do with learning?


      The same principle can apply to learning.

      Think of it like a head fake with a message at the end

      Core idea


      The instructor chooses a concept they want to teach and weaves it into a narrative game.

      (This is important) The concept MUST seem like a game mechanic and cannot be obvious or an integral part of the game.




      Example time

      Step 1

      Figure out your main theme or concept


      I want to teach the group of people in a computer science course about classes.

      Step 2

      Refine the theme into parts


      Here's what I want them to learn about classes:

      • You can create an instance of a class
      • Classes can have methods
      • Classes can have properties
      • Classes serve as a blueprint for each instance of that class.

      Step 3

      Create a game


      Gun crisis is a side scrolling shooter where, as the story goes on, reality starts to break down around the player and they start to see the "code behind it all".

      Step 4

      FIGURE OUT A GOOD MECHANIC FOR YOUR GAME


      Since our game consists of a lot of guns, creating your own gun would be a good mechanic to use to introduce the concept of classes.



      Step 5

      Explain your mechanic to yourself


      Players in Gun Crisis 300 are able to use blueprints (classes) to make their own guns (instances) that have attachments (properties) and actions (methods)

      Step 6

      Let's play!


      This one is kind of obvious

      Step 7

      Wrap up 


      Tie in learning concept to game mechanic


      This can be done a number of ways:

      • Through a wrap up lecture (meta)
      • Within the game itself (narrative)
      • Show and Tell (wax on, wax off)

      Where's the wrap up in Gun Crisis?


      As reality breaks down, the blueprints and all other mechanics slowly degrade to their code concept counter parts.

      • Blueprints start to looks like how classes are made
      • Items become properties on the class
      • Actions become methods on the classes
      • Each gun starts to be call and instance of class X

      References


      Gamification


      References


      Head Fake



      Tangential Learning

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