{"id":5,"date":"2011-09-17T19:37:56","date_gmt":"2011-09-18T02:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/522gamebasedlearning2011\/?page_id=5"},"modified":"2011-10-02T18:03:10","modified_gmt":"2011-10-03T01:03:10","slug":"the-theory","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/522gamebasedlearning2011\/the-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"The Theory"},"content":{"rendered":"

The thought leaders in gaming theory provide some compelling evidence to support the trend of digital learning games for adult education.<\/p>\n

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The Digital Landscape. Where do you fit?<\/p><\/div>\n

The landscapes of our communities and business environments are changing as more and more digital natives<\/em> merge into organizational and institutional structures once controlled solely by digital immigrants. The terms digital natives and immigrants were introduced by Mark Prensky, in his seminal essay Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants<\/a>. (2001). Prensky has published strategies for teaching digital natives and he has a lengthy list of successful learning games companies which he has founded. The concept of digital natives has been picked up by others, such as John Beck<\/a>, author of Got Game<\/em><\/a>, and director of the Information + Innovation Policy Research Centre<\/a> who describes business management strategies targeted to what Beck calls \u2018the gamer generation\u2019. Beck is also the visionary behind a for-profit non-technology based business strategy game WarGames<\/a>. Clearly there is a trend towards serious games for adult learning, and consultants, authors, and software development companies are profiting from it.<\/p>\n

To understand why, we can look to researchers like James Paul Gee<\/a>, a leading game researcher and author, who has demonstrated through research that games build rather than diminish cognitive skills, pattern recognition, systems thinking, and patience. One of Gee\u2019s (2005) key findings is that students prosper when the subject matter challenges them right at the edge of their abilities. If the challenge is too difficult it results in frustration. If the game is too easy it results in boredom. \u201cCognitive psychologists call this the \u2018regime of competence\u2019 principle.\u201d Gee recognized this principle as central to video games. You can learn more about Gee\u2019s research in this article in Discover Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jane McGonigal<\/a>, is another thought leader that is making significant progress in gaming research and development. McGonigal is the Director of Game Research and Development at the Institute for the Future and she takes the concept of \u2018regime of competence\u2019 a step further and introduces the theory of an \u2018epic win\u2019. She’s designed her concepts into social media games such as Evoke<\/em><\/a>, a social network game, self titled as \u2018a ten-week crash course in changing the world.\u2019
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