A game that focuses on putting you in the shoes of someone who is unemployed, a single parent, and is trying to get through the month. It involves a series of decisions, and includes facts along the way, pointing out the implications of your choices.
Continue reading Game Reviews – Spent Posted in: Week 05: Game-Based Learning A simulation that focuses on decision-making and consequences that occur immediately following a disaster (in this case, the Haiti earthquake), through one of three perspectives: a survivor, a journalist, or an aid worker.
Continue reading Game Reviews – Inside the Haiti Earthquake Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 05: Game-Based Learning
I went back to revisit Gee’s 16 learning principles for good games (Gee, 2005) after playing this game to analyze why I found it the most compelling selection. What I came up with is pretty high marks across all the basics.
The game provided identity by including 3 appealing characters, the survivor, aid worker, and journalist. The interactions were direct, simple selections would choose the next course of action. The production aspect was demonstrated when I would take a course of action and the consequences would be demonstrated in a video taken from real events. It allowed for risk taking and even though it was a game I found myself hesitating over choices and not wanting to be even virtually responsible for causing more suffering. I liked the customization of seeing different experiences based on character selection. The agency through each of these was clear, the dialogue was personal and explained immediate consequences to my actions. The design was well ordered, but maybe a little too simple. The options didn’t give a true sense of the complexity or the opportunity for a player to come up with new creative ideas. There were little challenges along the way in the form of text messages from bosses or sponsors. Explanations would come ‘just in time’ which made it easy to understand consequences of actions. I appreciated the design in terms of situated meanings. If someone had tried to explain the complexity of these roles to me in more traditional forms e.g. a news story or an essay, I don’t think I would have had the same understanding of the perspective. Because I was presented with situations in the role and asked to make decisions in that role I was able to get more out of the experience.
The game was pleasantly frustrating. I made the wrong decisions at times and was pleasantly given the reason why it was wrong and redirected to the better answer. I never felt like giving up because I was at a dead end. This was a good example of systems thinking because ever action and consequence was explained in terms of the overall complexity of the situation. It could have been more compelling if there were other players or actions happening unexpectedly in the game. The game offered opportunities to ‘explore, think laterally, and to rethink goals’. When I acted in the role of aid worker I was surprised that my choices to look to the large organizations for the answers in a chaotic situation was the wrong thing to do. It demonstrated why independent and creative thought and actions would be beneficial.
One of the big reasons I liked the game was how quickly I could be immersed because the game included Gee’s principle of ‘smart tools and distributed knowledge’ as evidenced in the aid worker who had the aid already transported to Haiti and his accommodations and the basics established. The distributed learning aspect could have been enhanced through a multi-player option where the 3 character roles interacted. This game did not include a cross functional team aspect but it could easily be enhanced to incorporate this given the richness of the potential characters and interdependencies that would exist in this scenario. I could definitely play before having performance competency because of the ‘smart tools’ built into the game and I understand why Gee argues for these principles to be more engrained in schools – not just in video games.
References:
Gee, James (no date). Good video games and good learning. [PDF document]. University of Wisconsin-Madison. Retrieved online from http://www.academiccolab.org/resources/documents/Good_Learning.pdf
Great work! This game is emotional for me and as a result I never immersed myself into it. Haiti is a neighboring country and have close ties to my country. Their continued suffering even before that disaster has always impacted me. Despite that, this game would be good for the geography classroom; especially in regions that are prone to earthquakes and other natural disasters
I can definitely see how if you had a personal connection to the incident, as you do, you would not really want to immerse yourself into the game. The footage used in the simulation is real footage from after the earthquake. It could be traumatic if you had personal experience related to it. This is an important point, as we would need to use such a tool with sensitivity.
Emily
The use of real footage impacted greatly. The interactive nature rather than passively listening and watching the news made the experience richer. It really saddened me as well Everton. The level of engagement needed to make decisions along with the interactivity of the game is what separates a constructivist experience from a passive one without much impact. Conditions that model reality and realistic propositions and/or situations seem integral to the gaming experience.
Kerry-Ann
Start from the beginning, this game has a great impact emotionally. I was able to “see” what really happened that day when there was an earthquake in Haiti by looking and listening to the footage. It was more realistic and direct than watching the news or listening to the radio at home.
Deb
A flaw in most music / rhythm games is that they don’t actually teach you how to play any real instrument. While browsing Amazon today, I saw a gaming product that’s pure genius… a game that teaches musical skills – “Rocksmith”. Essentially, the game has a cord that lets you plug in any guitar to […]
Continue reading A Serious Game Posted in: Blog Café, Week 05: Game-Based Learning
A big thank you to all for an engaging, collaborative week of Game Based Learning analysis. The discussions were enlightening (and fun!) and we saw various ways of engaging with, and analyzing the effectiveness of, games for learning. There were several very formal analyses done, and others that were more of a quick overview of […]
Continue reading Concluding Week 5 Posted in: Week 05: Game-Based Learning
Great job Tamara, Michelle, Julie, Emily and Andrew! You gave me an opportunity to try our a lot of games that I had not heard of and opened my eyes to the possibilities that go beyond simple practice of skills that I expected to see – the idea of embedding so many social justice issues into a game format was new to me – as a non-gamer, I see I have been missing an opportunity to bring what I want the students to know, into a format that they love. Thanks for that! As for market venture potential – I can see that there is room to make games that deal with complex concepts – and seeing how some of the games fell a bit short on this, there is room to make them even better.
Great Job Week 5- Tamara, Michelle, Julie, Emily and Andrew! You gave me a new insight to games and education that I had not focused on before. I really enjoyed the way you set up the week and how you had us actually try games out to see what we thought about them. It was a great way to learn more about different games and their purposes!
I also appreciated sharing our personal experiences about gaming and learning about the ways others interacted with them….I wonder if we were to ask younger students the same question whether their answers would be more focused on “yes, we are familiar”…but more specifically what game they are familiar with!
Great Presentation.
Jenaca
Thanks for the opportunity to explore this area of learning that I tend to forget or ignore in my curriculum planning, Team 5. It got me looking back at previous course work and considering it in a new light. As well, I now have a number of interesting games bookmarked, and will look at incorporating them into my classes.
I really liked how you set up your platform, wiki, and the discussion. You’ve set the standard for the rest of us to aspire to.
Great work,
KJ
Excellent week guys! Thanks for enlightening us!
Thank you for doing such a great job! It was truly an interesting topic to discuss.
You all did an excellent work:)
Deb
Thanks for engaging us all this week! Well done
I chose to play and review Edheads, mainly because I hadn’t yet seen it covered here (and because the military game, with the US Mil keeping the scores, creeped me out a little). I played a game that concerns stem cells. Having a fairly low science literacy, I was happy to learn what a stem […]
Continue reading EVAing Edheads: what makes a game? Posted in: Week 05: Game-Based Learning
Hi Allie,
Excellent question. How does the market differentiate between interactive storytelling and games and if so how? Would ‘Create a Stem Cell Line’ be better marketed as an e-book, or as you put it, an interactive lesson. Is there room in the market to differentiate interactive lessons and then possibly further as ethical issues related to new technologies?
I read a chapter in a book recently where the authors question whether or not games can be successful as learning tools and suggests that interactive storytelling would be more successful.
Weib and Muller (2008) argue that ‘stories provide more explicit knowledge transfer’ (p.321) and further that ‘In general, the question on how to integrate learning successfully with elements of play and games is unsolved’. (p.323). Weib and Muller acknowledge Gee’s 36 principles of game play but argue that he misses the key concepts of fun and drama that games should provide.
They list principles specific to interactive storytelling as characters and the story world, a hook, user agency, dramatic arcs, and usability. I don’t know how the line could or should be drawn when there are successful commercial games that have significant story telling principles incorporated.
I’ve included the references to a couple of book chapters below if anyone is interested in learning more about the argument of interactive storytelling vs. games.
References
Numento, T., Uotila, F. (2009). Events as Organizational Stories an Event-Based Approach for Learning Media Production, in Multimedia and E-Content Trends. Bruck, P.A. (2009). Pp. 167-178.
Weib, S., Muller W., (2008). Learning with Interactive Storeis. , in IFIP International Federation for Information Processing, Volume 281; Learning to Live in the Knowledge Society; Michael Kendall and Brian Samways; (Boston: Springer), pp. 321–328.
I’ve been thinking a lot about games as well. In my Intro to Educational Computing class in the Winter, a team presented about game-based learning. Even after reading the articles presented this week, I still struggle a lot with the breathless claims of authors I feel are ignoring a few millennia of history.
I’m not all that comfortable with the idea of turning all learning into a game because people enjoy games. Why? We’re making way too many assumptions about what a game is and what life is and what learning is.
Looking at people from an evolutionary perspective, what were the actions that led to survival of the human race? Hunting, gathering, taking risks, looking for cause-and-effect relationships, balancing the saving and spending of resources, etc. Do we need to turn learning into a game? No. Life already is a game. School is already a game. Learning is already a game. Games don’t create those behaviours… those behaviours are what made humans successful in the first place.
Consider the the phrase “gaming the system”. Students can “game” the system in schools. They can get great results with small amounts of concerted effort. I rarely did my French homework in high school. Instead, when class began, I’d choose three questions spread out over the assignment and work out the answers. Then I’d put up my hand to answer each of those questions.
Workers can “game” the system in the workplace. They can advance with small amounts of concerted effort. They can identify who they need to impress and what kind of activity impresses that person.
Lonely people can “game” the system in relationships. They learn how to identify likely matches and what buttons to push to make people like them.
“Game theory” is used in economics and negotiations.
People “game” systems all the time. “Gaming” is about turning the self into an active participant using strategy and tactics. Games are not things, they are mindsets. Instead of making games that teach, we can look at how we can shape mindsets instead– mindsets not only of students but also of teachers and designers.
Is learning to game school or game the workplace something we want people to do? In some respects, yes. In other respects, no. I would’ve learned a lot more French if I’d done all of my homework. While I adopted a gaming mindset, the particular game I played was not one that benefitted me in an optimal way.
I think it’s important to focus on assessment and really nail down the behaviours we want to see from people and think of the kinds of mindsets that will shape the behaviours we want to see.
If we assume that a “game” must look a certain way, and that we have to fit education into that mould, then we are making a lot of unwarranted assumptions about what life is really like and we are focusing on medium (Kozma) instead of methods (Clark).
Thanks for your thoughtful comments on my post, Julie and David.
David, I too immediately thought of other uses of the idea of games – such as the oldie-but-goodie psychology text “Games People Play.”
I think you make a great point in remarking that people’s desire to play the system (work or school) really depends on whether they feel attached to the dominant objective.
And perhaps that’s why games (now I’m reverting back to the standard idea of game) are useful in educational settings; they provide some kind of motivation for students to learn something they might not feel is worthwhile to do (playing hangman to learn spelling, for instance). Using games is a way to game education (to use your way of using game as a verb)
WHY I DIDN’T CHOOSE THE OTHER GAMES NOT ENGAGED WITH NUNAVUT I played the Nunavut hunting skills game, but found it more aimed at having me, through trial-and-error, “learn” about some hunting information without providing any context or experience. I didn’t see how to make this information meaningful to me. HOPELESS THIRD WORLD FARMER I […]
Continue reading Hope in Haiti – A long plan, a nuanced experience Posted in: Week 05: Game-Based Learning
What a thorough and comprehensive post, David.
You’ve certainly highlighted key features that should be present in games targeted at adults, especially the incorporation of a varied perspective that doesn’t belabour the obvious, and changes with the user/character.
Way to set the bar higher!
KJ
My first game console was an Atari. There were 2 games that I often play: Pac-Man and Tank (not sure the exact title). At that time, a game was just another form of entertainment for me. It had no educational significance. My Atari became lonely when Family computer came out. Let me see if I […]
Continue reading Simple Mind Posted in: Week 05: Game-Based Learning
Hi Schiong,
With reference to Ice Climber and educational content, I too did not relate the educational aspects of my gaming experience until much later. Makes me wonder if they really impacted on cognition or was it a composite of activities? I do believe though that content and tasks/tools required/used within games if cleverly designed can create cognitive development and information processing skills and higher order thinking skills Blooms Taxanomy (http://www.tedi.uq.edu.au/downloads/bloom.pdf).
…are easily amused, that seems to be the message of your experience with video games and learning. It is analogous to catching the last five minutes of a police procedural on TV to find out ‘whodunit’ without watching from the beginning of the episode to understand why ‘it’ was done.
Such games provide visceral thrills that many assume have nothing to do with learning, yet the metacognition that goes on whenever a digital native picks up a control pad is awe-inspiring. They learn most often by doing, rather than being told (taught) what to do, whether they are fitting together tetrominoes, escaping from ghosts or busting blocks of ice. In most cases, the game only needs to increase the speed to make gameplay more challenging, and perhaps this is why gamers are able to pick up on the ever-changing nature of technology, while non-gamers repeatedly need to get out the instruction manual when programming their PVR.
I make no qualms about it, I was a huge gamer in my youth, probably all the way until my early 20’s. Most games have little to no educational value, yes they may help with special awareness and some hand eye coordination, but in reality, most were, well, games. Now this is not to say […]
Continue reading A Couple of Games From my Youth Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 05: Game-Based Learning
Hi David,
I liked how you brought up “disguised education”. I think it is quite amazing what we learn, when we have no intention of learning and good educational games have a way of exploiting this.
Great post!
Juliana.
Adding to what you both said, I really liked the way you identified the learning without really even knowing it- “disguised education”. I think this is a great way to help kids have fun and actually enjoy learning.
Jen
Hi David. I remember “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego” and was glued to that game as a child. I am sure it spawned my love and curiousity for other countries, travel and culture and as a kid I lived virtual adventures and exotic trips to places around the world through that game.
As to tetris, was terrible at that game and never had the patience (or spacial awareness) to stack awkwardly shaped blocks together. Felt too much like work more than play. Never really was a puzzle person.
David,
Good job! Would you classify all games as being educational since they elicit thinking and awareness? Shouldn’t we redefine educational and incorporate features that are required for one to function successfully in educational settings?
Everton
Hi Everton,
I believe that some redefinition or redesign would be highly beneficial. The reading on Prensky’s Digital Natives (http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky%20-%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf) is interesting regarding a redefinition of education and instructional design.
Kerry-Ann
I enjoyed reading your post. I remember playing TETRIS, it is a wonderful game and useful one for mathematics and science students. It can be used to teach shapes and patterns.
Hi David,
I remember Tetris but was not as hooked, funnily Conroy since I like Math and Science. User Interface design I wonder? But I did enjoy ‘Where in the World is Carmen San Diego’. Like Everton I also wonder at the educational aspects of gaming from what they elicit.
Kerry-Ann
I would not say I had direct personal learning experience with digital game-based learning within an educational setting but rather from games bought by my family with which I interacted. Most of the games required pattern sequencing. Other than that there were mainly nintendo games from which I would say I learnt strategy, paying attention to […]
Continue reading Gaming experience – Does it really shape cognition? Posted in: Week 05: Game-Based Learning
Your post is an interesting; it caused to think of all those days as youth when I spent late night playing games. Also I remember going my friend’s house after school to play Nintendo games which caused me to get into trouble with my parents.
I have used jeopardy game to review and deliver content as you have done and I found it were useful.
Conroy,
I wonder at the transference from these activities and therefore the level of theoretical knowledge and application required for effective design to realise desired interaction and transference. As I mentioned, regarding your comment to David B’s post, I was not as hooked on Tetris yet I enjoyed Math and Science. I appreciate it more now. I can’t help but wonder if the design of the user interface was just not appealing to me at that age. So many elements and levels to consider! In Prensky’s paper on Digital natives Digital Natives he talks of how design an content must marry to suit users ‘The professors had made 5-10 minute movies to illustrate key concepts; we asked them to cut them to under 30 seconds. The professors insisted that the learners to do all the tasks in order; we asked them to allow random access’
Kerry-Ann
The first time I ever flew in an airplane, I was flying it. Crammed into a tiny single-engine plane, the instructor turned the controls over to me and told me simply to fly straight and level. It was far more interesting than I expected and perhaps what surprised me most was the elevator drop effect […]
Continue reading My first flight that wasn’t Posted in: Week 05: Game-Based Learning
Great story David,
I’m glad you brought up the flight simulators. I’ve had friends who have told me how realistic they are but your story really gives evidence to that. I’ve tried them once or twice but I found the learning curve pretty steep so I never got into them that much. It’s interesting to hear your experience of how the knowledge transferred so well from simulation to real life.
David,
For a while I played a few flying games myself. One was Aces over Europe and set in WW2 and the other being the game based on the movie “Top Gun”. I am not sure how accurate the controls were in terms of in comparison to a flying a real plane, and I am sure that the hundreds of hours with top gun does make me certified to become a fighter pilot. But many of the other simulation games are quite real and I have read arcticles the military uses games and simulation to practice tactics.
I find it interesting that your curiousity and interest pushed you to buy a textbook and learn and practice maneuvers. Do you still have an interest in learning in this area today even though you don’t play simulation games anymore? Flight lessons maybe?
It is always interesting to see how learning in our childhood and youth shapes us and we are still able to recall these experiences, some very vividly.
I would have said your interest nose-dived (ba-dum-bum!).
Seriously, flight simulation, I think, is one of those long-time successes in terms of educational / simulation games. I can still remember one of my cousins playing an old one (probably circa… 1993 or 1994), and being totally wrapped up in it. He was a bit of a history / military buff, too. I can remember him chatting with other simulator players, and back then, to me, it was all Greek. The most I ever really got into playing any kind of flying games was arcade ones: Crimson Skies : High Road to Revenge and the Tie Fighter / X-Wing games. I think my interest in flying real planes and having it be very realistic grounded my simulator career.
Hi David,
enjoyed reading your story. It certainly reinforced the fact that game is a useful educational tool. I realised that long hours I spent playing car games was very good because I learnt to drive a car without the help of an instructor. Therefore, I understand the reason that you seemed so adept when you flew an aeroplane for the first time.
Hey David,
I also really enjoyed reading your post. It definitely helped me see that games can in fact be a very important and useful educational tool.
Before you publish your posting, please make sure that you select a category (eg. Introductions) as well as assign some meaningful tags (keywords).
ashleyross 2:04 pm on October 3, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
The decisions you have to make in this game and the facts that come along afterwards really makes you realize how easy it is to take for granted the small things in life. I like that once you’re done ‘playing’ Spent they provide you with information on how to help out and where to donate.
I chose to apply for the server job and when the month was over I ended up have just over $600 as I sacrificed almost everything. I also lost my car because I didn’t pay its bills and then lost my job because I didn’t have a car. I ‘played’ Spent again and decided to stick with the same job to see if I would have the same outcome. At the end of the month I only had $150 but still had a job. I found it interesting that Spent doesn’t give you the same scenarios each time and tests you to make sure you can actually complete a task. For instance it tests your skills in math if you say you can tutor your child in math.
Deb Kim 12:37 pm on October 4, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I first chose to work as a warehouse worker, but couldn’t save money before the first month ended. So I played again and this time I chose to work as a temporary worker. I was able to save $424 at the end of the month and realized that it was really difficult to save that much money. The game also tested my ethics. For example, I had to ran away instead of paying $500 for my car. However, I thought about what my priorities were when living with $306/week. I put my “kids” as the first on my priority list and then my family/relatives. Each question made me think before making a decision. It was hard to make such decisions because I had to consider not just myself but also my children who are dependent on me.
This game makes me be a little emotional and think twice before making decisions. What a realistic game! I loved playing it. It’d be very helpful for my students in Apprentice and Workplace Math 10 to do some practice on how to calculate and save their income. I’d like to try it as an exercise for my AWM10 students.
Deb
Deb
carmen 11:47 am on October 5, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I ended up with $547 left at the end of the month. To do that I worked as a server, broke the dishes and hid the evidence so a co-worker was blamed and was fired.. at the end I lost my car and lost my job. This was a fun game! 🙂 It would be great for Math and maybe for Planning too.
jarvise 2:27 pm on October 5, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I can’t believe you hid the evidence! For shame!
Just kidding. But on a serious note, it is a good, realistic exercise in seeing the implications of our decisions.
Emily
mcquaid 10:24 am on October 8, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I finished the month with $337 dollars, but I wasn’t very happy about it. I was just so focused on the goal of making to month’s end that I sacrificed many things, most notably my own honesty / character. I had no fun, didn’t allow for much fun for my kids, and turned into a more dishonest version of myself… having also hidden the dishes and letting my coworker get fired for it. I did do some good things, like return money to whoever dropped it, and a couple of other minor things… but, overall, I was unhappy in what I felt I had to do to survive. I was spent!
Other than the clean look and (forced) realism of the game (which would be great for all teachers to play to have a bit more empathy for their students & their parents), my favourite part of the game was the option to donate money or get involved at the end.
mcquaid 10:27 am on October 8, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
As a side note, I found it very frustrating that, although I tried at least three times, I couldn’t get the temp job. I thought I had pretty good typing skills! I got pwned for being the apparent typing noob I am. 🙁
andrea 7:01 pm on October 5, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
After a conversation at work today about personal finances, it was interesting to play this game. It really drove home how tenuous things are for many people – after unexpected health issues or car trouble, it was easy for a series of small things to result in big problems when there isn’t a ‘cushion’ of saving. I played as the factory worker, but will play again in some other role!
Doug Smith 10:54 pm on October 5, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I liked this game and thought it brought some value as a teaching tool for Social Justice. I can also see how it could be extended to other lessons. It was engaging and required a minimal amount of committment in order to play. While this is good for the casual observer, such as myself, perhaps it’s okay to have more involved games for students. I can even imagine trying to get a school or department to purchase this type of game.
Jim 9:14 am on October 8, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I reviewed SPENT. It had a very nice interface that kids and adults would enjoy using. I did look at some of the other games and it seems to be above the threshold of decent quality. The Arctic Hunter game was lower quality and reminded me of overly rigid, older educational games of the late 90s. The America’s Army military game was based on the unreal engine and looked amazing in the demos. But I did not take the time to install and play that one.
SPENT was similar to many online games I played. I knew before I even started that it was pretty much set up for me to fail. I wasn’t surprised. The first time I played it, I didn’t make it through the month. The second time I did but with less than $100. I get it. I know the message. I do donate significant amounts every month to local and international organizations. I think it is effective at getting the message across and it does so with some style and an easy to use interface. It is a role playing game but all choices are pre-programmed so it can be a little predictable.
I think that this site could be used within a larger framework of social justice initiatives that currently are being infused into classrooms. Nevertheless, ETEC 522 is all about educational ventures, innovation, and marketable products. With that lens, it is difficult to see how a school or board would spend any money on educational games when there are so many freely available games online. The games would have to be bundled with extra features that add value, such as a student progress tracker, or a social media plugin that adds capabilities to share, discuss, and network with other playing the game. Boards general buy educational tools over educational games these days. I think that educational games are seen as either an out-dated use of ICT or the kinds of things that are freely available online.
I think computer systems and software sophistication is not quite at the point where a “killer educational game” app can be created. We will know it when we see it because it will change all the rules for computer gaming. One possible manifestation of this paradigm shifting app is suggested in Orson Scott Card’s novel, “Ender’s Game.”
In Ender’s Game, there is a game that Ender (the main character) plays while in battle school called “Free Play” or, as it was known by those who ran the school, “The Mind Game.” Free Play contained a wide selection of interrelated games, tailored to the players of the game, and Ender, the main character, pushed the program farther than anyone else. He was the first student to get past the Giant’s Drink game and forced the program to create new and more challenging levels for him to play. In fact, an artificial intelligence, called “Jane”, was later born from code and resources of The Mind Game only after it was pushed along by Ender’s interaction with it.
I am unaware of a program that exists today that not only responds so specifically and personally to a player’s actions but also has the ability to self-design customized new complex levels that challenge that player over time. To be sure, game designers use procedural generation to help make game levels and objects in games look random and unique at run time. But, I think that one possible form that the “killer app” in gaming world will take will be a kind of game with built in AI that truly responds to the user’s actions and make a the game experience completely different for every user that plays it.
mcquaid 10:34 am on October 8, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
As a short reply to this thoughtful and meaty post, I think you’re right on the money in that the best / “killer” games/apps will be ones that adapt to each user and are capable of creating customized things for that user.
Did you see the gameplay innovations that Demon’s Souls brought about when it came out? The way that players (even strangers to you) could help out or leave hints to other playing the game around the world is quite neat, among other things.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon's_Souls#Gameplay
It was also lauded (believe it or not) for how punishingly hard it was. It’s a good example of James Paul Gee’s “regime of competence” principle, where gamers excel when met right at the edge of their abilities.
Jim 11:21 am on October 9, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I had not seen Demon Souls and I see why after I checked out the link you provided… I have never owned a PlayStation. I was an avid PC gamer when I was younger (no time now that I work/have kids/doing MET 🙂 so I didn’t see it. I was 100% there on the Doom–>Quake–>Quake2–>Quake3Arena track but after that I completely lost touch. I must say, though, that Quake stand out as the most immerse game experience I ever had. At the time, there was nothing that could touch it! Then, when it went multiplayer online, that was amazing! The people at id software I sure have secured a place in gaming history for what they have done.
Did you play Demon Souls? What was that experience like? It would have been cool if previous players in Quake could have left clues as you mention…
khenry 6:16 pm on October 8, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I played this game twice doing different jobs and I never made it to the end of the month. Clearly i need to never be out of a job! Some issues really affected me in a different way than just hearing about them. For example, I believe that there are just some choices that a parent just must make. However, I found myself thinking that I needed to sacrifice the school plays, the shoes, the ice cream etc. The kids really got the brunt of it. This experience really hit home more so than having a conversation/discussion. Powerful!
Kerry-Ann