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 cell is, and its importance to research. However, I was left wanting – at least from going in expecting to play a game. Does Edheads think of and market this as a game? What makes a game, anyway?<\/p>\n
As I’ve been mulling over just what a game is this week, I find myself returning to the idea that it is a scenario, with a clearly defined objective (e.g. score a goal) and a set of rules. I couldn’t help but think of games as closely connected to user generated content; playing a game is about being actively engaged, all the time; indeed, the game falls flat unless the players are, well, playing. And so, games are less about content than about experience, and what we learn through games, we learn through experiences.<\/p>\n
Now, as for Edheads. It didn’t feel much like a game as I’ve just described it, but rather as a digitally interactive lecture. It started off with a lot of content – and a lot of very interesting content – but not much experience. The experiential bit – where you got to click on a virtual pipette to grow your cell in different media – is less gamelike than a guided experience. In the Edheads Stem cell game (again, I don’t know if Edheads would describe this as a game), the bulk of the learning comes through content delivery rather than experiential experimentation and goal-setting.<\/p>\n
In my EVA role – I think there could be a market for this product, but not as a game. I say this principally because stem cell research has been a topic of huge debate about scientific practice and ethics, and the material presented in this game could serve a role in educating a general public. I can definitely see an emergent market for interactive lessons (if not games) that engage with issues of broad public concern, such as stem cell research.<\/p>\n
This activity has gotten me to really think about the difference between games and interactive learning experiences. I’m left wondering if everything is appropriate for game form. Reading some of the other reviews this week, I also wonder if a number of these games are too content-directed and didactic to be successful as *games*.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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