Here are the Game Form field notes for the assignment
The Case Study is linked here as well as in copy form below.
Half-Life: Alyx and its virtual reality medium offers players an unparalleled experience in world-immersion and a constructivist approach to gaming. Bogost states that a medium is “an extension of ourselves” (2011, p. 2) and the virtual reality medium exemplifies this. It truly offers players an opportunity to extend themselves into the game as all movement is tracked specifically from the player. This approach of putting the player “boots on the ground” creates an engaging experience that I believe can be applied to education to revolutionize content-delivery.
The initial impact Half-Life: Alyx makes with its medium of virtual reality is one of total immersion. The level of detail put into the textures and realism of the game couples effectively with the in-world manipulation made possible by the controller tracking present in VR. It brings to mind Bogost’s statement that in video games “simulation might successfully refer to the tactility of the original, but that appreciation would quickly become conceptual, lost in the limitations of mouse or analog stick compared with fingers.” (2011, p. 82) Never has that sense of limitations been so small – I observed in my field notes during my solo playthrough how I felt I should be leaning my body forward to rest on the digital balcony railing I “saw” before me. Bogost was accurate in his prediction that “the potential is great. Developers render the visual aspects of videogame worlds in excruciating detail […] [t]hey render the visual and aural aspects of these worlds in startling vividness and at great expense. (2011, p. 82) He continues to contend that “games can be as much like food as they are like film” (Bogost, 2011, p. 82) which I believe Half-Life: Alyx exemplifies; the game is a sensory feast.
It is this full stimulation of the senses which leads me to believe Half-Life: Alyx makes a compelling argument for the educational potential of virtual reality systems. First and foremost, video games are an ever-increasing part of the lives of most of our students. Bogost refers to how “videogames are already becoming a pervasive medium, one as interwoven with culture as writing and images. Videogames are not a subcultural form meant for adolescents but just another medium woven into everyday life.” (2011, p. 7) The application of video games and learning is not unprecedented and I believe Half-Life: Alyx represents the first movements of the next step. Virtual reality has the ability to radically revolutionize the approach students can take to approach their learning. Martín-Gutiérrez, Mora, Añorbe-Díaz, & González-Marrero share that “[v]irtual technologies allow more interaction than conventional learning materials. By using VR/AR, students feel immersed while interacting with concepts, objects and processes by using headsets, tactile gloves, and motion sensors.” (2017, p. 480) They also state that:
“Virtual technologies allow a constructivist approach of learning. Students are free to interact with virtual objects and other students. As a result, students can investigate, experiment, and obtain feedback, resulting in an experience that improves their learning.” (Martín-Gutiérrez, Mora, Añorbe-Díaz, & González-Marrero, 2017, p. 479)
I believe this closely connects with Bogost where he claims that “videogames require user participation. Even though image and sound make up much of their raw output, touch is an undeniable factor of gameplay.” (2011, p. 80) The increased engagement brought by total visual immersion and interactivity that Half-Life: Alyx displays would be an effective tool in education to allow students to explore and learn in a method that suits them best.
An obstacle in the adoption of VR in an education environment is “how this technology is used and how students learn. Virtual learning experiences should not be just aimed to gain knowledge, so it is required to design these learning environments from a constructivist approach to obtain full learning benefits.” (Martín-Gutiérrez et al., 2017, p. 480) It is important to recognize as both an educator and as a videogame player myself the importance of good game design with multiple methods of play to fit student/player strengths. A common complaint against videogames is how they are “ripping people out of the natural world and placing them into an artificial one.” (Bogost, 2011, p. 50) Although the statement rings eerily true in terms of the VR’s ability to transport a player into a realistic digital world, I agree with Bogost’s statement that videogames bring a sense of transit with “the necessary unfamiliarity of a space being traversed.” (Bogost, 2011, p. 50) I feel this can be applied not only to the mechanics of game design but also to the mechanics of learning as students must travel through an area of learning that is unfamiliar before reaching a level of mastery over a subject, creating the connection from one point of knowledge to another. This difference in mastery levels was also observed between myself and another playing the same game and realizing how different levels of mastery manifest themselves.
Bibliography:
Bogost, I. (2011). How to Do Things with Video Games. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Martín-Gutiérrez, J., Mora, C. E., Añorbe-Díaz, B., & González-Marrero, A. (2017). Virtual Technologies Trends in Education. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 13(2), 469-486. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2017.00626a