Wikipedia:Wiki Game

Here's something vaguely akin to the Glass Bead Game:

"The Wiki Game is a hypertextual game designed to work specifically with Wikipedia. It was first conceived by a collection of avid Wikipedia enthusiasts at Amherst College in Massachusetts. The Wiki Game requires no purchase of product, just a web browser and a time-keeping device (optional).

The Rules

To begin, a random page on the Wikipedia database is loaded (Random page link in the left navigation menu). The player is then given twenty seconds to orient him/herself to the subject matter on that first website (called the 'Homing Page'). Once this 'Reading Period' is up, the player is then transported to completely different topic page after a series of hypertextual selections ('clicks'). More specifically, this displacement is caused by first selecting a random link on the Homing Page and then on ten subsequent pages.

ex. The Homing Page is Quentin Tarantino. On this page, a random link would be 1993. From there, the next selection could be Bill Clinton, followed by free trade, etc. One could theoretically end up at collective farming; that's the surreal beauty of it!

After arriving at the final page in the randomized succession, the player must reorient him/herself and begin playing the actual game. It is the object of the game to find one's way back to the Homing Page using as few clicks as possible. The player can use any wiki-link inside the contents of any entry page they come across. These links can appear as either images or words."

Something to try now that the Break has broken.

socialstudygames.com

Ultralab has just published a survey of literature related to the use of computer games (or video games; the report treats both) for learning. According to Stephen Downes (www.oldaily.com) the survey is a comprehensive look at the field over the last few years.
http://www.lsda.org.uk/files/PDF/1529.pdf

Hello my name is Kat, and I'm NPR addict...

Okay, so this is my second NPR-related post to this blog. But I just hear these things on NPR, and I can't help but share.

The other day on "These Days" (a locally produced show), the topic was video games. The host talked to Sheldon Brown, a Professor of Visual Arts and director of the Experimental Game Lab at the Center for Research on Computing and the Arts at UCSD; Derek Burrill, Assistant Professor of Media Studies at UC Riverside; and Pete Metzger, Video Game Critic for the Los Angeles Times.

The show starts out with your basic holiday guide to video games, including a description of Grand Theft Auto and Halo 2. Soon after, though, the discussion turns slightly more academic and gets into virtual reality, military applications for games, and video game evaluation.

To check it out, go to the These Days website. Scroll down to Wednesday, December 8, 2004 and then click on "Hour One." The video game discussion starts about 15 minutes into the program.

Have a wiki on the sidebar

I’ve subscribed to wwwtools for education for 3 or 4 or so years now. About a year ago, they adopted a policy of asking politely for donations to support the work, but allowing subscribers who chose not to donate. That policy continues. A donation allows access to a more extensive library of past newsletters. When I have or take time to pursue the links included in the newsletters, they are often fascinating and give an amazing view of the vastness of educational resources only a hyperlink away. But wwwtools isn’t the primary reason for this note. The latest issue of wwwtools has a fascinating link to what is described as an extension for the Mozilla Firefox browser “that puts a wiki (an editable web page) into the sidebar of the Firefox browser, indexed off the url of the current page...could be described as a wiki-margin for the internet. Possible suggested uses are: See Also references; commentary and discussion; notetaking; a roaming blog.” I’ve installed the extension and there it is on my Firefox sidebar though I haven’t figured out how I’ll use it yet.
Subscribe to wwwtools.
Check out the wiki extension for Firefox.

Technology Review: Chasing Bees, Without the Hive Mind

From Technology Review: Technology Review: Chasing Bees, Without the Hive Mind
"Alternative reality gaming immerses players in a place somewhere between the real world and cyberspace. What they learn about communication is already translating into collaborate, problem-solving communities."

Interesting stuff. You'll be hearing more about ARGs in the coming years, I think.

Everybody Wins

Interesting article in the New York Times about the ascendance of games "where no one loses." The article focuses on the creators of Cranium, as an example of a highly successful independent game in which social cohesion and fun are more important than having one player defeat the others. However, the author notes that some competition is essential for a game to be interesting; there must be a delicate balance between competition and letting everyone have a moment to "shine."

This piece also touches on the importance of user testing in game design. The money quote: "there is no way to know if a game idea you have sketched on paper is going to work ... the only thing to do is endlessly play-test it, scrutinizing your players with anthropological intensity for signs of distraction or ennui."

In addition, the article mentions something for another Edgames wiki article: the card game Apples for Apples, which I hadn't heard of before. It's a word game in which there are no "correct" answers; instead, the aim of the game is to stimulate friendly, intelligent debate about vocabulary. The game has sold over a million copies in three years, and was designed by an independent designer, not a big game company. There is hope for us all!

Read the whole thing - it's well worth it.

Enlightenment for Christmas

What greater gift could one ask for than an elevated state of consciousness? In these cantankerous time, who wouldn't want a dose of transcendental bliss? Since no one has time for a stint in a Tibetan monastery while holding down a job, the marketplace has responded with The Journey to Wild Divine: "the first 'inner-active' computer adventure that combines ancient breathing and meditation with modern biofeedback technology for total mind-body awareness".

It's a combination of a game, some finger sensors, and a bit of tutoring by media darling Deepak Chopra, all for $160.

It reminds me of a day around 8 years ago when we spotted Deepak Chopra in a coffee shop in La Jolla. He was walking at a stately pace towards the men's room at just the moment that my 8 year old son announced that he had to go. Right now. And he zipped to the one-person-at-a-time bathroom just steps ahead of Deepak, who then had to stand around looking uncomfortable while Alex took his sweet time in there. No doubt Dr. Chopra was just fine, though. Having mastered his bladder chakra he was able to channel the pressure to a higher plane.

This actually sounds interesting. If you were wondering what to get me for Christmas, now you know.

Self-esteem Games

Here's a game that is harder than it looks. My score was 5.4 seconds. I don't know what that means, but I'm feeling sorta good about it.

There's an explanation, and a research paper.

Gaming Industry Hell

Isn't designing an egame fun? Well, if not, it will be in a week or two. Do you think you'd like to do it for a living? You might want to read the inside dope published here, and in the blogs she links to.

Serious Games on NPR

Serious Games is a project that explores uses for games and simulations for the managers and leaders who face challenges in the public sector. Their initiative addresses training issues in a wide variety of fields, such as education, law, the military, health, and public policy.

The Serious Games Summit was held last month in Washington, DC, and NPR was there. If you're interested, take a listen to their story, Gamers Make Serious Work of Computer Games.

uDevGames Official Website

Would you like to watch the process of game development unfold in real time? Visit the uDevGames Official Website, where voting by the public begins today. There are 32 entries this year, all for Mac, and the site links to blogs maintained by the developers themselves.

Among the entries:

• ShineBug! - Collect bubbles of moonshine to keep your buzz!
  
• Feathered Soccer - 3D arcade soccer game
  
• Okugai - Outdoors, FPS-style 3D game
  
• Nanocrisis - Zelda-esque 3d action-adventure game
  

And there are 28 more ready to download. The next Snood could be gestating somewhere on the list.

Hello Kitty Online World

Well, here's a pretty good depiction of my idea of Hell:

"Hello Kitty World will allow thousands of players to live and participate in Hello Kitty's magical and cute online world. You will be able to roam the streets of Kitty Kingdom, XO Federation, and Melody-land. Enjoy the beautiful landscape and architecture of Puroland or Badtzcity and participate in numerous puzzles, story lines, or adventures lead by the worldwide community of Hello Kitty World subscribers. You can even have a successful career, open different shops, earn and spend Sanrio Dollars in your bank, buy a house, and trade with other players around the vast game world."

Performance Strategy

There are some questions that came up at work regarding the best strategy to use to remember a performance. My department researches and writes training courses and maintenance manuals for our company. In the process of speaking with a SME, a couple of co-workers were told of a better strategy to remember what was inspected and when. My co-workers asked some of us if we would participate in the research to collect more information before we implement this new strategy into our training manuals. I am posing the question in this forum to see if any of you have had any experience or done any research yourself on the topic.

The performance in question regards inspecting machinery or equipment before putting it to use. The question is, "Is there a difference in recall when a person goes around the equipment and visually inspects versus visually inspecting and touching the equipment at the same time? Here is the scenario.

When Steve (a SME) was learning how to fly, his instructor told him to touch each gauge or part he was inspecting during pre-flight procedures. Steve's instructor told him that if he only completed his pre-flight checks visually and someone asked him 30 minutes later if he checked a gauge, his degree of certainty would decrease. Steve might start to doubt he had checked the gauge. Someone else might even be able to convince him that he had not checked it at all.

One pre-flight procedure is to inspect the wings of the plane. This inspection involved 12 different points on each wing. If you only visually inspect the wing, you are likely to gloss over the inspection and miss one or more of the 12 inspection points. Steve was instructed to touch each of the 12 inspection points as followed the written pre-flight checklist.

The lesson is that when performing a visual inspection, touching the part you are inspecting helps you focus your attention on the task. The focus combined with the tactile sense then embeds the action into your memory.

Do you agree, disagree, or have any comment to the theory that by physically performing an inspection, you are more likely to recall the event than if you just looked at the items and marked them off on your list?

Negative vs. Positive

An interesting debate come up during the development of my team's board game this past week that I wanted to post in this forum. It has to do with the new wave of thinking that involves removing all negativity and competitiveness from lessons to create this utopian environment that is supposed to encourage learning. I don't have an issue with this per se, I just think it is getting out of hand.

The idea that we came up with in my group for our board game involved creating some chance cards, much like the ones in Monopoly. We had some positive and some negative cards. The negative cards told the player to go back a couple of spaces. The positive cards gave the player an opportunity to move ahead a few spaces if he/she answered the question correctly. We felt that adding a few negative cards would stimulate the game and simulate real life.

Life is not rosy. Everything we do does not end up with a positive outcome, no matter how hard we may try. We all know this so why do we strive so much to coddle our students? Why do we insist that they get stars on their papers just for turning them in to boost their egos and their self esteem? Aren't we developing children who think that they deserve to win or deserve the "A" even when they've put in no effort? Big egos really don't seem to be lacking in this country. I hardly think we need to encourage their growth through false means.

I agree that we need to give both children and adults more encouragement as they learn. I agree that we need to not set people up to fail. I agree that we need to create a challenging learning environment where students can thrive, but I don't think that means taking out all the negativity. The world can be very harsh and very unfair. Aren't we doing our students a disservice by not making our lessons realistic? We build our self esteem by handling negative situations. Sometimes we miss the bus, or get laid off, or discover that our favorite item at the store is being discontinued. Having to go back a couple of spaces on the game board resembles these types of situations. I believe it's important to keep them in the game because the students will learn how to overcome them. They will have to develop more strategies or alter their plans. This is the kind of environment in which they can learn transferable skills.

The feedback from the class was to take out the negative chance cards and make them all positive. Well, then it isn't a chance anymore, is it?

EdGames Wiki

edwiki.org/edgames is the location of the Edgames wiki. For some reason I posted it yesterday on the Q&A forum under the title Q&A. Hope this is easier to find than that.

I enjoyed working with you on it Monday Night. Nice to see you all wiki-ing so quickly.

-Karl

NASAGA Scholarships

NASAGA is a network of professionals working on the design, implementation, and evaluation of games and simulations to improve learning results in education and training. Each year NASAGA holds an annual conference http://www.nasaga.org/conference2004/index.asp and provides a scholarship (up to $850 for registration and travel expenses) to a student studying in the fields of education, training, pedagogy, andragogy, or teaching and who demonstrates an interest in the field of gaming and simulation for learning purposes.

You can find the application on line at http://www.ispi-potomac.org/uploads/scholarshipapp.doc

The Video Game Revolution

There's an interesting website up describing a 2-hour PBS program about The Video Game Revolution. Here's the blurb:

"The Video Game Revolution is primarily an entertaining look at the world of games, but all is not fun and frolic in that world, and the program touches on that as well. Many games are extremely violent — and that violence is rewarded, which deeply concerns parents like program guest Pamela Eakes of Mothers Against Violence in America and legislators like Senator Joe Lieberman. Games can also be dangerously addictive, and are getting more so through continuous on-line playing.

The Video Game Revolution concludes with the future of gaming, including the possibility that some day our homes will have game rooms like the holo-deck in Star Trek: Next Generation — a completely exclusive game environment — or that a microchip inserted directly into the gamer will allow play without any external apparatus. As one game maker says in The Video Game Revolution, "The real model we're building is the one in your head, not on the computer."

Money To Burn On Software

Hello all,

I got the word that my school site has recovered lots of money from the Microsoft antitrust settlement - money to be used toward educational software in my department, Science.

If anyone knows of any good high school level science educational games (software), please let me know - some titles I'm looking at include Odyssey for Chemistry (molecule maker) and Sim City for AP Environmental Science.

Thanks!
-Barbara

Simulation Engine

For those of you attending the Sunday night chat, the Simulation software was from California (not Australia.) Forio Simulations has free web-based simulation software called Broadcast Express. It provides everything you need to get a simulation running on the web. Models must be fewer than 2,500 equations.

Let's Get Political

Bush said. Kerry said. Bush said that Kerry said. Kerry said that Bush said. Who is telling the truth? What version of the truth?
Isn't politics great? I just love how politics constructs value-laden images in our minds. In a way, politics aims to teach us what should be important to us, what we should overlook, and what is valuable to the party. If you love this political icon building (a process that is older than Gilgamesh), then take a look at Bush and Kerry (and others) on playing cards.

Newtscards.com has a wide selection of political cards including political views from the left and the right, non-partisan, Bush, Kerry, and even Grover Cleveland Campaign cards from 1888. Newtscards has wide selection of playing cards that include magnetic, educational, and customizable cards.

Another site that has a selection of political cards is Action Publishing
The Action Publishing cards use comic caricatures of the candidates and political players for 2004, 2000, and 1996 re-election years.

Serious Games Summit

Have you heard about the Serious Games Initiative? It focuses on uses for games in exploring management and leadership challenges facing the public sector. Part of its overall charter is to help forge productive links between the electronic game industry and projects involving the use of games in education, training, health, and public policy.

I have followed the work of the Initiative with great interest for years. This week, it sponsored a Games for Health conference in Madison, WI. Next month, it will host the Serious Games Summit to be held in Washington on October 18 and 19. The Summit's agenda is fascinating and is worth a look.

As I review the upcoming summit's agenday, however, I couldn't help but notice the preponderence of defence/war/military oriented topics. Furthermore, many of the "experts" are either military personnel, or game developers that serve as their contractors. It is not unusual for the Initiative to acknowledge the work of war simulations and military gaming, but this conference seems to mark a more pronounced departure from the topics of health, education and public policy.

Eric Rothschild

At the beginning of our school year, we had the opportunity to meet a master teacher who specializes in creating simulation games for his history classroom. Eric Rothschild, who is also coauthor of The Chicago Handbook for Teachers, creates role based games for his students where the students do the reasearch and then act out roles in a given setting. The scenario that we discussed in our meeting was about the American Revolution. Students researched certain roles such as Sam Adams, George Washington, Thomas Gage, merchants, and tories. Then in a trial like atmosphere students spoke from their perspectives on a variety of topics. It was interesting to see students learning accurate information from their peers' studied perspectives. It was also interesting to see the student desire to think from the researched point of view and not their own personal point of view. For more on Eric Rothchild's simulation games in history please visit his Emancipation Proclomation Activity web site.

Take Kerry's Swift Boat for a Nonpolitical Spin

Well, this is timely. Kuma Reality Games is about to release a simulation game of John Kerry's missions in Vietnam, according to The New York Times.

With regard to the anti-Kerry accounts floating about: "We will present the controversy and different perspectives on it in the video news show that will accompany the mission," she added. "We will allow the user to play the game to determine for themselves what they think happened."

The company also has a model of Osama bin Laden ready to go with the expectation that many will want to replay his capture once it happens.

I wonder if they'll come out with a game depicting what George Bush was doing during his invisible National Guard service.

Board Games

I found a site that might be helpful in developing ideas for board games. There are many different kinds of board and card games listed on this site and some can be downloaded for free. Students may enjoy browsing through the site to get some ideas when stuck.

One thing you may want to know about this site is that I found myself inundated with pop ups when I clicked on a particular item. Unfortunately, I don't remember at this point what that particular item it was.

8-year-old board game designer

I heard this news bit while driving cross-country through Nevada. I was pretty happy to get NPR in the middle of nowhere, and this caught my attention. Apparently the kid loved learning about US presidential trivia, and he turned his love into a board game. You can hear the audio or read the summary at this link. I'm getting kicked out of the lab by Karl as we speak, so this will be a brief post. The URL is below:

http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3872936

Learn about Games at the Museum of Man

670 students who are local to San Diego will be interested in Games Workshop for Teachers coming next month to the museum in Balboa Park.

"The San Diego Museum of Man is pleased to present a 2-day workshop on games taught by Dr. Wayne Saunders, educator, game historian and collector. This workshop is designed for adults, and will be of special interest to teachers of students in grades K-12. Dr. Saunders will explore the histories and evolutions of many games, and how they can be useful in
teaching history, cultural traditions, geography, and math. Game mechanics including memory, induction, deduction, recognition, alignment, ratios and probability will be illustrated using different games. Games will also be grouped geographically, with introductions to games from throughout the world. Participants will learn to play several games, and will receive instructions for making games for home or the classroom."

"The 2-day course will be held October 2nd and 9th from 8:30-5. The price is $65 for Museum of Man members, and $80 for non-members. Teachers who would like to receive one unit of credit for the course through California State University at San Marcos must attend both days and write a short paper. (There is an additional charge of $65 for receiving the credit,
paid directly to the university.) There will be a minimum of 15 people in the class and a maximum of 40. Youth over 16 may enroll in the class accompanied by a parent or other adult. Morning refreshments will be served. There will be an hour-long break for lunch each day. Lunches can be brought and eaten in the classroom or in Balboa Park. Please call
619-239-2001 to reserve your place, and get ready to play."

Gearing Up for Fall

This site will soon reawaken as EDTEC 670 starts up again on August 30. I'm looking forward to trying out some new things this year while keeping the best aspects of what we've done before. As part of dusting off the site, I've updated the EdGames blog format. We've now got an RSS feed and all posts starting with this one will allow comments. More changes coming soon.

WWII Simulation Game

Muzzy Lane of Newburyport MA has created an historical simulation that allows the students of history to take on the role of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain on the brink of World War II.

The idea is that students gain a richer understanding of the events of the time by applying critical thinking skills to historical situations. Not sure how good the game is but seems promising.

Introduction to On-Line Training Games

ASTD's online magazine "Learning Circuits" features an article by James Kirk and Robert Belovics quoting Prensky on why games appeal to the digital generation of learners, a downloadable "On Line Training Games Starter Kit" and links to other training games resources.

Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals

I came across this textbook on a recent episode of TechTV's "The Screen Savers" and thought I'd pass it on. It looks quite interesting and comes from faculty at Parsons School of Design in their graduate level coursework.

Amazon reviews are mixed, but it's worth checking out.

Amazon - Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals

The Future of Videogames in Education

Thanks to Mike Guerena, here's word about an upcoming conference sponsored by The Education Arcade.

"The Education Arcade represents a consortium of international game designers, publishers, scholars, educators, and policy makers who are exploring the new frontiers of educational media that have been opened by computer and video games.

Our mission is to demonstrate the social, cultural, and educational potentials of games by initiating new game development projects, coordinating interdisciplinary research efforts, and informing public conversations about the broader and sometimes unexpected uses of this emerging art form in education.  In short, we want to lead change in the way the world learns through computer and video games.

Our activities this year will culminate in an educational games conference in Los Angeles on 9-11 May 2004 as part of the Electronic Entertainment Exposition. Our aim is to spotlight key issues and emerging trends in the development, the use, and the marketing potential of games in education, while bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders across academic disciplines and industries."

The schedule looks awesome. This would be a great followup to EDTEC 670 (or a preview for those of you taking it next fall.)

Macromedia: Online Discussion with Prensky

On March 30th at 11:00 AM PST, Marc Prensky will present "Games That Teach" in Macromedia's online Education Conversation Series. Registration is free for this web-based presentation (toll-free phone call required for audio portion).

Event info and registration form

Adaptive Technology

This software is not a simulation or a game, but I think it’s relevant to this blog. This is adaptive communication software that I’m learning to use to help a friend who has ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). This is the same disease that the Stephen Hawking has, and the same software he uses. I don’t want to make light of such a serious illness by referring to this adaptive technology as a game, but it has game like qualities, and that’s a good thing. It means that the user will want to continue learning how to use it. These qualities include a system that learns the user’s habits, and one that has shortcuts, cheats, and rewards. The software comes with a large user manual, but why spoil the fun by reading it?

This software has opened my eyes to a fascinating area of computer-assisted communication that I hadn’t really paid attention to until now. And now I can’t stop ‘playing’ the program. I’ve been blowing off work for the last three days because of this system!

A demo version of the program with limited capabilities can be downloaded from http://www.words-plus.com/website/products/comsoft.htm