PUTTING GAMES TO WORK

Diane Pozefsky15 November 2012

The Questions What do we learn from

games? What are serious games? Why are they important? Why do they work?

Games have ALWAYS been used to teach

What kinds of games do young children play? Role modeling!

How do young animals learn skills? Playing!

What do you learn from Hide and Seek? Hunting, tracking, hiding, observation

What can we learn from video games?

Visual selective attention: focus on what’s important

Situational awareness: absorb what’s happening around you

Are those contradictary? Mental mapping: create a mental picture of

what you have learned Inductive discovery: learn by trial and error Multitasking Collaborating

Marc Prensky

Driving: Visual Alertness Improve visual attention

Over space (useful field of view) Over time Number of objects

University of Rochester study of action games Unreal Tournament Medal of Honor Call of Duty

Gamification What is it? What could it be?

“What we're currently terming gamification is in fact the process of taking the thing that is least essential to gamesand representing it as the core of the experience.”

Margaret Robertson

Serious Games

They are games with a serious

purpose beyond entertainment built for serious purpose used for serious purpose

What is a serious purpose? Education Training Social change Health education Pain control Rehabilitation Science and Knowledge (GWAP) Business Art

Learning!

Educational Games

Evolution Games to teach individual concepts Multiplayer classrooms Schools structured as games

Quest to Learn (NPR story)

Dimenxian First person shooter teaches algebra Average pre-test/post-test increase one

grade level (75 students) Underachieving students up to 3 grade

levels.

River City

Middle school students

Scientific inquiry 19th century illness

detectives Improved success of

lower achievers

What’s the idea? Games engage people

Engaged people work longer, learn better Along with a learning curve, there is a

forgetting curve People forget slower with games … because they learned it better?

But is there science behind this?

Learning Theory Support

Experiential learningInquiry-based learning

Authenticity Self-efficacyGoal-setting

Continual feedbackCooperation

Biology Support Brain retains only the

important Important = emotionally significant

Releases dopamine in amygdala Game playing increases dopamine

But what about studies?

University of Virginia Studies

Business

Economics

Management0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Means of Test Scores

Games or Multimedia?Geology Explorer

Lecture baseline Web-based

presentation No significant

increase Virtual world game

15-40% increase

Virtual Cell

Lecture baseline Web-based

presentation 13-30% increase

Virtual world game 30-63% increase

North Dakota State University

New generation, New paradigms …

Digital Natives (vs Digital Immigrants)

Receive information rapidly Parallel process Multi-task Prefer graphics first Prefer random access Thrive on instant gratification and frequent

rewards Fundamentally think and process

information differently

Training

Military: Tactical Iraqi

Military Teach language

and culture In use for several

years Expanded to

additional languages

Skills: Jet Simulators

Training done on simulators

First time a pilot flies a Boeing 777 is WITH PASSENGERS

Microsoft Flight Simulator effective

Businesses Cold Stone Creamery Hilton Gardens IBM

Population Changes

Boomer Gen X Gen Y

Training Too much and I’ll leave

Required to keep me

Continuous and expected

Learning Style Facilitated Independent Collaborative and networked

Problem solving

Structured Independent Collaborative

Feedback Once per year Weekly or daily

On demand

Task changing Slows me down

Necessary Part of my daily routine

Lancaster & Stillman

Health

Managing Illness

Asthma Bronkie the

Bronchosaurus 45% reduction in

crises

Diabetes Packy and Marlon

70% reduction in crises

Pain Management

Free Dive

SnowWorld

Rehabilitation: PTSD

Tailor environments to traumatic experience

Relive as much as can tolerate

Significant results

Full Spectrum Warrior

Physical Therapy

Injury Surgery Stroke Alzheimer Parkinson’s Burns More fun = more

time

New Healthier Behaviors

Treatment for obesity West Virginia

Workout mode Track calories

burned Phys Ed classes

Universities (Brandeis, Mt Holyoke, Caltech)

High School in New York

Growing…

Exergaming One of the hottest areas Driven by Wii

Wii Fit EA Active

Better than videos? Are these games? Does it matter?

Games With A Purpose

Jane McGonigalGaming can

make a better worldTED talk

The Big Idea There are things that

people can do better than machines

There are lots of people with a bit of time

The more people, the more diversity, the more different approaches

Crowdsourcing!

Two ExamplesFOLDIT GWAP

Folding Proteins Goal: to fold a

protein according to constraints at the lowest energy level

Recent: Misfolding and Alzheimer’s

Knowledge Gathering Various Games Human association Image tagging

Social Impact Games

Social Change: Opinions Letters to the editor Articles Books Television shows Documentaries Movies Web Sites

Blogs Radio shows Music Paintings Sculptures Photographs Signs

Social Change

PeaceMaker

Garbage Glut

3rd World Farmer

Darfur is Dying

Waco Resurrection

Transform Awareness Commentary

Art Games

Art Games

Artists, sculptors, writers, musicians, photographers

… and game developers What if the purpose of the game is to

delight? make you think?

Example: Winterbells

Business

Advergames Casual games Viral advertising Draw to

get people to web sites Increase brand recognition

Facebook Games Why?

Earn money Market research Promote other games

EA significant presence Madden Spore Island Pet Society (acquired Playfish in November)

Resources

Web Sites

http://www.seriousgamessource.com

http://www.socialimpactgames.com/

http://www.marcprensky.com/writing Look at “The Classics”